Why is it that in most photos of singer songwriter Carly Simon, she has her head thrown back, eyes closed and is laughing her head off? There she goes again, on the back cover of this album.

Perhaps she's just really happy about her latest opus, This Kind Of Love. For her first collection of originals since 2000, Carly has flavoured her songs with the soft beats of Brazilian music. Some of it works quite nicely, like the languid title track and album highlight Island. Carly even raps (sort of) on People Say A Lot.

Carly Simon
This Kind Of Love
(Universal)

by SHANE COOPER