''Letters Never Sent'' is the 16th studio album by American singer-songwriter

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Billboard Hot 100, top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation (song), Anticipatio ...

, released by

Arista Records Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...

, on November 1, 1994. Simon has stated the inspiration for the album came when she found an old box of letters that she'd written, but never mailed. She wrote "Like a River" in honor of her mother, Andrea Simon, and "Touched by the Sun" for her dear friend,

Jackie Onassis Jackie or Jacky may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackie (given name), a list of people and fictional characters named Jackie or Jacky ** Jackie, current ring name of female professional wrestler Jacqueline Moore ** Jackie Lee (I ...

, both of whom died from cancer in 1994. The album features backing vocals by

Marc Cohn Marc Craig Cohn (; born July 5, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1992. Cohn is best known for the song " Walking in Memphis", from his 1991 album '' Marc Cohn'', which was a To ...

and Simon's son Ben Taylor (who also appears as vocalist on "Time Works on All the Wild Young Men", the bridge song between the fourth and sixth tracks).

Andreas Vollenweider Andreas Vollenweider (born 4 October 1953) is a Swiss harpist. He is generally categorised as a new-age musician and uses a modified electroacoustic harp of his own design. He has worked with Bobby McFerrin, Carly Simon, Luciano Pavarotti and i ...

plays the harp on the track "Davy".

Promotion and reception

Simon made music videos for the songs "Like a River" and "Touched by the Sun". She performed "Touched by the Sun" on the ''

Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...

'' on two occasions. Simon also embarked on a co-headlining tour with

Hall & Oates Daryl Hall & John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, were an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1970. Daryl Hall was generally the lead vocalist, while John Oates primarily supplied electric guitar and ba ...

in support of the album. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' graded the album B+, and wrote "Simon dug up her old, unsent letters — to people unnamed, but not necessarily unidentifiable — and set them to music. The results are funky, fascinating, and sumptuous. A daring move that pays off."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

wrote that the album "represents a fresh start" and that "Simon has returned to passion as her main subject matter, confessing, "I can never be in love, I can only be in heat." She gives off that heat in many of the album's songs" and concluded "It's an unusually coquettish performance for a woman of 49, and practically weightless."

Awards

Track listing

Credits adapted from the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

Live at Grand Central

'' Live at Grand Central'' is a 1995 concert special that aired on

Lifetime Television Lifetime is an American basic cable channel that is part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a subsidiary of A&E Networks, which is jointly owned by Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company. It features programming that is geared toward ...

. Performed in the middle of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal station, terminal located at 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York Ci ...

, the surprise concert was a prelude to Simon's first concert tour in 14 years. It was directed by English

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

and film director

Nigel Dick Nigel Dick (born 21 March 1953) is an English music video director and filmmaker. Originally from Catterick, North Yorkshire, he is based in Los Angeles, California. He has directed music videos for artists such as Britney Spears, Toto, Ba ...

, and runs 60 minutes. It was released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

and

LaserDisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

latter the same year. For this special, Simon was nominated for two CableACE Award's, winning Best Original Song for "Touched by the Sun".

Personnel

Musicians

Production

Charts

Album – ''Billboard'' (United States)

References

External links

Carly Simon's Official Website
{{Authority control 1994 albums Carly Simon albums Albums arranged by Arif Mardin Albums produced by Frank Filipetti Arista Records albums