10 o'clock all is well (Judy Collins) (LP 4167- 4174)

Steve Allen  The Greatest Show on Earth (Vinyl, Viking Records, 1973) **  

Dickey Betts & Great Southern  Dickey Betts & Great Southern (Vinyl, Arista Records, 1977) *** 

Judy Collins  #3 (Vinyl, Elektra Records, 1963) ***  

Judy Collins  Wildflowers (Vinyl, Elektra Records, 1967) *** 

Judy Collins  Whales and Nightingales (Vinyl, Elektra Records, 1970) *** 

Judy Collins  True Stories and Other Dreams (Vinyl, Elektra Records, 1973) *** 

Carly Simon  Spy (Vinyl, Elektra Records, 1979) *** 

Celebration  Celebration (Vinyl, Stetson Records, 1979) *** 

Genre: NZ Music, pop, Southern rock, folk rock 

Places I remember: Viking's Haul (Woodville)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Bougainvillea (Dicky Betts)  

Gear costume: Deportee (Judy Collins #3), Both Sides Now (Wildflowers)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: A recent trip to Viking's Haul in Woodville resulted in these albums. Most were 5 dollars, and most were in great condition. The oldest album is Judy Collins #3 from 1963 and that one is in good condition - plays well after a clean.

Steve Allen is a NZ singer who peeked in 1973 with this album on the back of Join Together - his anthem for the tenth Commonwealth Games which happened in Christchurch.

His smooth style is very much of the time and the instrumental backings are some distance from rock'n'roll but I have always liked his vocals. Buying this album for $5 was a no-brainer.

Speaking of smooth - Dickey Betts' guitar sound is an integral part of the Allman Brothers Band and when they split in the seventies he embarked on a solo career. This was his second album and the first with Great Southern. It's got that easy southern blues-based boogie sound that is reminiscent of The Allmans. Highly recommended, this one.

The majority of the albums I bought were by Judy Collins - someone must have been having a clear out. I've written about her before (her album Who Knows Where the Time Goes). I'm not a huge fan, but I couldn't resist these Elektra Records albums. The history of the label is well represented in these selections.

Judy's #3 from 1963 has that great cover (Judy Blue Eyes). It has Jim (a.k.a. Roger) McGuinn playing guitar and banjo. It also has a terrific version of Woody Guthrie's Deportee/Plane Wreck at Los Gatos. Elsewhere she provides nice covers of compositions by Dylan, Bob Gibson, Pete Seeger, Ewan MacColl, and Shel Silverstein.

Wildflowers is from 1967 and her sixth album. It was her most successful album - even charted as high as 5 on Billboard charts. Not bad for a folkie.

This is the one that includes her version of Joni's Both Sides Now. She does a great job on Joni Mitchell songs generally. There are also three Leonard Cohen songs on Wildflowers. She even does a few of her own songs and they don't sound out of place. On the whole, Wildflowers is my favourite Judy Collins album - fitting that it's from the summer of love!

Whales and Nightingales is from 1970. The instrumentation is a little more lush this time out. This is the one with her version of Amazing Grace on it. The standout track for me is her version of Dylan's Time Passes Slowly.

The final Judy Collins purchase is True Stories and Other Dreams from 1973. The music is a little sombre - the cover image is accurately extended to the vibe on the album. Although the lead off song - Cook With Honey is fun and upbeat. That song's by Valerie Carter, much of the rest are Judy Collins' originals. 

Overall, her ninth studio album is a somewhat downbeat collection of songs. As you know, I'm a day person, so this is not destined to get much air time in Wozza's World.

Next in this list is Carly Simon's Spy from 1979. It joins the other albums that I've already reviewed here. It was her eighth studio album and her last for Elektra Records. The jazz-pop sound is again the vibe here as Carly sings with a husky kind of voice. Sadly the album was too slick and it became her worst seller.

Celebration by Celebration, the last album on this list, is an album I sold off many years ago. Five dollars from Viking Haul was too tempting though. 

The band is a seventies, outside The Beach Boys, project by Mike Love that held promise - Charles Lloyd is a band member after all. It largely delivers because of Mike's democratic approach - he shares the vocals around - mostly with Dave Robinson, and Lloyd is all class! 

This was their second album (the Almost Summer soundtrack was their first which we'll get to in time). It's worth the search as it had a very limited print run originally. This copy is a NZ pressing on the Stetson label (for Mike Nesmith's Pacific Arts label).

Where do they all belong? A good haul from Viking's Haul. I was also able to get a copy of Steve Forbert's Little Stevie Orbit on the Nemperor label (not Epic). Score!

Legend in your own time (Carly Simon) (LP 3753 - 3763)

Carly Simon  Carly Simon (Vinyl, Elektra Records, 1971) ***  

Carly Simon  Anticipation (Vinyl, Elektra Records, 1971) *** 

Carly Simon  No Secrets (Vinyl, Elektra Records, 1972) ****  

Carly Simon  Hotcakes (Vinyl, Elektra Records, 1974) ***

Carly Simon  Another Passenger (Vinyl, Elektra Records, 1976) ****   

Carly Simon  Boys in the Trees (Vinyl, Elektra Records, 1978) ****  

Carly Simon  Come Upstairs (Vinyl, Warner Bros. Records, 1980) **  

Carly Simon  Hello Big Man (Vinyl, Warner Bros. Records, 1983) ***  

Carly Simon  Coming Around Again (Vinyl, Arista Records, 1987) ****  

Carly Simon  Greatest Hits Live (CD, Aritsa Records, 1988) ****  

Carly Simon  Live at Grand Central (CD, Arista Records, 2023) ****  

Genre: Pop

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records, Chalden Books and Records, 

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: You're So Vain (No Secrets)

Gear costume: It Keeps You Runnin' (Another Passenger) 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: As you can see, I am obsessed with Carly Simon - the original Taylor Swift. Insanely talented, gorgeous, and somehow she remains down to earth.

I'm not a completist though, as the missing albums below show. Like the rest of the planet, I was aware of her in 1972 thanks to You're So Vain, but the obsession only started with 1985's Spoiled Girl. Head over heels!

Ahem...anyway, back to the beginning. Carly Simon was her debut in very early 1971 (Anticipation was later in that same year). Timothy Crouse, writing in Rolling Stone nailed it: "Carly's voice perfectly matches her material" and her "superbly controlled voice is complemented by deft arrangements." The songs aren't quite there yet, but Thats the Way it Should Be is a standout song (and a top ten hit).

Anticipation builds on the debut and has a more confident set of songs throughout the album. The title song about waiting for her date to arrive (apparently Cat Stevens) remains one of her best songs. These are the good old days! 

All of the songs except for final track (I've Got To Have You) were written by Carly on her own or with a lyricist - usually Jacob Brackman. Talented right?

No Secrets was the big commercial breakthrough, thanks to You're So Vain. However, it's not a one trick pony like the previous two albums. The Right Thing To Do was a second successful single and she covers James Taylor's Night Owl brilliantly. Richard Perry's production was spot on. Plus, the cover image didn't hurt!

Hotcakes has a pregnant Carly on the cover and a love-in with James Taylor in its grooves. We're talking domestic bliss which is great, but it doesn't make for great art ordinarily. 

Haven't Got Time for the Pain and Mockingbird (a duet with JT) were the hits from the album. Richard Perry was again producing, and the guest list of famous musician friends helping out was impressive. Apart from JT, others to put in a shift are Dr John, Robbie Robertson, Jim Gordon, Klaus Voormann, and Jim Keltner.

It was another highly successful album commercially speaking. Carly was on a roll.

I'm missing a copy of her next album (Playing Possum) so her sixth studio album, Another Passenger, is next. She decided on a new producer after Playing Possum, so goodbye Richard Perry and hello Ted Templeman. She also turned to members of The Doobie Brothers and Little Feat for backing. Van Dyke Parks, Andrew Gold, JT, Dr John, Glen Frey, Klaus Voormann, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, and Jim Keltner also play/sing on the album. Nice.

Musically, it did the trick - Rolling Stone said it was her best album to date, but I don't think the songs are consistently great (remember - Spoiled Girl is easily my favourite Carly Simon album). Commercially, it continued a slide begun with Playing Possum.

I think Boys in the Trees is as strong, if not stronger than Another Passenger. She tries out some new looks, successfully in my opinion. Some of her strongest material is on it (the title track for instance is superb), the cover is fantastic and the lead single, You Belong To Me is another winner, as well.

Having used the cream of the west coast musicians on Another Passenger, she now opts for some of New York's finest studio guys on Boys in the Trees - including Steve Gadd, Eric Gale, Richard Tee, David Sanborn, and the Brecker Brothers. Oh, and JT makes another cameo performance.

Come Upstairs is a transitional album, away from the soft rock and jazz pop to a rockier, more current, sound and it isn't one of my favourites. Blame the synths but also the material isn't particularly strong (I don't even find the single, Jesse that great). 

The transitional nature of the album extends to her personal life and marriage to James Taylor. James is a plea to JT and a bit embarrassing and In Pain sounds exactly like it sounds - a howl of pain but incongruous given the rest of the songs. So - this one is a meh for me. So was Torch b.t.w. - an attempt in 1981 to sing just standards. 

Carly returns to the Anticipation approach for Hello Big Man which is much more to my taste. She enlists the famous reggae rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare for a number of songs. So, it sounds great!

This was followed up by Spoiled Girl - my absolute favourite Carly Simon album (I'm pretty much alone in this though as the record gets panned elsewhere), as I mentioned above, so the next album is her first on Arista Records - Coming Around Again - her 13th studio effort. The title track became a big international hit. The rest of the album is polished and classic Carly Simon - one of two hot girls looking for love.

I'm missing My Romance and I've included Have You Seen Me Lately already. So, next up are a couple of live albums - Greatest Hits Live and Live at Grand Central.

They are both well named. Greatest Hits Live sounds exactly like the studio version with some audience ambience added in. It's a good collection of the big hits - Nobody Does It Better, You're So Vain, Anticipation, The Right Thing To Do...the list goes on. So, It's good!

Live at Grand Central is also top notch. It's from a mature artist - Carly's voice is still fully intact, but by 2023 it had developed a lovely huskiness. She also avoids all the obvious hits for this performance. Only Anticipation and Coming Around Again are also done on Greatest Hits Live.

The musicians are great too. there is a bedrock of acoustic guitar that creates a different feel to the concert. Together these two live albums are a perfect introduction to Carly's work.

Where do they all belong? Missing: Playing Possum; Spy; Torch; My Romance; and then from Letters Never Sent onwards except for the two live albums listed above.

Tonight and forever (Carly Simon (LP 300)

Carly Simon Spoiled Girl (Vinyl - Epic, 1985) *****

Genre: American pop/rock  

Places I remember: Chaldon Books and Records (Caterham on the hill)  

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: My New Boyfriend




Tired Of Being Blond



Gear costume: Everything else - Spoiled Girl, Come Back Home, Tonight And Forever, The Wives In Connecticut, Anyone But Me, Interview, Make Me Feel Something, Can't Give It Up.

Active compensatory factors: Five stars? Really?? - I can hear you now. But I have no hesitation showering this album with pure pop classic status.

Roger Marbeck started the ball rolling by giving me a load of old recorded cassettes, this album was on one side of a C90. I played it in the car endlessly. My children will know all of these songs!

I eventually found a proper cassette version, then a CD, and now the vinyl from up the road at Chaldon Books and Records. When I bought it the old guy who owns the shop ('nothing good came out after 1956') said, "Oh I love Carly Simon!"

The best pop record of the eighties? I know that's a big call but for me, it's a resounding, 'Oh Hell Yeah!!'

And I should hate it! Drum machines when there aren't eighties drum sounds, Linn drums, eighties synths, schmaltzy ballads that have all of those things (Make Me Feel Something/ Tonight And Forever), but the songs are so damn catchy, the singing is so brilliant and the production creates such a great warm sound, that I can't think of an eighties album that I play more than this one.

One of the things I love about these songs is their intelligence. Carly doesn't suffer fools and her stance throughout the album is solidly #Metoo before that concept existed. Song after song is female-centric in a totally refreshing way.

The lasting impression is one of Carly having fun, so I always have a great big grin on my face whenever I listen to it. It makes me feel great - hence it being thrashed on road trips.

Where do they all belong? This was her last peak - so I suggest going back to Anticipation or No Secrets or just put Spoiled Girl on again! 

Happy birthday (Carly Simon) (LP 271)

Carly Simon Have You Seen Me Lately? (Vinyl - Arista Records, 199o) ****

Genre: American pop/rock 

Places I remember: Chaldon Books and Records (Caterham on the hill) 

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Life Is Eternal




Gear costume: Happy Birthday  

Active compensatory factors: I've had a cassette of this forever but only just found a vinyl copy at my local second book and record shop (the owner - a lovely old guy - tells me he might as well forget the books, he only sells records these days).

It's not as affecting as 1985's classic Spoiled Girl; it's much more laid back and carefree, and uplifting - take a listen to Life Is Eternal!

This time around the songs glide by and before you know it we're at the end of side 2's We Just Got Here. There are gems and highlights along the way: like It's Not Like Him which is seemingly buried mid side 2 but stands out all the same.

Listen without prejudice.

Where do they all belong? Coming Around Again is another of her albums I need to replace. The cassette is pretty worn out.