Boys in the Trees

Boys in the Trees
Studio album by Carly Simon
Released	April 1978
Recorded	Atlantic Studios and A&R Studios, NYC.
Genre	Rock • pop • blue-eyed soul • disco
Length	35:46
Label	Elektra
Producer	Arif Mardin
Carly Simon chronology
Another Passenger (1976) Boys in the Trees (1978) Spy (1979)
Singles from Boys in the Trees
"You Belong to Me[1]" Released: April 1978 "Devoted to You[2]" Released: August 1978 "Tranquillo (Melt My Heart)[3]" Released: November 1978

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Christgau's Record Guide	C+[4]

Boys in the Trees is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Carly Simon, released in 1978.

The album included "You Belong to Me", which reached No. 6 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and became Simon's fifth Top 10 pop hit. Another track, a remake of The Everly Brothers' 1958 hit "Devoted to You", sung as a duet with then-husband James Taylor, also made the Top 40 at No. 36.^[5] The singles also hit the Top 10 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, peaking at No. 4 and No. 2, respectively.

The photo featured on the front cover of the album was expertly airbrushed to paint a Danskin top on what was a topless photo of Simon. The album won a Grammy for Best Album Package, the Grammy went to Johnny Lee and Tony Lane.^[6]

Reception[]

Janet Maslin, writing in Rolling Stone, stated "Boys in the Trees is Carly Simon's most serene accomplishment to date, but its moods vary dramatically enough to indicate that peace of mind comes at a high price." When praising the single "You Belong to Me", Maslin went on to write, "It's a number that could easily have been belted out or growled à la "You're So Vain", but this time Simon prefers to sound more like a cat who's been dining on canary. Somehow, she's a lot more compelling using a gently chiding tone than she is striking a come-hither-or-else pose."^[7]

Allmusic's William Ruhlmann rated the album retrospectively a three out of five, writing "...what really made the album a winner was that Simon had had a couple of years to write some strong songs in her unflinching, reflective style, and she continued to explore the loves and mores of her age and class movingly." Boys in the Trees has been certified Platinum by the RIAA, for sales of over 1,000,000 copies in the United States alone.^[8]

Cover versions[]

• "You Belong to Me" was covered by Anita Baker for the 1990 compilation album Rubáiyát: Elektra's 40th Anniversary (later included on Baker's Rhythm of Love album). Jennifer Lopez covered the song on her 2002 album This Is Me... Then. More recently, Chaka Khan remade the song as a duet with its co-writer Michael McDonald on her Grammy Award-winning 2007 album Funk This from which it was also released as a radio single.
• "Boys in the Trees" is often played live by Tori Amos.

Awards[]

21st Annual Grammy Awards

Track listing[]

All tracks are written by Carly Simon, except where indicated.

Personnel[]

• Carly Simon – lead vocals, backing vocals (1, 7, 8, 11), acoustic guitar (2, 3, 11)
• Richard Tee – Fender Rhodes, (1, 4), acoustic piano (3, 8, 10)
• Ken Bichel – acoustic piano (6), Fender Rhodes (9), ARP synthesizer (9)
• Don Grolnick – Fender Rhodes (7), ARP String Ensemble (7)
• Cornell Dupree – electric guitar (1, 8, 10)
• Eric Gale – electric guitar (1)
• Jeff Mironov – acoustic guitar (2), electric guitar (3)
• John Hall – electric guitar (3), backing vocals (5)
• Hugh McCracken – electric guitar solo (4)
• Hamish Stuart – guitar (7), backing vocals (7, 8)
• Onnie McIntyre – guitar (7)
• Stuart Scharf – electric guitar (9), acoustic guitar (11), autoharp (11)
• Gordon Edwards – bass guitar (1, 8, 10)
• Will Lee – bass guitar (3, 4)
• Tony Levin – bass guitar (7, 8, 9)
• Steve Gadd – drums (1-4, 6-10)
• David Carey – marimba (2)
• Rubens Bassini – percussion (5)
• Errol "Crusher" Bennett – bass drum (5), congas (5), percussion (10)
• David Sanborn – alto saxophone (1)
• Harvey Estrin – soprano and tenor recorders (2)
• George Marge – soprano and tenor recorders (2)
• Phil Bodner – oboe (6)
• Gloria Agostini – harp (6)
• Margaret Ross – harp (6)
• Joe Farrell – flute (9)
• Michael Brecker – tenor saxophone (10)
• Arif Mardin – horn and string arrangements, conductor, glass harmonica (11)
• Gene Orloff – concertmaster
• James Taylor – backing vocals (1, 2, 5, 7), acoustic guitar (2-5), vocal arrangement (5), horn arrangements (7)
• Harvey Estrin – alto saxophone
• George Young – alto saxophone
• Ronnie Cuber – baritone saxophone
• Jaroslav Jakubovič – baritone saxophone
• Eddie Bert – trombone
• Barry Rogers – trombone
• Randy Brecker – trumpet
• James Buffington – French horn
• Brooks Tillotson – French horn
• Roderick George – backing vocals (5)
• Luther Vandross – backing vocals (5)
• Ken Williams – backing vocals (5)
• Steven Dickson – backing vocals (6)
• Marc Embree – backing vocals (6)
• Alyia Orme – backing vocals (6)
• Joanna Simon – backing vocals (6)
• Lucy Simon – backing vocals (6)
• Cissy Houston – backing vocals (7)
• Alex Ligertwood – backing vocals (8)
• Strings – Jonathan Abramowitz, Lamar Alsop, Julien Barber, Alfred Brown, Fredrick Buldrini, Paul Gershman, Ted Hoyle, Theodore Israel, Harold Kohon, Jesse Levy, Charles Libove, Guy Lumia, Joe Malin, Yoko Matsuo, Homer Mensch, Kermit Moore, Marvin Morgenstern, Alan Shulman, Mitsue Takayama and Gerald Tarack

Production[]

• Producer – Arif Mardin
• Recorded and Mixed by Lew Hahn
• Engineer – Bobby Warner
• Assistant Engineers – Ollie Cotton, Bill Dooley, Tom Heid and Mike O'Reilly.
• Mastered by George Piros at Atlantic Studios (New York, NY).
• Art Direction and Design – Tony Lane and Johnny Lee
• Photography – Deborah Turbeville

Charts[]

Album - Billboard (North America)

Album - International

Singles - Billboard (North America)

References[]

External links[]

• Carly Simon's Official Website