Singer-songwriter Carly Simon, who has won just about every prestigious music award imaginable (along with an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), has performed live infrequently throughout her career. Simon has admittedly suffered on occasion from stage fright. This is surprising given her many gifts as an artist. Simon is an engaging performer with one of the most commanding vocal styles in pop music history.
Regardless of her bouts with stage fright, she does like to ham it up a little when she does perform, but in a playful way. She is also a performer that you simply can’t take your eyes off of when she sings, with her wide, disarming smile and statuesque countenance. It helps that she has such a vast catalog of her own remarkable timeless songs to draw from and the ability to interpret everything from rock, folk, and pop, to soul, jazz, and classical. When Simon does perform, it’s quite a treat and thankfully she has released several live albums and videos.
For fans of Simon and for the many who may not have had the opportunity to see her perform live, she has done two HBO specials of live concerts: Live From Martha’s Vineyard in 1987 and Carly in Concert: My Romance from 1990, which has never been released on DVD or Blu-ray. There is a companion album to the Martha’s Vineyard concert: Greatest Hits Live, released in 1988.
In 2005, Simon released the live A Moonlight Serenade on the Queen Mary 2 on DVD. Prior to that live project, Simon did a Lifetime Special, Carly Simon: Live at Grand Central, which is now finally available on Blu-ray, CD, and as a double album, gatefold vinyl release. These new packages have a slightly different running order than the original DVD and add one more song (“Like A River”). There are no extras and the audio is only available in two-channel stereo.