Happy 45th: Carly Simon, HOTCAKES

45 years ago today, Carly Simon released her fourth studio album, an LP which subsequently became one of the best-selling albums of her career, thanks at least partially to the duet she performed with her then-husband, James Taylor.

Produced by Richard Perry, HOTCAKES was a coast-to-coast recording, with Simon starting work on the album at the Producers Workshop in Los Angeles before moving to The Hit Factory in New York City to complete the proceedings. Given that she was in the midst of her pregnancy with her first child, it’s perhaps unsurprisingly that Simon looked pretty darned cheery on the album cover, and she would have even more reason to smile when the album climbed all the way to #3 on the Billboard 200.

The album’s two big hit singles remain two of the most famous singles of Simon’s career: “Mockingbird,” the aforementioned duet between Simon and Taylor, and “Haven’t Got Time for the Pain,” a moving number which caught the fancy of radio listeners at the time. It hit #14 on the Hot 100, #2 on the Adult Contemporary Singles chart, but for those of us who lived through the ‘80s, it’s hard not to think of the Medipren commercials that borrowed the song.

Sadly, Simon’s marriage to Taylor wasn’t destined to last for the long haul, but as for HOTCAKES, it’s still sounds fresh off the griddle…or something like that.