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Boys in the Trees

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For Simon's memoir, see Boys in the Trees (memoir). For the 2016 Australian film, see Boys in the Trees (film).

Boys in the Trees
Studio album by
Carly Simon
ReleasedApril 1978
RecordedAtlantic and A & R, New York City
GenreRock • pop • blue-eyed soul • disco
Length35:46
LabelElektra
ProducerArif Mardin
Carly Simon chronology
Another Passenger
(1976) 		Boys in the Trees
(1978) 		Spy
(1979)
Singles from Boys in the Trees
  1. "You Belong to Me"
    Released: April 1978
  2. "Devoted to You"
    Released: August 1978
  3. "Tranquillo (Melt My Heart)"
    Released: November 1978

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

The lead single, "You Belong to Me", reached No. 6 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart, becoming Simon's fifth Top 10 pop hit, and earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. The second single, a remake of the Everly Brothers' 1958 hit "Devoted to You" (sung as a duet with then-husband James Taylor), also reached the Top 40, peaking at No. 36. The singles also hit the Top 10 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, peaking at No. 4 and No. 2, respectively. The track "Tranquillo (Melt My Heart)" reached No. 86 on the US Cashbox Pop chart.[1] Boys in the Trees became one of Simon's biggest selling albums, and was officially certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on August 7, 1978, for sales of over one million copies in the United States alone.[2]

Reception and packaging

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Christgau's Record GuideC+[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[5]

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."[6]

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, William Ruhlmann wrote that "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."[3] Cash Box said of the single "Tranquillo (Melt My Heart)" that a "funky arrangement of guitars, horns and strings follow a stepping beat" and praised Simon's "clean" vocal.[7] "Boys in the Trees" is often played live by Tori Amos. "I used to listen to this song over and over, wishing I'd wrote it," Amos once said of the track.[8]

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 the Grammy Award for Best Album Package, the Grammy went to Johnny Lee and Tony Lane.[9]

Awards

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Year Award Category Work Recipient(s) Result Ref.
1979 Grammy Awards Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female "You Belong to Me" Carly Simon Nominated [10]
Best Album Package Boys in the Trees Johnny Lee and Tony Lane Won [9]

Track listing

[edit]

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.[11]

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."You Belong to Me"
3:52
2."Boys in the Trees"Simon3:13
3."Back Down to Earth"Simon3:08
4."Devoted to You"Boudleaux Bryant2:29
5."De Bat (Fly in Me Face)"Simon2:28
6."Haunting"Simon2:28
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Tranquillo (Melt My Heart)"
4:02
2."You're the One"Simon3:38
3."In a Small Moment"Simon3:08
4."One Man Woman"Taylor3:39
5."For Old Times Sake"
3:41
Total length:35:46

Personnel

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Musicians

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  • Carly Simon – lead vocals, backing vocals (1, 7, 8, 11), acoustic guitar (2, 3, 11)
  • 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 (1, 8, 10)
  • Will Lee – bass (3, 4)
  • Tony Levin – bass (7, 8, 9)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • 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 – strings

Production

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  • 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

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Album - Billboard (United States)[12]

Year Chart Position
1978 Billboard 200 10

Album - International

Year Country Position
1978 Australia[13] 27
Canada[14] 4

Singles - Billboard (United States)[12]

Year Single Chart Position
1978 "You Belong to Me" Adult Contemporary 4
Hot 100 6
"Devoted to You" Adult Contemporary 2
Country Singles 33
Hot 100 36

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[15] Platinum 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ "Cash Box Top Singles". Cash Box. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  2. ^ "American certifications – Carly Simon". Recording Industry Association of America. Archived from the original on May 24, 2022. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  3. ^ a b Ruhlmann, William. "Boys in the Trees". AllMusic. Archived from the original on October 21, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2007.
  4. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: S". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 12, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  5. ^ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 635.
  6. ^ Maslin, Janet (June 15, 1978). "Boys in the Trees review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 6, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  7. ^ "CashBox Singles Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. November 11, 1978. p. 19. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  8. ^ Vallese, Joe (October 1, 2012). "The Top Tori Amos Covers". PopMatters. Archived from the original on July 23, 2017. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  9. ^ a b "Awards". Carlysimon.com. Archived from the original on February 20, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  10. ^ "Carly Simon". The Recording Academy. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  11. ^ Boys in the Trees (booklet). Carly Simon. Elektra. 1978.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  12. ^ a b "Carly Simon – Chart history". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 21, 2022. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  13. ^ David Kent (1993). Australian Charts Book 1970—1992. Australian Chart Book Pty Ltd, Turramurra, N.S.W. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  14. ^ "CAN Charts > Carly Simon". RPM. Archived from the original on January 4, 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  15. ^ "American album certifications – Carly Simon – Hotcakes". Recording Industry Association of America.
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