Hotcakes (album)

Hotcakes
Studio album by Carly Simon
Released January 11, 1974
Recorded September 1973
Producers Workshop, Los Angeles and October - November 1973 at The Hit Factory, New York City
Genre Rock, Pop, Acoustic, Classical
Length 38:41
Label Elektra
Producer Richard Perry
Carly Simon chronology
No Secrets
(1972)		 Hotcakes
(1974)		 Playing Possum
(1975)
Singles from Hotcakes
  1. "Mockingbird"
    Released: January 1974
  2. "Haven't Got Time for the Pain"
    Released: April 1974

Hotcakes is singer-songwriter Carly Simon's fourth studio album. Released in 1974, it became one of her biggest selling albums. The album featured the major hits "Mockingbird", a duet with her then-husband James Taylor (a cover of a 1963 hit for Inez and Charlie Foxx), and "Haven't Got Time for the Pain". Recorded during her pregnancy with her first child, many of the album's songs reflected Simon's upbeat mood during this period. The album's cover photo shows the pregnant Simon sitting in a gleamingly white kitchen, smiling brightly and wearing a bohemian white linen dress.

The album went gold immediately and it stayed on the charts for eight months, yet it was initially overshadowed commercially by two other major albums released by Simon's own label, Elektra/Asylum, in the same month as Hotcakes, Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark and Bob Dylan's Planet Waves. These took the #2 and #1 spots, respectively, on the Billboard album chart while Hotcakes peaked at #3.[1] Hotcakes went on to sell several hundred thousand more copies than Dylan's album and was listed in the Top 40 of Billboard's Year End Top albums for 1974, while Planet Waves did not make the Top 50.

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link

Reception

Jon Landau, writing in Rolling Stone, stated Simon's ..."Hotcakes is playful-sounding with some serious overtones — a balance that best suits her for the time being."[2] He also stated that "'Think I'm Gonna Have a Baby,' 'Forever My Love' and especially 'Haven't Got Time for the Pain' are substantial songs and performances, superior to almost everything else she has so far recorded."[2]

William Ruhlmann's more recent review for Allmusic rated the album four out of five stars. Ruhlmann wrote, Hotcakes was "an autobiographical concept album that defined domestic bliss at a time when Simon's listeners also were catching their breath and turning inward." Shortly after its release, Hotcakes was certified Gold by the RIAA, for sales "of one million dollars at manufacturer's level" in the United States.[3] David Geffen, the then President of Elektra/Asylum was quoted in a 1974 Rolling Stone article that Hotcakes had sold 1 million units in the US up to that point.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Carly Simon, except where indicated.

Side one

  1. "Safe and Sound" (Simon, Jacob Brackman) - 3:40
  2. "Mind on My Man" - 2:59
  3. "Think I'm Gonna Have a Baby" - 3:57
  4. "Older Sister" - 3:09
  5. "Just Not True" - 5:19
  6. "Hotcakes" - 1:09

Side two

  1. "Misfit" - 3:07
  2. "Forever My Love" (Simon, James Taylor) - 3:27
  3. "Mockingbird" (Inez and Charlie Foxx, with additional lyrics by Taylor) – 4:14
  4. "Grownup" - 3:46
  5. "Haven't Got Time for the Pain" (Simon, Brackman) - 3:54

Personnel

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
1974 Pop Albums 3[4]

Album - International

Year Country Position
1974 Australia 9[5]
1974 Canada 7[6]
1974 Japan 39[7]
1974 United Kingdom 19[8]

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year Single Chart Position
1974 "Haven't Got Time for the Pain" Adult Contemporary 2
1974 "Haven't Got Time for the Pain" Pop Singles 14
1974 "Mockingbird" Adult Contemporary 10
1974 "Mockingbird" Pop Singles 5

References

  1. ↑ AllMusic. "Carly Simon Awards". Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  2. 1 2 Landau, J. (June 6, 1974). "Hotcakes". Rolling Stone Magazine. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
  3. ↑ "Carly Simon certifications". RIAA.com. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
  4. ↑ "Carly Simon - Chart history | Billboard". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2015-01-04.
  5. ↑ David Kent (1993). Australian Charts Book 1970—1992. Australian Chart Book Pty Ltd, Turramurra, N.S.W. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  6. ↑ "CAN Charts > Carly Simon". RPM. Retrieved 2015-01-04.
  7. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  8. ↑ "UK Charts > Carly Simon". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2014-01-04.

External links

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