Some Carly Simon Appreciation

 

 For YEARS, the only Carly Simon LP I had in my collection was her 1975 Greatest Hits package "The Best of Carly Simon"...and it was on cassette, besides! It wasn't until the awesome "Original Album Series" packaged a Carly Simon retrospective featuring her first 5 albums that I began dabbling into her fantastic body of work!
Carly Simon, Anticipation, No Secrets, Hotcakes and Playing Possum, these were chock full of that wonderful Carly Simon goodness we knew from radio airplay all throughout the 70's, and once falling in love with those, ventured even farther into her catalog, with Come Upstairs, Spy, Coming Around Again, and what would become my FAVE albums from her, "Boys In The Trees" and the incredible "Another Passenger"! Even managed to pick up some of her much later stuff like the Standard celebratory "Moonlight Serenade" and Carly Live!

My Carly LPs

Amazingly, there are still MORE albums of hers I've yet to dig into so my Carly fan appreciation is STILL rising!

A Wonderfully Stylish Cult Classic “Phenomena”

Nothing quite like the majesty of mid-80’s Sci-Fi/Horror where even the most outlandish plots get the most picturesque and atmospheric treatment! Such is the case of the 1985 Dario Argento cult classic Movie “Phenomena”, starring a young Jennifer Connelly as a smart and reserved girl who, through an uncanny ability to communicate with insects, helps track down a fiendish serial killer while residing in Switzerland attending boarding school.

70’s and 80’s Horror always held a great sentimental attachment for me (as witnessed by the many films I’ve talked about here) and even Phenomena gave me the vibe of the great Katharine Ross horror “The Legacy” (which I talked about here), every scene shot so wonderfully and fit for the lobby card! (It also didn't hurt that veteran actor Donald Pleasance was in it, a TRUE horror staple!)

And Jennifer Connelly! Yes, she’s still much a younger lass here (coming right after her terrific appearance in Leone’s  “Once Upon A Time In America”) but you could already see the attributes that would soon make a her a household name in movies like Jim Henson’s “Labyrinth” and John Hughes “Career Opportunities” a few years later!

Another fine addition to my horror collection!

The Making of a Masterpiece: Fleetwood Mac “Gold Dust Woman”

 One of the bonuses in the remastered deluxe editions of the classic 1976 Fleetwood Mac album “Rumours” is the treasure trove of unreleased songs, takes and demos, and one that really stood out for me was the ‘early demo” of Stevie Nick’s ethereal “Gold Dust Woman".

In its conceptual stage, Gold Dust woman is really more of a folky or country sounding tune, an entirely different sound from what became the  album’s masterpiece closing track! Stripped down to  sparse instrumentation, Stevie’s voice is sweet and gentle as she sings out the now familiar by heart lyrics, it's so intersting to hear the bare-bones structure of the tune, so fresh and yet so familiar...and when she hits the refrains, you just get goosebumps!

Mesmerizing as it is, it’s a joy and wonder to hear the finalized version right afterwards. THIS version is a rock-anthem proper, with Stevie’s voice now strong and commanding, full backing choruses, Buckingham’s tasty guitar licks, hypnotic, dreamy dobro and of course the driving sound of Fleetwood’s cowbell throughout the song to that huge, haunting conclusion…you realize just why this group was as lauded as they were- just pure genius!

As some of you know well, Stevie Nicks is one of my Favorite artists and "Gold Dust Woman" is certainly among her very BEST compositions!!!