These Are The Good Old Days: The Carly Simon And Jac Holzman Story due this fall

When Elektra Records’ founder Jac Holzman signed Carly Simon to his label in 1970, it was the beginning of an extraordinary friendship. Their story unfolds in a new collection of songs chosen and sequenced by Holzman. He follows the arc of Simon’s meteoric rise with a mix of hits and deep cuts selected from the singer-songwriter’s first three albums.

These Are The Good Old Days: The Carly Simon and Jac Holzman Story will be released on September 15th on CD and 2 LPs via Rhino. In addition, the music will be available from digital and streaming platforms. Simon’s rendition of John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery” from the collection is available now digitally.

The project includes 20 songs remastered for the collection. Most are taken from the Grammy winner’s first three albums, 1971’s Carly Simon, 1971’s Anticipation, and 1972’s No Secrets. They’re joined by an outtake of Simon covering John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery” and the previously unreleased demo for “Alone.”

The new set touches on some of Simon’s biggest songs with “That’s The Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be,” a Top 10 hit in 1970, and “Anticipation,” a No. 13 hit from 1971, whose refrain serves as the title to the new collection. Also included is the No. 1 smash “You’re So Vain,” which, in 1973, topped the singles chart for three weeks in the US, where it was certified gold. Years later, in 2004, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. However, for most of the collection, Holzman focuses on deep tracks like “The Love’s Still Growing,” “Our First Day Together,” and “Embrace Me, You Child.”

The demo debuts here for “Alone,” a song that would appear later on Carly Simon. This early recording was part of the five-song demo Simon made in 1970 with a band fronted by session ace David Bromberg. She sent the tape to three record labels that year, Columbia, Atlantic, and Elektra. Holzman—who first saw Simon perform in Greenwich Village with her sister in the late ’60s—invited Simon to lunch, where they forged the lasting friendship celebrated in this collection.

In the booklet accompanying the set, music historian Ted Olson details Simon and Holzman’s short (three albums in three years) but successful partnership. It’s illustrated with rare photos from the period, and the commentary by Olson includes fresh insights from new interviews conducted with Simon and Holzman expressly for this set.

  1. Anticipation
  2. It Was So Easy
  3. Alone (Demo) [Previously Unreleased]
  4. The Best Thing
  5. Dan, My Fling
  6. I’ve Got to Have You
  7. The Love’s Still Growing
  8. Summer’s Coming Around Again
  9. Our First Day Together
  10. Embrace Me, You Child
  11. Legend In Your Own Time
  12. That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be
  13. The Carter Family
  14. Angel From Montgomery (Outtake)
  15. Julie Through The Glass
  16. His Friends Are More Than Fond of Robin
  17. Reunions
  18. The Right Thing to Do
  19. We Have No Secrets
  20. You’re So Vain