Carly Simon was onto something, naming her album after Anais Nin's book of erotic fiction A Spy in the House of Love, and she used the concept to come up with songs about maintaining the passion in a long-term relationship.
But she didn't follow through completely, devoting two songs (including the singles chart entry "Vengeance") to attempts to remake "You're So Vain" and returning to producer Arif Mardin and his New York jazz-pop session men for an inappropriately slick and overdone sound.
(Whoever expected a Carly Simon album with a drum solo on it?) Commercial considerations, in other words, marred what could have been an interesting concept album which still, despite the compromises, contained several good songs.
And, of course, the commercial considerations were misplaced -- the album became Simon's worst seller and prefaced her departure from Elektra Records.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VengeanceCarly Simon | Carly Simon | Play | 04:14 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 2 | Just Like You DoCarly Simon | Carly Simon | Play | 04:14 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 3 | We're So CloseCarly Simon | Carly Simon | Play | 05:10 | 11 MB | 31 MB |
| 4 | Coming to Get YouCarly Simon | Carly Simon | Play | 02:49 | 6 MB | 18 MB |
| 5 | Never Been GoneJacob Brackman, Carly Simon | Carly Simon | Play | 03:36 | 8 MB | 19 MB |
| 6 | Pure SinFrank Carillo, Carly Simon | Carly Simon | Play | 03:56 | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| 7 | Love You by HeartJacob Brackman, Carly Simon, Libby Titus | Carly Simon | Play | 03:58 | 9 MB | 24 MB |
| 8 | SpyArif Mardin, Carly Simon, James Taylor | Carly Simon | Play | 04:14 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 9 | Memorial DayCarly Simon | Carly Simon | Play | 08:29 | 19 MB | 53 MB |
| 40 mins | 93 MB | |||||
| 40 mins | 257 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonathan Abramowitz | Strings |
| 2 | Lamar Alsop | Strings |
| 3 | Arif Ardin | Arranger |
| 4 | Peter Ballin | Sax (Alto), Saxophone |
| 5 | Peter Ballini | Sax (Alto) |
| 6 | Julien Barber | Strings |
| 7 | Errol Crusher Bennett | Congas, Percussion |
| 8 | Warren Bernhardt | Guest Artist, Keyboards, Piano, Piano (Electric) |
| 9 | Kenneth Bichel | Moog Synthesizer, Polymoog, Synthesizer |
| 10 | Phil Bodner | Strings |
| 11 | Gail Boggs | Vocals |
| 12 | Jacob Brackman | Composer |
| 13 | Michael Brecker | Guest Artist, Sax (Tenor), Saxophone |
| 14 | Randy Brecker | Guest Artist, Trumpet |
| 15 | James Buffington | Strings |
| 16 | Frederick Buldrini | Strings |
| 17 | Frank Carillo | Composer, Guitar |
| 18 | Joe Caro | Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric) |
| 19 | Cliff Carter | Bass, Synthesizer |
| 20 | Rafael Cruz | Cowbell, Percussion |
| 21 | Raphael Cruz | Bells, Congas, Percussion |
| 22 | Tim Curry | Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 23 | Jean R. Dane | Strings |
| 24 | Eddie Daniels | Strings |
| 25 | Lew Del Gatto | Sax (Baritone), Saxophone |
| 26 | Peter Dimitriades | Strings |
| 27 | Lewis Eley | Strings |
| 28 | Steve Gadd | Drums, Guest Artist |
| 29 | Joe Gastwirt | Mastering |
| 30 | Paul Gershman | Strings |
| 31 | Don Grolnick | Choir/Chorus, Clarinet, Clavinet, Keyboards, Piano |
| 32 | Lewis Hahn | Engineer, Mixing |
| 33 | John Hall | Guitar, Guitar (Electric) |
| 34 | Bob Heimall | Art Direction, Design |
| 35 | Ted Hoyle | Strings |
| 36 | Regis Iandiorio | Strings |
| 37 | Teddy Isreal | Strings |
| 38 | Harold Kohon | Strings |
| 39 | Hubert Laws | Flute, Guest Artist |
| 40 | Will Lee | Bass |
| 41 | Tony Levin | Bass, Guest Artist |
| 42 | Jesse Levy | Strings |
| 43 | Guy Lumia | Strings |
| 44 | Mike Mainieri | Keyboards, Vibraphone, Vocals |
| 45 | Joseph Malin | Strings |
| 46 | Tom "Bones" Malone | Trombone |
| 47 | Arif Mardin | Composer, Horn Arrangements, Producer, String Arrangements |
| 48 | Rick Marotta | Drums |
| 49 | Richard Maximoff | Strings |
| 50 | Ullanda McCullough | Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 51 | Ian McLaughlin | Keyboards, Piano |
| 52 | Billy Mernit | Piano |
| 53 | Kermit Moore | Strings |
| 54 | Eugene J. Moye | Strings |
| 55 | Gene Orloff | Concert Master, Strings |
| 56 | Andy Paley | Mastering Supervisor |
| 57 | Tony Posk | Strings |
| 58 | Matthew Raimondi | Strings |
| 59 | David Sanborn | Guest Artist, Sax (Alto), Saxophone |
| 60 | Alan Shulman | Strings |
| 61 | Carly Simon | Composer, Guitar, Piano, Primary Artist, Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 62 | Lucy Simon | Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 63 | David Spinozza | Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric) |
| 64 | Mitsue Takayama | Strings |
| 65 | Gerald Tarack | Strings |
| 66 | James Taylor | Composer, Guest Artist, Guitar, Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 67 | Richard Tee | Clarinet, Clavinet, Keyboards, Piano (Electric) |
| 68 | Libby Titus | Composer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |