Carly Simon: The Best of Carly Simon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Carly Simon: The Best of Carly Simon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 3, 2025

Note: For the ninth grouped assortment of Quadio Blu-ray releases, Rhino is doing something a bit unusual, offering Greatest Hits (or something similar) albums from the New Seekers, Bread, Carly Simon and Judy Collins.

Rhino released a Quadio version of No Secrets almost a year ago as this review is being written, and in my review of that release, I mentioned how Simon had the perhaps unfortunate experience to have had her first album released at almost the exact same moment as a little effort from another female singer songwriter, Tapestry, came out and took the world by storm. To perhaps inartfully paraphrase a certain statement from a supposed elder, nonetheless she persisted and by the time this 1975 Greatest Hits (or something similar) collection came out, Simon had amassed several signature singles and some pretty commanding album sales. Kind of interestingly in terms of this particular collection, if the all knowing internets are to be believed, this came out in November 1975, several months after one of my personal favorite albums by Simon, Playing Possum (and not just because of another patently provocative cover from Simon), but only Attitude Dancing from that album is included here, despite the fact that Waterfall from the album was almost as big of an Adult Contemporary hit at least as the earlier single.

The album's track list can be seen in the screenshots of the disc menu I've uploaded to accompany this review.

Carly Simon: The Best of Carly Simon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As alluded to above, this disc features a static menu. In the "continuing adventures" (?) of Rhino's variant authoring of these discs, this is one where the audio button does nothing and you have to navigate through the track list to change the audio codec. The song starts over if the codec is changed. Screenshots 9 and 10 show how the color of the track changes if you scroll through the list before choosing something.

Carly Simon: The Best of Carly Simon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Best of Carly Simon features DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. It might seem like a bit of a cheat in terms of this album offering four tracks from the previously released No Secrets, but the good news is the "new" tracks offered here all sound really beautifully spacious in their quadraphonic presentations. Even moody, quiet ballads like That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be really benefit from the surround repurposing, with Carly's plaintive voice front and center, and really evocative entrances in the rear channels by the high piano accents and drums in the rear channels (interestingly the actual chordal accompaniment on piano is also toward the front). More relatively boisterous tunes like Mockingbird and You're So Vain offer widely imaged instrumentation and some really appealingly clear sound reproduction. The vocal separation between Carly and James on Mockingbird is especially directional and enjoyable.

Carly Simon: The Best of Carly Simon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no on disc supplements like bonus tracks. The insert booklet reproduces some of the album art along with the Quadio standard picture of a master tape and the usual "bass management" verbiage on the back cover. The disc is labelled like the vintage Elektra album with a butterfly logo.

Carly Simon: The Best of Carly Simon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Carly kind of seemed like an "also ran" at times when stacked up against the likes of Joni, Carole, and Laura (not to mention some of the others I allude to in my Carly Simon: No Secrets Blu-ray review), but this more or less greatest hits collection proves what a winning presence she herself has always been. The Quadio mix is beautifully immersive and boasts excellent fidelity. It may be worth mentioning that Rhino's website had this listed as "sold out" some time ago, so those interested may want to jump on Amazon's listing before the really expensive secondary market kicks in. Recommended.