by MacKenzie WilsonAccomplished singer/songwriter Carly Simon gets back to where it all started on her first brand new release of original material in six years, The Bedroom Tapes. She taps into the realm of traditional American music, continuing to draw inspiration from Broadway show tunes, jazz blues standards, folk-pop, and rock & roll. She is as a raw as she was on 1975's Playing Possum and just as sweet as 1987's Coming Around Again, but Simon is fresh. Although in her mid-fifties, she is still a charmer. Always frolicking with romance and the despair it sometimes brings, songs like "Our Affair" and "Cross the River" salt the wounds. She isn't entirely melodramatic, she also makes room to poke a little fun. "I'm Really the Kind" sashes at her witty self, critical of her own desires. "We Your Dearest Friends" is a haunting look at how personal judgment comes full circle. The Bedroom Tapes is pure, and Carly Simon proves herself to be well grounded. Not that listeners didn't already know that.