The Sound of Si…mon and Garfunkel

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Full run through of all collaborative and solo albums from 1964 until now. There was a release in 2002 of their youthful recordings as 'Tom and Jerry', which is an interesting listen, mainly because it shows how many young boys at the time were desperate to jump on the Rock n Roll bandwagon.

Here's the full list of 30 albums that have spanned their careers so far:

Wednesday Morning 3 A.M. (S&G - 1964) 

The Paul Simon Songbook (PS- 1965) 

Sounds of Silence (S&G - 1966) 

Parsley, Sage Rosemary and Thyme (S&G - 1966) 

The Graduate (S&G - 1968) 

Bookends (S&G - 1968) 

Bridge Over Troubled Water (S&G) 

Paul Simon (PS - 1972) 

There Goes Rhymin' Simon (PS - 1973) 

Angel Claire (AG - 1973) 

Breakaway (AG - 1975) 

Still Crazy After All These Years (PS - 1975) 

Watermark (AG - 1977) 

Fate For Breakfast (AG - 1979) 

One Trick Pony (PS - 1980) 

Scissors Cut - (AG - 1981) 

Hearts and Bones (PS - 1983) 

The Animals Christmas (AG - 1985) 

Graceland (PS- 1986) 

Lefty (AG - 1988) 

The Rhythm of The Saints (PS - 1990) 

Songs from a Parent to a Child (AG - 1997) 

Songs from the Capeman (PS - 1997) 

You're the One (PS - 2000) 

Everything Wants to be Noticed (AG - 2002) 

Surprise (PS -2006) 

So Beautiful or So What (PS - 2011) 

Stranger to Stranger (PS - 2016) 

In the Blue Light (PS - 2018)

Seven Psalms (PS - 2023)

Released 19th October 1964

WEDNESDAY MORNING 3.A.M. - Simon and Garfunkel

Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. is the debut studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Following their early gig as "Tom and Jerry", Columbia Records signed the two in late 1963. It was produced by Tom Wilson and engineered by Roy Halee. The cover and the label include the subtitle exciting new sounds in the folk tradition. Recorded in March 1964, the album was released on October 19.

The album was initially unsuccessful, so Paul Simon moved to London, England and finished his first solo album The Paul Simon Songbook. Art Garfunkel continued his studies at Columbia University in his native New York City, before reuniting with Simon in late 1965. Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. was re-released in January 1966 (to capitalize on their newly found radio success because of the overdubbing of the song "The Sound of Silence" in June 1965, adding electric guitars, bass guitar and a drum kit), and reached No. 30 on the Billboard 200. It was belatedly released in the UK two years later (in 1968) in both mono and stereo formats.

I imagined success came quickly for Simon and Garfunkel. With The Sound Of Silence in their back pocket you'd think the contemprary press would have picked them up quickly. But it doesn't appear to be so. When I looked for reviews of the album in 1964 I found nothing, just a few listings in Billboard, and the tale told on Wikipedia is that it flopped and Simon went off to London to make The Paul Simon Songbook while Garfunkel got his head down on his teaching degree at Columbia University in New York City.

It splits into original songs and covers, which you could further filter into 'Trad. Arr Simon' and the rest. The covers tend toward Christian-folk songs despite them both being of Jewish decent. I listened to the originals (Ed MCurdy's 'Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream' and Bob Gibson's 'You Can Tell The World') and their approach seems to be to play down the guitar gospel side of things and focus on gentler two part harmonies. They also give Dylan's 'The Times They Are A Changin'' a similar treatment. I created a short playlist of original followed by S&G versions. I couldn't find the Ian Campbell Folk Group's original of 'The Sun Is Burning'

They also do 'Go Tell It On The Mountain' which I seem to recall we used to belt out every once in a while in junior school assemblies along with 'Kumbaya' and 'When The Saints Come Marching In'. It was the early seventies, what can I say? They actually adopt quite a different tune to the one I know.

This has the first iteration of 'Sound Of Silence', we're going to get it again on the next two albums in the sequence and it will also turn up on The Graduate soundtrack.This is the "acoustic version" so and it's a little more subdued than later versions. 'Bleecker Street' is a maybe the first of many Simon tributes to New York City. Elsewhere he attempts an original traditional folk song with 'Sparrow'.

There's one song that plays the sore thumb in the tracklist. 'Benedictus' is a monastic chant given the acoustic folk guitar treatment. It's an innovative step too far for me.

You Can Tell the World

Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream

Bleecker Street

Sparrow

Benedictus

The Sound of Silence

He Was My Brother

Peggy-O

Go Tell It on the Mountain

The Sun Is Burning

The Times They Are a-Changin'

Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.

---

Released: August 1965

THE PAUL SIMON SONGBOOK - Paul Simon

The Paul Simon Songbook is the debut solo studio album by Paul Simon. It was released in the UK in 1965. It was made available in the US as part of the LP box set Paul Simon: Collected Works (1981). The album was produced by Reginald Warburton and Stanley West as Columbia/CBS Records LP BPG 62579 in the UK; remastered CD Columbia/Legacy/SME CK 90281.

The Paul Simon Songbook was recorded in London. Simon made several trips to England in 1964 and '65, performing in small clubs and theaters. During 1965 he played in Paris, Haarlem, and Copenhagen, along with London and other locations in the UK. In 1964, Simon and Art Garfunkel had released the folk-inspired album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. in the US. While Simon was touring and appearing on radio shows in England in 1965 (sometimes with Garfunkel), he began to receive attention from fans. At the time Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. had not yet been released in Britain (and would not be until 1968). Simon's other recordings then available in Britain consisted of three 45 rpm singles released on various labels, two of which were rock 'n' roll-inspired recordings with Garfunkel under the name Tom & Jerry. The other was representative of his experiments in folk but had been released in 1964 under the pseudonym Paul Kane. He was still under contract to Columbia, so he could record for their British label, CBS Records, and therefore decided to record a set of tracks for release to his folk audience. The Paul Simon Songbook was the result.

Simon recorded the album at Levy's Recording Studio, 73 New Bond Street, London, over several dates in June 1965. Most of the songs required several takes. He only had one microphone for both his voice and his guitar.^{[citation needed]} Two songs ("The Sound of Silence" and "He Was My Brother") were re-recordings of songs originally found on Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.. Of the remaining songs, all but two ("A Church is Burning" and "The Side Of A Hill") would be subsequently re-recorded in studio versions by Simon and Garfunkel. However, the lyrics to "The Side of a Hill" were later reworked by Garfunkel as "Canticle" and sung as counterpoint to Scarborough Fair on the duo's third album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. The lyrics to both "The Side of a Hill" and "Canticle" are notably absent from his 2008 volume Lyrics 1964–2008.

It's quite hard to gauge the level of well-knownedness of Simon and Garfunkel at this time. The first album doesn't seem to have had much impact but they seem to have gained some traction with Sound Of Silence. For this Simon had been spending time in the UK and this was made in London. Without Art, he's a little harder edged and his Dylan inspired ambitions are more apparent. Also, this is all his own work, as suggested by the album title.

First track is 'I am a Rock', which gives the impression in the way that it's delivered that it's a song of pride and defiance, but as soon as you consider the lyrics it's all loneliness, isolation and coping strategies. It came as a surprise to me when I started to listen to it properly.

'Leaves That Are Green' is notable for it's opening line: "I was 21 years when I wrote this song, I'm 22 now but I won't be for long". Billy Bragg stole it wholesale for 'A New England'. His defence seems to go along the lines of "well it's a good line and I was young". He's right about it being a great line.

As noted above, Sound of Silence comes up a lot on the early albums. It's another one that can be easily misread, especially if you consider the S&G versions, which could be mistaken for a lullaby, rather than a rather grim and despairing urban-religious soundscape. Simon's version here brings out the true meaning more effectively.

There's also a Dylan piss-take. 'A Simple Desultory Phillipic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd Into Submission)' Artie gets a name check. Simon gives the impression he thinks his song is a total hoot, but maybe it hasn't aged well. Also he introduces it but replaces "Robert McNamara", with "Lyndon Johnson". This will turn up again on 'Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme'

The rest is the kind of sixties troubadour fare you might expect. Whilst speculating on the artwork with a friend this week it seems it's pulling elements from a couple of songs. There's girlfriend Kathy Chitty and wet cobblestoned streets. We got nowhere with the dolls though.

I Am a Rock

Leaves That Are Green

A Church is Burning

April Come She Will

The Sound of Silence

A Most Peculiar Man

He Was My Brother

Kathy's Song

The Side of a Hill

A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)

Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall

Patterns

Released 17th January 1966

SOUNDS OF SILENCE - Simon and Garfunkel

Sounds of Silence is the second studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, released on January 17, 1966. The album's title is a slight modification of the title of the duo's first major hit, "The Sound of Silence", which originally was released as "The Sounds of Silence".^[2] The song had earlier been released in an acoustic version on the album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., and later on the soundtrack to the movie The Graduate. Without the knowledge of Paul Simon or Art Garfunkel, electric guitars, bass and drums were overdubbed by Columbia Records staff producer Tom Wilson on June 15, 1965.^[3][4] This new version was released as a single in September 1965, and opens the album.

"Homeward Bound" was released on the album in the UK, placed at the beginning of Side 2 before "Richard Cory". It was later released in the US on the following album, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. It was also released as part of the box set Simon & Garfunkel Collected Works, on both LP and CD. Many of the songs in the album had been written by Paul Simon while he lived in London during 1965.

Solo acoustic versions of "I Am a Rock", "Leaves That Are Green", "April Come She Will", "A Most Peculiar Man", and "Kathy's Song" had appeared on The Paul Simon Songbook, released in August 1965 in England as had another version of the title track. "Richard Cory" was based on the poem "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson, "Somewhere They Can't Find Me" was essentially a rewrite of the previous album's "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.", "We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin'" had appeared on the b-side of "The Sound of Silence" a few months before and "Anji" was a cover of an instrumental piece by guitarist Davey Graham whom Simon had met in England. Hence the only brand new Paul Simon composition on the album was "Blessed".

The history goes that Sound of Silence was tinkered with without their knowledge (and with their disapproval) and became a hit, so Simon abandoned the UK and they got this out with a certain amount of haste on the record company's orders. It shares 6 of Simon's songs from the Songbook. Of the rest 'Somewhere They Can't Find Me' has more of a pop feel, and the following 'Anji' feels like an instrumental reprise of it.

I learned of the poem Richard Cory by Edward Arlington Robinson through listening to this, The oringial poem describes Cory as a wealthy and admired individual who ends up killing himself. Whilst there is a hint of resentment in the poem for Cory gaining wealth from the poverty of others, Simon and Garfunkel spell it all out a bit more clearly.

Not on here, but released around the same time as a single is 'Homeward Bound', which had to wait until Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme for an album release. It does seem to be important for going hand in hand in contributing to their sudden rise in popularity in early 1966.

Looking shifty on the cover.

The Sound of Silence

Leaves That Are Green

Blessed

Kathy's Song

Somewhere They Can't Find Me

Anji

Richard Cory

A Most Peculiar Man

April Come She Will

We've Got a Groovey Thing Goin'

I Am a Rock

Released: october 24th 1966

PARSLEY, SAGE, ROSEMARY AND THYME

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme is the third studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Produced by Bob Johnston, the album was released on October 24, 1966, in the United States by Columbia Records. Following the success of the re-release of their debut single "The Sound of Silence", Simon & Garfunkel regrouped after a time apart while Columbia issued their second album, a rushed collection titled Sounds of Silence. For their third album, the duo spent almost three months in the studio working on instrumentation and production.

The album largely consists of acoustic pieces that were mostly written during Paul Simon's period in England the previous year, including some songs recycled from his debut solo record, The Paul Simon Songbook. The album includes the Garfunkel-led piece "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her", as well as "7 O'Clock News/Silent Night", a combination of news reports of the day (the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, the death of comedian Lenny Bruce), and the Christmas carol "Silent Night".

I seriously considered creating a Simon and Garfunkel album Venn diagram and even got an old school stationery set out to try and find a compass. However, the cross fertilization of songs across all their albums is so extensive I doubt it would have been very comprehensible. Still, they have shaken off Sound Of Silence. I would say 'finally', but rest assured it will be back soon. Simon also goes back for another attempt at 'Patterns' and 'Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall'. He does seem to have a bit of an obsession with the weather comparisons. Rain is a route one song metaphor so if it's cloudy, raining or the cobbled streets are slick with it we know it's probably going to be a downer. Also the risible 'A Simple Desultory Phillipic' gets another bite at the cherry. It's better, but then it couldn't be worse could it?

Wikipedia hedges it's bets on the mythology of Homeward Bound, inserting a doubting 'possibly' into  the assertion that it was written on Widnes Station. Well, they've put up a plaque about it there, so that's good enough for me. It's Simon's writing at it's best, heartfelt, touching and meaningful.

'The 59th Street Bridge Song', which surely everyone calls its bracketed subtitle, 'Feeling Groovy' is a featherlight pleasure and features conversations with lampposts.

The title track is Scarborough fair, which I like well enough, but it does feel over-contrived in comparison to the rest of the album. Also, a pronunciation tip. It's Scar-buh-ruh (or even -bruh), not Scar-bo-ro. Same goes for Edinburgh. Frankly I don't care how you say Middlesbrough. 

At the end we get Silent Night accompanied by a spoken news report. It's not a genuine clip, but specially made for the song. I can see the point, but it's a little obvious.

I did a trawl through the archives and found a piece from Vogue of June 1967, with picture by Richard Avedon that could well be from the same session as the picture I've used at the the top of the post. Vogue staff wirters were certainly a cut above back then, 'Arthur Garfunkel' has "electrified blond hair and the slouch of spaghetti soft sculpture", while Simon is "round, with black eyes and a Roman fringe"

The packaging suggests that the record company really didn't know how to market them. It looks like a classical album. This approach was more common in the Sixties but it does present them as very 'safe'.

Scarborough Fair/Canticle

Patterns

Cloudy

Homeward Bound

The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine

The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)

The Dangling Conversation

Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall

A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)

For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her

A Poem on the Underground Wall

7 O'Clock News/Silent Night

Released: 21st January 1968

THE GRADUATE - Simon and Garfunkel

The Graduate is a 1968 album of songs and music from the soundtrack of Mike Nichols' movie The Graduate. It includes five songs from the folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, including "Mrs. Robinson", a work in progress which Simon adapted to fit the movie, along with several instrumental pieces by Dave Grusin. Released January 21 on Columbia Masterworks, the album was produced by Teo Macero. In March of the following year, Simon and Grusin won the 1968 Grammy Award for "Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special". "Mrs Robinson" received the Grammy for "Record of the Year",^[1] whilst Simon & Garfunkel collected the "Best Contemporary-pop Performance, Vocal Duo or Group" award.^[2][3]

Although the album features two versions of "Mrs. Robinson", neither is the full version as featured on Bookends, which was composed later.^[4] The first consists of relentless, sharp guitar chords, with the "dee-de-dee-dee" sung motif, while the second includes a chorus, before tapering off as it does in the film.^[4] The other major song of the album, the 1965 hit "The Sound of Silence", is used three times in the film. Both songs have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (in 1999 and 2004 respectively).^[1]

^* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^{^} Shipments figures based on certification alone.
^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

I suppose musically this amounts to a review of 'Mrs Robinson'. Everything else has been heard in some form or other before apart from the incidental instrumental pieces by Dave Grusin. I watched the film for the first time and the marrying up of S&G with it doesn't really make sense. Introspective New York folk balladeers for a sex-comedy set in affluent California? Even the specially written song is incongruous, with all its references to Jesus and God. I guess Simon and Garfunkel were recognized as good business at the time.

On the film itself, it's certainly funny. Some bits had me snorting out loud with laughter, but Hoffman and Bancroft are too old and too young respectively, there are just 6 years between them. The brief nudity was completely jarring and unnecessary and much more gratuitous than a lot of stuff that would get the label today. The Robinson's have a bar in their house, which helpfully has a sign stating 'Bar' on it. But, I've watched a lot of films from the late sixties and early seventies recently and it really does feel quite modern. Hoffman deadpans his way through most of it but the crucifix-wielding finale was an unexpected joy.

The Sound of Silence

The Singleman Party Foxtrot

Mrs. Robinson (Version 1)

Sunporch Cha-Cha-Cha

Scarborough Fair/Canticle

On the Strip

April Come She Will

The Folks

Scarborough Fair/Canticle

A Great Effect

The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine

Whew

Mrs. Robinson (Version 2)

The Sound of Silence" (Alternate version)

Released 3rd April 1968

BOOKENDS - Simon and Garfunkel

Bookends is the fourth studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Produced by Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel and Roy Halee, the album was released on April 3, 1968, in the United States by Columbia Records. The duo had risen to fame two years prior with the albums Sounds of Silence and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme and the soundtrack album for the 1967 film The Graduate.

Bookends is a concept album that explores a life journey from childhood to old age. Side one of the album marks successive stages in life, the theme serving as bookends to the life cycle. Side two largely consists of previously-released singles and of unused material for The Graduate soundtrack. Simon's lyrics concern youth, disillusionment, relationships, old age, and mortality. Much of the material was crafted alongside producer John Simon (no relation), who joined the recording when Paul Simon suffered from writer's block. The album was recorded gradually over the period of a year, with production speeding up around the later months of 1967.

Initial sales for Bookends were substantial in the US, and the album produced the number-one single "Mrs. Robinson". The album sold well in the US and in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number one. Bookends was considered a breakthrough for the duo, placing them on the same level as artists such as Aretha Franklin, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and The Rolling Stones at the forefront of the countercultural movement in the 1960s. The album has continued to receive critical acclaim and is often debated by critics as to whether it or Bridge Over Troubled Water is Simon & Garfunkel's best album.

Sort of half a concept album. Side one has a theme, let's call it The Six Ages Of Man According to Simon and Garfunkel, and then side two are various, largely unrelated additional songs, including Mrs Robinson.

So, the Bookends are birth and death, and there's a 'theme' at the start and end of to bracket the songs within. We go as follows:

'Save The Life Of My Child' - The folly of youth

'America' - Setting out on life's journey to discover yourself and the world

'Overs' - The end, or at least stagnation of relationships

'Old Friends' - Seeing out your final years with memories

There's an unnecessary bit in the middle 'Voices of Old People' which is about a literal a track title as you'll ever find.

These songs are mostly story songs, 'Save The Life Of My Child' is quite jarring. It has passages of quite menacing electronica and operatic backing vocals, but this doomy arrangement fits the outcome of the story. I'm currently listening to 'Miracle and Wonder', a series of interviews with Simon by Malcolm Gladwell and with contributions from other artists. Sting gives his opinion of 'America' and highlights the way the expansiveness of the overall idea of the song is juxtaposed against the small details (buying cigarettes, Mrs Wagner pies, men in gaberdine suits). So that's not my insight, but Mr Sumner's, although it really captures what's so special about the song.

There's a suggestion that side two was somewhat cobbled together just to make up an entire album. It

includes 'Punky's Dilemma', which feels more like a rhyming lyric exercise than anything meaningful (Simon does seem to enjoy just trying things out). 'Mrs. Robinson' was covered on the last album, but I note in addition that it's one of those rarer songs that treats the chorus as the verse and the verses as the chorus. 'Hazy Shade Of Winter' has all kinds of musical surprises in it when you listen carefully. Trumpets to illustrate the Salvation Army band, clarinets behind the guitar melody and enthusiastic tambourine work. Possibly it's better known from the Bangles version, which doesn't deviate much from the original.

Bookends Theme

Save the Life of My Child

America

Overs

Voices of Old People

Old Friends

Bookends Theme

Fakin' It

Punky's Dilemma

Mrs. Robinson

A Hazy Shade of Winter

At the Zoo

Released 26th January 1970

BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER - Simon and Garfunkel

Bridge over Troubled Water is the fifth and final studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, released on January 26, 1970 on Columbia Records. Following the duo's soundtrack for The Graduate, Art Garfunkel took an acting role in the film Catch-22, while Paul Simon worked on the songs, writing all tracks except Felice and Boudleaux Bryant's "Bye Bye Love" (previously a hit for the Everly Brothers).

With the help of producer Roy Halee, the album followed a similar musical pattern as their previous album Bookends (1968), partly abandoning their traditional style to incorporate elements of rock, R&B, gospel, jazz, world music, pop and other genres. It was described as their "most effortless record and their most ambitious".^[3] After Bridge Over Troubled Water was released, several re-releases followed. The album was mixed and released in both stereo and quadraphonic. Columbia Records released a 40th Anniversary Edition on March 8, 2011, which includes two DVDs, including the politically themed TV special Songs of America (1969), the documentary The Harmony Game, additional liner notes and a booklet. Other reissues contain bonus tracks, such as the 2001 version, which covers the demo tapes of "Feuilles-O" and "Bridge over Troubled Water". Contemporary critical reception to Bridge was initially mixed, but retrospective reviews of the album have been laudatory, and it is considered by many to be the duo's best album.^[4]

It must have been an instant classic right? Well, I refer you to the Rolling Stone review of 14th May 1970 by one Gregg Mitchell, who was of the opinion that what they had produced really wasn't worth the two year wait and Creedence Clearwater Revival could do better in a quarter of the time. He concedes that the Boxer is their best song yet, but Frank Lloyd Wright is their worst. Here's a link to a blog post with the full text.

https://americansongwriter.com/today-in-bad-music-journalism-part-2-a-review-of-bridge-over-troubled-water-1970/

However, it's not about what Gregg thought about it in 1970, but what I think about it now. It's jam-packed with songs that we all know, even if you don't immediately recognize the titles. Maybe 'Baby Driver's prominence has been enhanced by the movie, but Bridge, Cecilia, The Boxer and Living Boy are part of our cultural DNA.

According to the excellent 'Miracle And Wonder' audiobook, in which Malcolm Gladwell presents extensive interviews with Simon, there are two songs on here which reflect on Art Garfunkel's slow drift away into other interests such as acting. 'So Long Frank Lloyd Wright' and 'The Only Living Boy In New York'. The message in the lyrics of both is fairly clear.

Simon played 'The Boxer' on the first Saturday Night Live after the 9/11 attacks, emphasising the theme of the song as one of determination to come back after a beating (those drums certainly sound like someone slugging away at you). Also, like so many of their songs, it's a New York story.

I'm less keen on Cecilia. Simon likes to experiment with instrumentation and getting percussive effects from unexpected places, but the tapping and banging feels a little overdone on the original studio recording.

'Keep the Customer Satisfied' distracts me because of it's similarity to 'Knock On Wood'. "I get slandered, libelled; I hear words I never heard in the bible" has an identical cadence to "It's like thunder, lightning; The way you love me is frightening"

Back to Gregg, one of his beefs was that they included a cover of 'Bye Bye Love' and that they just lifted EL Condor Pasa and spoiled it even further with 'trite' lyrics. I'm sure that Simon would argue with plentyof justification that the intention was to combine South American and Eurpoean folk traditions into a single saitsfying whole.

From now on, Paul and Artie will be going their separate ways. I have a review of the Concert In Central Park in the archives somewhere, so I may include it here as well, but we'll be hearing from Simon on his own next.

Bridge over Troubled Water

El Cóndor Pasa (If I Could)

Cecilia

Keep the Customer Satisfied

So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright

The Boxer

Baby Driver

The Only Living Boy in New York

Why Don't You Write Me

Bye Bye Love

Song for the Asking

Released 24th January 1972

PAUL SIMON - Paul Simon

Paul Simon is the second solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was released in January 1972, nearly two years after he split up with longtime musical partner Art Garfunkel. His first solo album was recorded in England in 1965 but remained unreleased in the U.S. (except for a brief period in 1969) until 1981, when it appeared in the 5-LP Collected Works boxed set. Originally released on Columbia Records, Paul Simon was then issued under the Warner Bros. label and is now back with Columbia through Sony. The album topped the charts in the United Kingdom, Japan and Norway and reached No. 4 on the U.S. Billboard Pop Albums. In 1986 it was certified platinum.^[1]

Simon taught songwriting classes at New York University during the summer of 1971. Among the students he taught were two of the Roche sisters, Maggie and Terre, and singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester who remembers that Simon was nervous, listened to the students' songs and offered suggestions and criticism, often dissecting the lyrics and drawing comparisons with his own work while offering insights into his own work and sources of inspiration.^[2]

Simon traveled to San Francisco to record some demos and began to work with different musical styles for a proposed solo album, including Latin music, jazz, blues, and reggae with the song "Mother and Child Reunion", which was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica. Guest musicians on the record included Stéphane Grappelli, Ron Carter, and Airto Moreira.

First off, there's a line in second track which goes, "My father was a fisherman, my mama was a fisherman's friend". I've done my research and the throat lozenges predate this song by over 100 years. Also Wikipedia offers no further disambiguation on 'Fisherman's Friend' other than the compariatively recently formed Cornish vocal group. So the phrase must have lodged in Simon's brain, probably when he was suffering from a barking cough, while he was spending time in the UK in the previous decade. Anyway, maybe he was unaware, or perhaps it's intentional, but it doesn't half stick out to the British ear at least as a rather corny reference.

But, I get ahead of myself. Without hearing it, does 'Mother and Child Reunion' strike you as a reggae song? Well it is, and it was recorded in Jamaica too. So this is the start of Simon looking for musical inspiration from beyond the standard starting point of American rhythm and blues and European folk music, which is going to culminate in Graceland and The Rhythm Of The Saints. Which is not to say that there isn't plenty of blues-based songs on the album.

Now what is making that noise in the background on 'Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard'? Is it just Simon doing monkey noises, or is there some kind of treble-wobble-board in use? It's a much more innocent sounding song than the lyirics portray, the light and breezy style and references to the schoolyard makes it sound like a song about friendship, but it's all to do with juvenile delinquency after all.

There's an instrumental too, 'Hobo's Blues' featuring Stephane Grapelli on fiddle and sounding like the backing to a silent movie short.

i found a couple of contemporary reviews, including one by Jon Landau from Rolling Stone. Both seemed keen to compare Simon with John Lennon, who would have released Imagine a few months earlier. It seems they were hoping for some psychological insight from Simon in the way Lennon was laying his soul bare, but were a little disappointed that Simon seemed to be concentrating on producing a well-crafted album of intelligent songs.

Mother and Child Reunion

Duncan

Everything Put Together Falls Apart

Run That Body Down

Armistice Day

Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard

Peace Like a River

Papa Hobo

Hobo's Blues

Paranoia Blues

Congratulations

Released 22nd May 1973

THERE GOES RHYMIN’ SIMON - Paul Simon

There Goes Rhymin' Simon is the third solo studio album by American musician Paul Simon released in May 1973. It contains songs spanning several styles and genres, such as gospel ("Loves Me Like a Rock") and Dixieland ("Take Me to the Mardi Gras"). It received two nominations at the Grammy Awards of 1974, which were for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male and Album of the Year.

As foreshadowed by the lead single "Kodachrome" (which reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts, behind Billy Preston's "Will It Go Round in Circles"), There Goes Rhymin' Simon was a bigger hit than its predecessor, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart (behind George Harrison's Living in the Material World), and No. 1 on Cashbox for one week from June 30, 1973.^[1] In the United Kingdom, the album peaked at No. 4. Subsequent singles were also the No. 2 single "Loves Me Like a Rock" (kept out of the top spot by Cher's "Half-Breed", but reaching No. 1 on Cashbox on September 29, 1973), and the Top 40 hit "American Tune". Also, "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" was released in the UK reaching the Top 10.

Was he sponsored to write 'Kodachrome'? It's quite odd in that brandnames are rare in popular song names. Off the top of my head I can think of 'Mercedes Benz'. Some quick googling highlights plenty of car brands (and obviously there is a frequent offender here) and reminds me of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', but 'Kodachrome' is particularly in your face example. But, it's great anyway, a beautifully easy going melody. He follows it with the smooth and lazy 'Tenderness', an appeal for comfort over straight-speaking in a relationship.

In Malcolm Gladwell's Audiobook/Podcast/Interview with Simon, he probes about Simon's Jewish background and whether it manifests in his songwriting. 'Take Me To The Mardi Gras' is put forward with an example from a fanblog (very unreliable in my view) comparing the "toomba, toomba, toomba Mardi Gras" to a Jewish folk song 'Tumbalalaika'. But Simon denies it and says it's influenced by an old New Orleans song. Gladwell is a bit like a dog with a bone with this stuff, so he suggests it's a combination of both explanations, and that maybe Simon had some kind of deep memory that bubbled up.

I fell in love with the slowly tumbling piano, blues and gospel on 'One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor'. Paul doesn't really want to engage with his neighbours it seems. 'American Tune' has more of a classic S&G feel, rooted in New York, low key and melancholy.

'Loves Me Like A Rock' feels rather like 'Keep The Customer Satisfied' in places, with "rock" references too. Reasonably obscure folk act Rory McLeod did a very similar themed song 'Love Like A Rock (In Stormy Seas)', although musically it's reliant on harmonica and a capella basslines - so it was good to be reminded of that and dig it out of the CD collection.

There is a weird hybrid 60's, 70's and 80's feel about the artwork.

Kodachrome

Tenderness

Take Me to the Mardi Gras

Something So Right

One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor

American Tune

Was a Sunny Day

Learn How to Fall

St. Judy's Comet

Loves Me Like a Rock

Released 11th September 1973

ANGEL CLARE - Art Garfunkel

Angel Clare is the debut solo studio album by Art Garfunkel, released on September 11, 1973. It is his highest-charting solo album in the United States, peaking at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, and includes his only US Top 10 hit as a solo artist, "All I Know". It also contained two other Top 40 hits, "Traveling Boy" (#102 Bubbling under the Hot 100, No. 38 Adult Contemporary) and "I Shall Sing" (No. 38 Hot 100, No. 4 Adult Contemporary). It was produced by long-time Simon & Garfunkel producer Roy Halee, alongside Art Garfunkel.

The title, Angel Clare, comes from the name of a character in Thomas Hardy's novel, Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

Artie's first solo outing and the contemporary review in Rolling Stone suggested he was throwing everything at it, with full orchestrations and any new production techniques available at the time. It is quite lush, but then Garfunkel's singing voice is feather-light, so it can get rathet swamped. Also, Simon was the songwriter and Art is not deluding himself that he can come up with songs of the required calibre, so he has an impressive array of artists and writers whose songs he is singing. There's 'I Shall Sing' by Van Morrison which gets a light calypso treatment and deathbed song 'Old Man' by Randy Newman, which feels Bridge Over Troubled Water-ish. I checked out Newman's version, and while the lyrics remain unchanged, you know that the meaning is very different, where the visiting son is not so much mourning the passing of his father as gloating that he's finally on his way and he'll be top dog instead.

'Down In The Willow Garden' tries to capture some of 'Scarborough Fair's wistfulness and does feature Paul Simon on guitar and vocals, and Garfunkel does steal something of a march on his old partner with

'Woyaya' which doesn't sound very far off what was going on with Graceland 13 years later. There's more trad folk with 'Barbara Allen' too. I found this quite insipid, and I worry that that will be a problem with Garfunkel all the way through. He has a sweet voice, but does he have any range?

Traveling Boy

Down in the Willow Garden

I Shall Sing

Old Man

Feuilles-Oh/Do Space Men Pass Dead Souls on Their Way to the Moon?

All I Know

Mary Was An Only Child

Woyaya

Barbara Allen

Another Lullaby

Released 14th October 1975

BREAKAWAY - Art Garfunkel

Breakaway is the second solo studio album by Art Garfunkel. It was released in 1975 on Columbia Records. It was produced by Richard Perry who has produced albums for other artists such as Carly Simon and Ringo Starr. It includes three Top 40 singles: "I Only Have Eyes for You" (US #18, UK #1), "Break Away" (US #39) and the Simon & Garfunkel reunion duet, "My Little Town" which peaked at #9. "I Only Have Eyes For You" is noted also for being Garfunkel's first #1 single in the UK. Breakaway has proven to be Garfunkel's most successful solo album; although peaking at number 7 in the United States, which was lower than his first album Angel Clare (US #5), it has been certified platinum by RIAA.

The cover consists of a Norman Seeff photograph taken at a staged photo shoot at Dan Tana’s Restaurant at 9071 Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. On the left is Helena Kallianiotes, Garfunkel in the middle, and on the right Laurie Bird. There has been speculation that the art was inspiration for Leonard Cohen's Death of a Ladies' Man cover, but there has never been confirmation by either artist, nor their photographers.^[4][5][6]

In addition to the usual 2-channel stereo version the album was also released by Columbia Records in 1975 in a 4-channel quadraphonic version on LP record and 8-track tape. The LP version was encoded in the SQ matrix format.

"He has a sweet voice, but does he have any range" I said at the end of Angel Clare. Well, it appears he does. This is great. It's still gentle, there's no departure there, but the song choices here are much better than the previous album. The title track is one of those that I instantly recognized while being surprised that it was him, although maybe I'm familiar with the later Gallagher and Lyle version of their own song.

The release of this is almost entirely concurrent with Simon's 'Still Crazy After All These Years' and they even share a song. 'My Little Town', credited to Simon and Garfunkel. I'm assuming it is exactly the same song, i.e. same recording. Obviously it's existence was taken at the time as evidence that Simon and Garfunkel were not yet a spent recording force, but the New York Times at least felt that Simon had moved on to more adult themes on his album while Garfunkel was wallowing in childish sentimentality. 'My Little Town' therefore bucks the trend on Breakaway because sentimental it ain't. ("nothing but the dead and dying back in my little town"). Wikipedia reckons Simon is on "backing vocals", which is a little bit cheeky (or maybe just ignorant) of them.

I think my favourite on this is 'Waters of March', but again, it's more because Artie is a canny chooser of songs to cover. It's a well-covered Brazilian song with a stream-of-consciousness lyric over a soft bossanova. '99 Miles from LA' is a similar success that suits him down to the ground.

He even has a UK number 1 single on this, and we all thought it was just the bunny song that he achieved that with. 'I Only Have Eyes For You' spent two weeks there in October 1975.

So on the strength of this you had to think that Artie had a bright future ahead of him, and he obviously has some hgh points to come, but being a covers artist will only take you so far.

I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)

Rag Doll

Break Away

Disney Girls

Waters of March

My Little Town

I Only Have Eyes for You

Looking for the Right One

99 Miles from L.A.

The Same Old Tears on a New Background

Released 25th October 1973

STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS - Paul Simon

Still Crazy After All These Years is the fourth solo studio album by Paul Simon. Recorded and released in 1975, the album produced four U.S. Top 40 hits: "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" (No. 1), "Gone at Last" (No. 23), "My Little Town" (No. 9, credited to Simon & Garfunkel), and the title track (No. 40). It won two Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1976.

"My Little Town" reunited Simon with former partner Art Garfunkel on record for the first time since 1970, while "Gone at Last" was a duet between Simon and Phoebe Snow. Two tracks featured members of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section as a backing band.

The title track has been recorded by Rosemary Clooney (on her 1993 album Still on the Road), Ray Charles (on his 1993 album My World), Karen Carpenter (on her self-titled solo album released posthumously in 1996), Willie Nelson (on the soundtrack of the 2000 motion picture Space Cowboys), and Robert Ellis (on his 2016 self-titled solo album).

Some song titles are ones that their authors must live to regret. '50 Ways To Leave Your Lover' must be one of those, because, of course he does not list 50 ways of chucking someone at all. In fact a generous count comes to 6 ways (if you include "you don't need to discuss much"). For comparison, Rick Astley easily managed to come up with an equal number of ways in which he was never going to leave his lover, and he didn't boast about it in the title. However, it is also the song that lanuched a thousand social media threads wheneve someone asks what the other 44 ways might have been. I like "Sling yer 'ook, Chook".

As noted for the previous Art Grafunkel album, Breakaway released just 11 days earlier, it includes 'My Little Town' as a Simon and Garfunkel song. It's preceded by the title track with a bell-like electric piano intro and wistfulness that lives up to the name of the song. But he does ring the changes from the gentle ballads occasionally 'Gone At Last' brings in a bit of rapid gospel and 'Have A Good Time' is a leisurely blues number. Having said that, I know it's a well-regarded album, but apart from the better known songs I found it a little bit boring? Contemporary reviews felt that it was self indulgent, but then those critics also seemed to be distracted by the presence of My Little Town as a stick to beat him with on how he was better when Artie was about.

I suppose we have to discuss the chapeau, 'tache and chest wig. At first glance he looks like he's in some kind of cage, but it's obviously a New York fire escape.

Still Crazy After All These Years

My Little Town

I Do It for Your Love

50 Ways to Leave Your Lover

Night Game

Gone at Last

Some Folks' Lives Roll Easy

Have a Good Time

You're Kind

Silent Eyes

Released 25th October 1977

WATERMARK - Art Garfunkel

Watermark is the third solo studio album by Art Garfunkel, originally released in October 1977 on Columbia Records. The first single, "Crying in My Sleep", failed to chart, but the follow-up, a version of "(What a) Wonderful World" (featuring harmony vocals from Garfunkel's old partner Paul Simon and mutual friend James Taylor) reached #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The songs "Watermark" and "Paper Chase" had previously been performed by Richard Harris on his albums A Tramp Shining and The Yard Went On Forever. Watermark is also noted as being the final recording sessions of legendary saxophonist Paul Desmond who died of lung cancer shortly thereafter. Actress Laurie Bird, Garfunkel's girlfriend, made the album cover's photograph.^[3] Some promotional copies of the single "Crying in My Sleep", released in advance of the album, referred to the album as Art Garfunkel, suggesting Garfunkel initially planned for the album to be self-titled.

All tracks composed by Jimmy Webb; except where indicated

The music on this is unremarkable. It's Art doing what he's really quite good at, which is sweetly singing lightly touching songs. But there is an interesting sub-story in that this is effectively a collaboration with Jimmy Webb, creator of the Wichita Lineman, Galveston and MacArthur Park. Apart from 'What A Wonderful World' and the traditional 'She Moved Through The Fair', these are all his compositions, but if any of them bear comparison to the three mentioned above, it's buried in the lightweight treatment that Artie gives them. There are moments when you can hear something special though, 'Mr Shuck'n'Jive' and 'Paper Chase' have something extra about them.

They toured together too. a contemporary Hollywood Reporter review of their concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, LA on 17th April 1978 found Art to sing with "the precision of a diamond cutter" while lamenting Webb's lack of "drive and charisma".

As for "(What A) Wonderful World ", it shows that he and Simon couldn't quite shake each other off just yet. It's more of a Simon & Garfunkel & (James) Taylor song than something Art can claim for himself. It's not as good as Sam Cooke, obviously but it does stand out for the quality of the song and the singers.

It received a second relase in January 1978 with '(What A) Wonderful World' replacing 'Fingerpaint', which I suppose tells us that someone considered 'Fingerpaint' to be the weakest track on the original 1977 release. I certainly couldn't find it on Spotify, but it can be heard on YouTube. It's on the more discordant end of the Garfunkel spectrum and they probably made the right decision if they felt they needed to squeeze the hit cover version.

Crying in My Sleep

Marionette

Shine It on Me

Watermark

Saturday Suit

All My Love's Laughter

(What a) Wonderful World

Mr. Shuck'n'Jive

Paper Chase

She Moved Through the Fair

Someone Else (1958)

Fingerpaint

Wooden Planes

Released 15th March 1979

FATE FOR BREAKFAST - Art Garfunkel

Fate for Breakfast is the fourth solo studio album by Art Garfunkel, released in March 1979 on Columbia Records.

It was his first album to miss the U.S. Billboard Top 40 (charting at 67) and his first album containing no U.S. Top 40 singles. Yet the album garnered international success, reaching the top-ten in some European countries. The European release includes a different version of the song "Bright Eyes", which was featured in the film version of the novel Watership Down, and reached the number-one spot in the United Kingdom, becoming the biggest-selling single of 1979 there.

The album was issued in six different sleeves, each with a different shot of Art Garfunkel at the breakfast table. David Sanborn covered "And I Know" entitled "Love Will Come Someday" for his 1982 album As We Speak. Also on the album is a cover of Cliff Richard's 1976 hit "Miss You Nights".

What is Cliff Richard's greatest ever song? 'Miss You Nights'. By a country mile. So you would expect Art's cover to be pretty great as well. The song is fairly unbreakable after all. Indeed, it's fine, but that's all and surely we should expect better because he has the voice to pull it off. But somehow it is just not a patch on Cliff's, where the arrangement and delivery are just perfect. In fact the Cliff version always feels like it's almost a Christmas song to me. All that pain and longing coming to a head. When I heard it on this album, I had to go back to the 'original' (it came to Cliff from writer Dave Townsend via Bruce Welch of the Shads) as soon as I heard it.

If you look down the track listing on the Fate For Breakfast page on Spotify each track has a few hundred thousand listens until you get to the 46 million-odd that Bunny Apocalypse song 'Bright Eyes' has achieved (admittedly 'Since I Don't Have You' has clocked up a respectable 4.2M). It was ubiquitous for a while, the biggest selling UK single of 1979. 19 weeks on the chart, 6 at number 1. I assumed that it just pipped 'I Don't Like Mondays' and 'Another Brick In the Wall' (existential angst was big in 1979), but in fact it's nearest challengers were 'YMCA' and that man Cliff again with 'We Don't Talk Any More'.

The remainder is more of Art singing beautifully, but not very interestingly on a series of fairly fogetteable songs, and I fear this will continue, in stark contrast to his erstwhile partner, for some time to come.

In a Little While (I'll Be on My Way)

Since I Don't Have You

And I Know

Sail on a Rainbow

Miss You Nights

Bright Eyes

Finally Found a Reason

Beyond the Tears

Oh How Happy

When Someone Doesn't Want You

Take Me Away

Released 12th August 1980

ONE TRICK PONY - Paul Simon

One-Trick Pony is the fifth solo studio album by Paul Simon released in 1980. It was Simon's first album for Warner Bros. Records, and his first new studio album since 1975's Still Crazy After All These Years. His back catalog from Columbia Records would also move to Warner Bros. as a result of his signing with the label.

Paul Simon's One-Trick Pony was released concurrently with the film of the same name, in which Simon also starred. Despite their similarities, the album and film are musically distinct: each features different versions of the same songs, as well as certain songs that appear exclusively on either the film or the album. The album is best known for the Grammy-nominated track "Late in the Evening" which was a hit for Simon in 1980, peaking at No. 6 in the United States. The title track was also released as a single and became a U.S. Top 40 hit. Both songs were also Top 20 hits on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart. Two of the tracks (the title song and "Ace in the Hole") were recorded live at the Agora Theatre and Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio in September 1979, while the rest are studio cuts.

Several session musicians appearing on the album also appeared in the movie as the character Jonah's backing band: guitarist Eric Gale, pianist Richard Tee, bassist Tony Levin and drummer Steve Gadd. Simon toured Europe and America in 1980 with this band in support of the album, with one concert from Philadelphia recorded on video and released on VHS under the title "Paul Simon in Concert", then subsequently on DVD under 2 different titles for the same concert footage ("Live at the Tower Theatre" and "Live from Philadelphia").

It's a soundtrack album but at the same time it isn't. Normally I would give serious consideration to watching the accompanying film, and did so with The Graduate, but One Trick Pony seems to have made little impact in popular culture and I'm not sure I want to waste 90 minutes or so on it. It's got Lou Reed too, which puts me off even more. Fortunately the album works perfectly well as a standalone studio effort, so I think I can justify the omission.

'Late In The Evening' is the best known song, a light samba but with some funny popping noises occurring halfway through that sound like modern phone notifications. They turn up again on 'Jonah', it's quite distracting. 'That's Why God Made The Movies' is a subtle blues in a style that Loudon Wainwright III has made his own down the years.

The title track is a live performance, although it's recorded so cleanly that it is quite hard to tell, until the applause at the end. The same is true of the later 'Ace In The Hole' although you can hear the audience clapping along. He's joined by Richard Tee on vocals for this, and his rougher blues vocal is a nice counterpoint to Simon's lighter delivery.

'Long Long Day' is the kind of song that can only appear as the last track on side 2.

It was a struggle to engage with this. It's unmistakeably Paul Simon but doesn't have any grab. even 'Late In The Evening' feels like something to be admired rather than enjoyed.

Late in the Evening

That's Why God Made the Movies

One-Trick Pony

How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns

Oh, Marion

Ace in the Hole

Nobody

Jonah

God Bless the Absentee

Long, Long Day

Released 25th August 1981

SCISSORS CUT - Art Garfunkel

Scissors Cut is the fifth solo studio album by Art Garfunkel. It was released in August 1981 on Columbia Records; it was his second album to miss the US Billboard top 40 (charting at 113) and his second album to contain no US top 40 singles. In the month following its release, Garfunkel reunited with former partner Paul Simon for their famous 1981 Concert in Central Park.

In August 1981, Garfunkel released his fifth solo album Scissors Cut (US No. 113, UK No. 51). This album included the Gallagher & Lyle hit "A Heart in New York" (US No. 61). The UK version contains the track "The Romance" rather than "Bright Eyes". The album was co-produced by Roy Halee, who also co-produced the Simon & Garfunkel albums, including Bridge over Troubled Water. Paul Simon makes a brief appearance on "In Cars" performing background vocals. Near the end of the song, Garfunkel sings lines from "Scarborough Fair" – an old English ballad covered by Simon and Garfunkel on the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme). The album is dedicated to his late partner, Laurie Bird, and includes a partial photograph of her on the rear cover.

Garfunkel was devastated by Bird's death in his New York apartment in June 1979 while he was in Europe filming Bad Timing. Garfunkel was quoted at the time, "Laurie was the greatest thing I ever knew in my life, now I've lost it."^[3] In 1988, he added: "I took her death terribly and remained moody over it through much of the 80's." He became somewhat of a recluse following the tragedy and wouldn't release another album until 1986's The Animals' Christmas with Amy Grant.

As I trawl through Wikipedia looking for interesting album releases from this week in the past, Art is sighing away in the background. If I might refer back to Simon's last album title, Artie really is becoming a One Trick Pony, sweet gentle songs sung sweetly and gently. This notably opens with Gallagher and Lyle's 'A Heart In New York' which was his only solo contribution to the concert in Central Park, presumably because it is both about New York and sounds like a Simon and Garfunkel song.

The title track is rather good and 'Hang On In' plays like a lightweight Christopher Cross song, if that's possible. Background reading led me to an interview from the Chicago Tribute from September 1981 in which he describes how whereas normally he'd keep going at a song for numerous takes until he was happy, but here he tried to do that less and in the end go for the earlier takes, the idea being that the listener gets a sense of a more spontaneious approach. I think it probably takes a keener ear than mine to detect any significant difference, but I guess the overall sound does come out as more engaging.

Bright Eyes gets a reprise. It wasn't released on the US version of Fate for Breakfast, so that omission is corrected here. The UK version had 'The Romance' instead, of which there is no trace on Spotify.

Art's album artwork is a real weak point (although Simon hasn't been much better so far), this is very much the artist as serious musician in that he looks like he might be 3rd viola in the New York Philharmonic.

A Heart in New York

Scissors Cut

Up in the World

Hang On In

So Easy to Begin

Bright Eyes

Can't Turn My Heart Away

The French Waltz

In Cars

That's All I've Got to Say (Theme from The Last Unicorn)

Released November 4th 1983

HEARTS AND BONES - Paul Simon

Hearts and Bones is the sixth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was released in 1983 by Warner Bros. Records.

The album was originally intended to be called Think Too Much, but Mo Ostin, president of Warner Bros. Records at the time, persuaded Simon to change it to Hearts and Bones.^[2] The album was written and recorded following Simon & Garfunkel's The Concert in Central Park in 1981, and the world tour of 1982–1983. Several songs intended for Think Too Much were previewed on tour, and Art Garfunkel worked on some of the songs with Simon in the studio,^[3] with an intention that the finished product would be an all-new Simon & Garfunkel studio album.^[4] The album, particularly the title song, was a reflection on Paul's relationship with actress Carrie Fisher, and Paul felt that it was too personal to be a Simon & Garfunkel album, instead deciding that it should be a solo album.^{[citation needed]} This greatly annoyed Garfunkel and ensured that there would never again be another Simon & Garfunkel album. Garfunkel left the project and Simon erased all his vocals and reworked the material into a solo album.^{[citation needed]}

Hearts and Bones charted for 18 weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 35,^[14] although it is considered to be a relative commercial failure compared to Simon's other recordings.^[15][10]

Possibly moving into Simon's true golden period now. Lots of artists seem to enter into a run of about three exceptional albums. In the case of Simon, this feels like preparatory sketches for Graceland and then he over-egged it a little on The Rhythm of the Saints.

This came off the back of the reunion with Garfunkel in Central Park and was meant to be a new S&G album, but the story goes that Simon felt the songs were too personal and cut Artie out, thus putting the kibosh on any possibility of a future collaboration.

There's two 'versions' of 'Think Too Much', but they're pretty much just different songs. (b), which confusingly comes first has the light calypso backing whereas (a) is more of a funk-rock affair, with lots of hard-to-fathom sound effects. I want to say one of them might be a telex machine?? The reason for the repetition is that the theme of the album is the conflict of heart and head, and Simon obviously feels he is ruled by pragmatism.

Train In The Distance provides the clearest future echoes of Graceland, but I think the following two songs, 'Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After The War' and 'Cars are Cars' are the standouts on the album for me. 'Rene...' is a kind of perfect musical portrait of the subject matter. Although it sounds like it should be based on a painting, it's a couple of photographs that gives the song its name. 'Cars are Cars' is a Talking Heads-y piece which again juxtaposes the practicality of a reltionship with a machine with the complexity of dealing with people and emotions.

That's some shirt and tie combo.

Allergies

Hearts and Bones

When Numbers Get Serious

Think Too Much (b)

Song About the Moon

Think Too Much (a)

Train in the Distance

René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War

Cars Are Cars

The Late Great Johnny Ace

Released October 1986

THE ANIMALS CHRISTMAS - Art Garfunkel

The Animals' Christmas is the sixth solo studio album and the first Christmas album by vocalist Art Garfunkel, and is a collaborative album with Amy Grant, released in October 1986 by Columbia Records. The album was written by Jimmy Webb and features vocals by Garfunkel, Grant, and Wimbledon King's College Choir. The Animals' Christmas tells the story of the Nativity of Jesus from the perspective of the animals present. The album received positive reviews, with one writer calling it "one of the best Christmas albums of the '80s."^[1] The album failed to chart.

During the early 1980s, Jimmy Webb began writing the songs that would become The Animals' Christmas, based on a children's book about the Nativity of Jesus by Anne Thaxter Eaton.^[2] Garfunkel became interested in the project because he felt it was "born out of the love of a musical person to make music." In his 1989 book, Still Water: Prose Poems, Garfunkel wrote about his experience with the project.

In '83, my friend Jimmy Webb showed me a piece he was writing, a cantata for children's choir and small orchestra for his local church in Tuxedo, New York. And it being a noncommercial endeavor, I was particularly interested in it, because I had become cynical about the fact that the record business will professionalize one's musical attempts in a way that can hurt them. And I followed Jimmy's rehearsals in Tuxedo and loved The Animals' Christmas. I told him I wanted to get involved. By the next year, he had written an extension, doubled its length and wrote various sections for me as solo singer, narrator and the angel Gabriel. He added a woman's part—the Virgin Mary. We all performed it with orchestra, children's choir, boy singer, girl singer, at St. John the Divine Cathedral that December in New York, and also at Festival Hall in London. We made a live recording of the shows, which later seemed to me too loose. So we planned to record it in the studio, the following Christmas. I started in London in '85 and recorded the London Symphony Orchestra; we added the choir from Wimbledon that winter; come the spring I was in Montserrat doing my vocals with Geoff Emerick; I traveled to Nashville to get Amy Grant's vocals on the album, then came to New York for some percussion overdubs—Steve Gadd on drums, and others. I had it finished by Christmas of '86, which I gather is when it came out. It's a gothic cathedral of an album; it's very ambitious. It was the type of project that would have been done by papal commission long ago.^[3]

The worst time to listen to a Christmas album is probably at the end of February, but this is what the fates have dealt us. It's also not quite what I was expecting, since it's essentially a classical cantata for soloists and choir. It comes on like Orff's O Fortuna at the very beginning but soon settles down into something very festive and beautiful. Garfunkel and Grant have the right kind of voices for this mildly devotional stuff. He's the narrator/Gabriel and she's Mary. They've got the King's College School Choir and the London Symphony Orchestra on board so there's no skimping on the quality.

On his website there's a short interview piece in which he describes how it served as a break from the commercialism of his usual work in the music business. He was probably smarting a bit from the collapse of any long term prospect of new success with Simon, but it does seem to be a heartfelt project that makes him proud.

The Annunciation

The Creatures of the Field

Just a Simple Little Tune

The Decree

Incredible Phat

The Friendly Beasts

The Song of the Camels

Word from an Old Spanish Carol

Carol of the Birds

The Frog

Herod

Wild Geese

Released 25th August 1986

GRACELAND - Paul Simon

Graceland is the seventh solo studio album by the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was produced by Simon, engineered by Roy Halee and released on August 25, 1986, by Warner Bros. Records.

In the early 1980s, Simon's relationship with his former musical partner Art Garfunkel had deteriorated, his marriage to the actress Carrie Fisher had collapsed, and his previous record, Hearts and Bones (1983), had been a commercial failure. In 1984, after a period of depression, Simon became fascinated by a bootleg cassette of mbaqanga, South African street music. He and Halee visited Johannesburg, where they spent two weeks recording with South African musicians. Further recordings were held in the United States with American musicians including Linda Ronstadt, the Everly Brothers, Good Rockin' Dopsie and the Twisters and Los Lobos.

Summer 1986 and there's a TV show going out on BBC2 aimed pretty much at people of my age, No Limits. A sort of British travelogue/music show presented by chirpy young folks occupying the TV music landscape somewhere between Top Of The Pops and The Tube. I don't remember much of it now, but the premiere of the 'You Can Call Me Al' video on it was a standout moment. Woo, look! It's got Chevy Chase in it and they're larking about a lot. It just feels like a funny song too, slightly surreal with its references to being "soft in the middle" and escaping down alleyways with roly poly little bat-faced girls. For someone of my age (we're talking 18-19 here) it introduced Simon as something quite different from the 50% of S&G that he'd been (in my perception) up till then.

Of course this is a massively important (and successful) record, because of how and where it was recorded against the background of the anti-apartheid movement, which was all consuming as the issue of the day if you were a young idealist. To be honest, I probably wasn't that idealistic in that sense at the time, conservative influences in my upbringing meant my knowledge of South African politics was superficial at best. Simon was accused of breaking the cultural boycott by recording with South African artists, never mind that these were largely black South African artists and the album did more to broaden the cultural understanding of their music. The songs aren't about apartheid, which was another problem for his critics. I think we've learned a lot in the intervening 35 years and making culture visible and accessible can generally be seen as a good thing, even if you disapprove of the government and policies under which the art is created. I guess there's a 'white saviour' aspect that can be levelled at Simon too, but if he wasn't going to do it, who was?

But the interweaving of the South African sounds and voices is pure genius. This is a modern pop record, with great tunes and hooks but with a soundscape different from anything that had been in the mainstream before. Maybe the most beautiful part is the sequence of 'Under African Skies' with Linda Ronstadt perfectly complementing Simon on backing vocals, which is then followed by the a capella collaboration with Ladysmith Black Mambazo on 'Homeless'.

This is the textbook definition of a classic album, it's timeless and familiar as old shoes. It also takes me back to those early student years again. This was heard regularly in the hovel and I even recall a very drunken rendition of The Boy In The Bubble in the grease-smeared kitchen one evening.

The Boy in the Bubble

Graceland

I Know What I Know

Gumboots

Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes

You Can Call Me Al

Under African Skies

Homeless

Crazy Love, Vol. II

That Was Your Mother

All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints

Released 29th March 1988

LEFTY - Art Garfunkel

Lefty is the seventh solo studio album by American singer Art Garfunkel, released in 1988. The album features three songs by singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop.^[1] The album's cover photo shows a pre-teen Art Garfunkel holding a baseball bat in the front yard of his childhood home in the Forest Hills section of Queens, New York City. It was taken by his brother Jules.^[1] The album title came from the fact that Garfunkel is left-handed, which the picture established.^[1]

The album failed to make the Top 100 in the US (charting at 134) and hit the bottom half of the UK Top 100. Despite this, it yielded three minor hit singles.

The liner notes of the album contain a brief prose text Garfunkel had written in memory of his partner Laurie Bird who had committed suicide in 1979. The album marked a new beginning in Garfunkel's professional life after becoming somewhat of a recluse following the tragedy.^[1]

At first it seems that Artie has gone the full Chicago. 'This Is The Moment' is the kind of dull, plodding, vacant song that any number of AOR artists were churning out about 10 years earlier, but his redeeming quality is that he relies on others to write his songs. so there isn't really an Art Garfunkel style rut that he can get stuck in. Most of this is gently catchy pop songs with a few interesting twists, such as the harmonies on 'So Much In Love' and the lightly bouncing rythm on 'King Of Tonga'

His take on 'When A Man Loves A Woman' owes nothing to Percy Sledge, nor indeed, Michael Bolton. It's a murmured, introspective interpretation including what sounds like birdsong (probably from a synth) and really quite beautiful. But on the whole, this is pleasant but unremarkable stuff. I can't believe anyone holds it in a cherished place in their heart, including Garfunkel.

This Is the Moment

I Have a Love

So Much in Love

Slow Breakup

Love Is the Only Chain

When a Man Loves a Woman

I Wonder Why

King of Tonga

If Love Takes You Away

The Promise

Released October 16th 1990

THE RHYTHM OF THE SAINTS - Paul Simon

The Rhythm of the Saints is the eighth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon, released on October 16, 1990, on Warner Bros. In much the same way that Simon's previous album, Graceland, released in 1986, drew upon South African music, this album was inspired by Brazilian musical traditions.^[1][2] Like its predecessor, the album was commercially successful and received mostly favorable reviews from critics.

In 1992, The Rhythm of the Saints earned two nominations for the 34th Grammy Awards – Album of the Year and Producer of the Year.^[3][4]

The Rhythm of the Saints peaked at No. 4 on the US album chart, while Graceland had peaked at No. 3, ranking them both among Simon's most commercially successful albums. The album was also successful across the Atlantic, reaching No. 1 on the UK album chart. However, with the exception of "The Obvious Child", none of its three singles—including "Proof" and "Born at the Right Time"—charted or received substantial radio play. "The Obvious Child" also failed to reach the US top 40, although it reached No. 15 in the UK, becoming Simon's last major hit there. The album was certified Multi-Platinum.

Advance publicity seemed to suggest that we were getting Graceland II - The New World and Simon had traded in African rhythms for South American drums. In the end we seemed to get Graceland 1.5, a sort of sequel but not quite, and, in my view just not as good. I've listened to this down the years and I've never really engaged with it at all. Even with 4 or 5 listens in recent weeks, I still have no compulsion to go back to it. It may be that there just isn't enough material here which grabs the listener. It starts so strongly with 'The Obvious Child' and rallies a little with 'Born At The Right Time' but I find the rest really forgettable. Even 'Born at the Right Time' sounds like it belongs on its predecessor. It feels like he wanted to recreate the Graceland experience with a different type of music, but got held back by also wanting to retain some of the things that worked before. Maybe the record company meddled and so the end result was diluted. No-one was expecting pan pipes and llamas but there is no sense of place on The Rhythm of the Saints.

On the plus side, this now feels like catharsis. I've finally admitted I don't like it much even though I invested money in it all those years ago.

The Obvious Child

Can't Run But

The Coast

Proof

Further to Fly

She Moves On

Born at the Right Time

The Cool, Cool River

Spirit Voices

The Rhythm of the Saints

Released 7th June 1997

SONGS FROM A PARENT TO A CHILD - Art Garfunkel

Songs from a Parent to a Child is the eighth solo studio album by Art Garfunkel and his first new studio release since Lefty nine years earlier. Released as a concept album in 1997, it features his son, wife and a host of celebrity musicians, and was built on the concept of children's songs. The cover photograph was taken by Douglas Foulke on Bow Bridge, Central Park, New York City.^[2] The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Album for Children.

Sort of a children's album, well absolutely a children's album really, but the songs are not so much children's songs as those at the lightest, most harmless end of the pop spectrum. So we get 'Morning Has Broken' which was repurposed as an assembly hymn when I was a child along with 'Michael Row The Boat Ashore', 'Kumbaya' and 'Turn Turn Turn'. We still stuck with some traditional C of E fare mind you, 'Jerusalem', 'There is a Green Hill Far Away' and 'To Be A Pilgrim' were all on heavy rotation in the assembly hall of Flax Hill junior school.

Art goes for John Sebastian's 'Daydream', James Taylor's 'Secret O Life' and Lennon and McCartney's 'I Will' as well. This last is presumably subject to some kind of copyright protection as it is not part of the album on streaming services. 7 year old son James gives a charming performance of 'Good Luck Charm', like Little Jimmy Osmond without any commercial considerations. He finishes up with The Lord's Prayer (fine) and then 'Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep', which I always find quite creepy, with its threat of sudden death in the night. maybe I listen to too much Metallica. Art avoids anything beyond the first two lines.

No-one can possibly object to this. It's objectively lovely and to criticize would be like kicking a puppy. Neither Simon or Garfunkel had put out any new studio material for 7 years and it seems that for Art at least, this was because he was connecting with his new young family, culminating in this album.

Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet?

Morning Has Broken

Daydream

Baby Mine

Secret O' Life

The Things We've Handed Down

You're A Wonderful One

Good Luck Charm

I Will

Lasso The Moon

Dreamland

Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet? (Reprise)

The Lord's Prayer / Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Released 18th November 1997

SONGS FROM THE CAPEMAN - Paul Simon

Songs from The Capeman is the ninth solo studio album by Paul Simon, released in 1997. His first new studio album of original materials in seven years, it contains Simon's own performances of songs from the Broadway musical he wrote and produced called The Capeman augmented by members of the original cast. The songs retell the story of Salvador Agron, who was known as the "Capeman". A departure musically from his earlier work, the album features doo-wop, rock 'n' roll and Puerto Rican rhythms and a number of songs contain explicit lyrics, a first for Simon. The stage show was a commercial flop, losing $11 million, and the album did not sell well.^[1] It peaked at number 42 on the Billboard 200, the lowest chart position in Simon's career to date.

All songs written by Paul Simon, with lyrics co-written by Derek Walcott.

For his first and last attempt at a musical, Simon opts for a story set in the fifties about New York Puerto Rican street gangs in conflict with Irish-American rivals and ending in tragedy. Can't go wrong right? Well maybe the superficial similarities to another prominent work distracted the Broadway critics, but like it they did not and it closed after 8 weeks. There's a documentary on YouTube which gives the creative team's side of the story, but it was clearly a very troubled production as Simon worked his way through 4 directors before it got to the stage.

It's hard with musical soundtracks to get a feeling for the overall artistic outcome. You wouldn't listen to the soundtrack of many musicals and get a good idea of the story from the songs alone. It's easy to be glib (my default setting) about the setting and themes but this is very different from Bernstein's work. It's based on the true story of the killing of two boys by members of the Puerto Rican 'Vampires' gang when they mistook their victims for rival 'Norsemen'. In particular it focuses on Salvador Agron, 'The Capeman', so called because he wore a red lined black cape on the night in question. There was also 'The Umbrella Man', gang leader Tony Hernandez, who used a sharpened umbrella as a weapon. How very James Bond. Agron was convicted and sentenced to death at age 16, but the sentence was eventually reduced and he was eventually released and somewhat made amends for his crimes in later life. The problem suggested by the documentary is that Broadway critics simply didn't like the way Simon and his team went about staging the play.

As for the songs, they are quite sweary, which comes as a shock when you consider his previous work, but they are also very engaging, mostly in a doo-wop and latin style. As an album in it's own right, freed of the constraints of supporting a dramatic performance it stands up really well.

Adios Hermanos

Born in Puerto Rico

Satin Summer Nights

Bernadette

The Vampires

Quality

Can I Forgive Him

Sunday Afternoon

Killer Wants to Go to College

Time Is an Ocean

Virgil

Killer Wants to Go to College II

Trailways Bus

Released 3rd October 2000

YOU’RE THE ONE - Paul SImon

You're the One is the tenth solo studio album by Paul Simon, released in 2000. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2001, with Simon becoming the first artist to be nominated in that category in five consecutive decades (1960s-2000s). (In 2006, Paul McCartney became the only other artist to match this feat with Chaos and Creation in the Backyard).

You're the One was also considered a comeback after the failure of Simon's Broadway musical, The Capeman, and concept album for the musical, Songs from The Capeman, which peaked at #42 on the Billboard 200.

The album was remastered and re-released in 2004, accompanied with three bonus live tracks.

When reading the full blog post you get no sense of how quickly I went through all the albums. If you pay any attention to the drip, drip onto social media, album by album, then you'll know that I have hardly listened to any of S&G's output over the summer of 2023. The nature of this album may be partially to blame as it hasn't inspired much of anything in me. Simon creates beautiful, measured songs as usual, but it amounts to a continuation of the furrow ploughed by Graceland and The Rhythm of the Saints. Having siad that, second track 'Darling Lorraine' is a fine example of him at his best and something that would sit easily amongst his best latter day work (i.e. Graceland and Rhythm...).

He's reflective about his advancing years, he would have been approaching 60 at the time of the album but puts it in perpective in 'Old' by placing in context of the life of the universe. Overall though this feels like he's marking time and keeping it safely within his comfort zone. The experience with Capeman reputedly hit him hard, so maybe he produced this from the safety of the shell he'd retreated into, just to confirm that he still had it.

That's Where I Belong

Darling Lorraine

Old

You're the One

The Teacher

Look at That

Señorita with a Necklace of Tears

Love

Pigs, Sheep and Wolves

Hurricane Eye

Quiet

Released 8th October 2002

EVERYTHING WAITS TO BE NOTICED - Art Garfunkel

Everything Waits to be Noticed is the ninth solo studio album by Art Garfunkel, a collaboration with singer-songwriters Maia Sharp and Buddy Mondlock. Credited to "Art Garfunkel With Maia Sharp & Buddy Mondlock", the album is Garfunkel's debut as a songwriter, co-writing six songs, and was produced by Billy Mann.^[1][2] It is his first release on Blue Note Records after years of recording for Columbia Records. The album failed to chart.

This article about a 2000s pop rock album is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Wikipedia states that this is "Garfunkel's debut as a songwriter", but that can't be right can it? I'm not prepared to trawl through all the albums looking for a writing credit, but he must have some kind of co-authorship sonewhere surely?

Whatever the case, he should have tried his hand at it earlier, this is a much more engaging album than nearly all of his post S&G work. It's a collaboration with two other singer-songwriters, Maia Sharp and Buddy Mondlock, and it seems that Artie's best work does come along when he's in partnership. There's less reliance on the sweetness of his voice, which is instead blended nicely with his partners, and more on interestingly complex arrangements. They even go a little Beach Boys on 'Turn Don't Turn Away'. Much of it is kind of like what Simon and Garfunkel would have come up with if they'd done a Country and Western album. Garth Brooks is co-credited with one song, 'Every Now and Then'.

Bounce

The Thread

The Kid

Crossing Lines

Everything Waits to Be Noticed

Young and Free

Perfect Moment

Turn, Don't Turn Away

Wishbone

How Did You Know?

What I Love About Rain

Every Now and Then

Another Only One

Released 9th May 2006

SURPRISE - Paul Simon

Surprise is the eleventh solo studio album by American musician Paul Simon, released on May 9, 2006. It peaked at number 14 on the Billboard 200 and was his final studio album for long-time label Warner Bros. Records.

After the relative success of You're the One, which was released in late 2000 finding Simon back to the Top 20 of the American charts after ten years of absence and also receiving a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year, Simon spent most of the following two years promoting the album. In 2002, he took a year off, and during 2003 and 2004 had a widely documented reunion with Art Garfunkel. This was followed by a Simon & Garfunkel Old Friends Reunion Tour from October–December 2003, as well as June and July 2004, where the duo extensively toured America and Europe and the concerts in New York in December 2003 were registered on both a live album and video that was released by the end of the year. Also in December 2004, Paul Simon's studio albums were re-released in remastered issues, as well as re-promoted.

If you felt inclined to do so, you might consider listening to Harry Styles' Music for a Sushi Restaurant and Sure Don't Feel In Love from this album in quick succession. I'm making no suggestion of plagiarism here, they are very distinct songs, but to grab a passing cliche, you could conclude that they share a little DNA. There's a light quirkiness about them both, especially in the use of falsetto. My only real conclusion from this is that Styles is a much better singer and songwriter than your average music snob might give him credit for, and in this case at least, he is holding his own against arguably the master. 

Indeed, this does feel like a master at work, meaningful, well constructed but catchy songs. Brian Eno is involed in three tracks including 'Another Galaxy', which is a standout. Thereis also a sort of forgotten Paul Simon classic in 'Father and Daughter' which reached a modest number 31 in the UK. Considering it was tied in to The Wild Thornberrys Movie it's remarkably touching and personal. It has echoes of some of that minor-key African guitar from Graceland. 

How Can You Live in the Northeast?

Everything About It Is a Love Song

Outrageous

Sure Don't Feel Like Love

Wartime Prayers

Beautiful

I Don't Believe

Another Galaxy

Once Upon a Time There Was an Ocean

That's Me

Father and Daughter

Released 8th April 2011

SO BEAUTIFUL OR SO WHAT - Paul Simon

So Beautiful or So What is the twelfth solo studio album by American folk rock singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was released on April 8, 2011, by Hear Music.

The album found Simon reuniting with former collaborator and record producer Phil Ramone. Having experimented with rhythm-based textures for much of the previous two decades, the singer returned to composing songs in a more traditional manner using only his acoustic guitar. These songs were further augmented by experimental recording practices in the studio. The album was largely recorded in a small cottage at Simon's home in New Canaan, Connecticut.

I haven't dragged this out for so long just so I could experience Paul Simon's Christmas song at the appropriate time of year, but here I am on 20th December 2023 and 'Getting Ready for Christmas Day' is opening up this, his 12th solo album and with only two more to go. It's not all that festive in feel to be honest, so it's no wonder it hasn't caught on as a companion to 'Simply having...', 'Step Into Christmas' and 'Merry Xmas (War is Over)' on every Christmas compilation album ever made. In fact it's got more of a Sheryl Crow feel, that circulating acoustic guitar thing.

Just a couple of songs later and Simon is well back into the 'World Music' groove with 'Dazzling Blue' that starts with some clear Carnatic music and dance influences. It's another successful merging of his own songwriting style and a traditional music, but you could borrow one of his previous album titles and suggest he's now become a bit of a one-trick pony, within the confines of creating smooth, contemplative songs over an ethnic beat.

Ultimately it's yet another nice Paul Simon album, with lots of good Paul Simon songs on it, but that's all. It's redeemed by the final, title track, in which we find his philosophy of life has become a shrug of "do what makes you happy". Easy for him to say as the royalty cheques from Bridge Over Troubled Water continue to roll in.

Getting Ready for Christmas Day

The Afterlife

Dazzling Blue

Rewrite

Love and Hard Times

Love Is Eternal Sacred Light

Amulet

Questions for the Angels

Love and Blessings

So Beautiful or So What

Released 3rd June 2016

STRANGER TO STRANGER - Paul SImon

Stranger to Stranger is the thirteenth solo studio album by American folk rock singer-songwriter Paul Simon. Produced by Paul Simon and Roy Halee, it was released on June 3, 2016 through Concord Records.^[5] Simon wrote the material over a period of several years, perfecting it and rewriting it to his liking. Its music is experimental, making use of custom-made instruments by composer and music theorist Harry Partch. Three of the songs on the album are collaborations with Italian electronic artist Clap! Clap!.

His first release in over five years,^[6] Stranger to Stranger received wide critical acclaim. It represented Simon's highest-ever debut on the Billboard 200, at No. 3, and reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart.

Simon began writing new material shortly after releasing his twelfth studio album, So Beautiful or So What, in April 2011. Simon collaborates with the Italian electronic dance music artist Clap! Clap! on three songs—"The Werewolf", "Street Angel", and "Wristband". Simon was introduced to him by his son, Adrian, who was a fan of his work. The two met up in July 2011 when Simon was touring behind So Beautiful or So What in Milan, Italy.^[2] He and Clap! Clap! worked together via email over the course of making the album. Simon also worked with longtime friend Roy Halee, who is listed as co-producer on the album. Halee, who had retired years earlier, was mostly recruited to advise on how to create natural echo. He was unfamiliar with Pro Tools, so Simon helped him with it. "I always liked working with him more than anyone else," Simon noted.^[2]

When Warren Zevon created Werewolves of London, he provided the howls from his own body. Simon somehow manages to do it with a guitar, although he does add in some canine impressions of his own too on 'The Werewolf'. In his later albums there has tended to be sufficient residual interest in what he is doing to have one somg that breaks through onto radio. In this case it's 'Wristband', about being denied entry to his own concert because he doesn't have the requisite arm accessory. Both of these songs are collaborations with Clap! Clap!, an Italian dance outfit, but I'm not sure you'd know it without being told. Simon has always had a good ear for a catchy beat and both of these seem like natural, unaided Simon songs.

The album is front-loaded with these collaborations, the third being 'Street Angel', which does have more of a sample-y, fragmented feel to it. It comes after 'The Clock', just over 1 minute of a ticking clock accompanied by some minimalist instrumentation.

The title track appears to be all about getting to the heart of how and why he writes songs combined with the age-old question, if we met each other today, would we still fall in love? Probably not I guess. Lives would have taken a different path and different people would have come our way. It's like asking if we'd met when we were younger, would we have had more time? Nope, we'd probably not be ready for each other yet.

There's an instrumental tribute to his wife, Edie Brickell with 'In The Garden of Edie' and he tackles the loss of a young soldier in 'The Riverbank', asking questions about whether he pursued a military career to find another family from the one that ends up grieving him by the river.

Ed Sheeran did a song called 'Insomniac's Lullaby' too. One year after this one. He has a reputation as an alleged plagiarist.

There's some terrific tuba work on 'Cool Papa Bell' and marimbas scattered all over the album and that bright African guitar still holds strong all these years after Graceland. It's a nice album, involving and showing that Simon still has plenty to say. Pretty good artwork too.

The Werewolf

Wristband

The Clock

Street Angel

Stranger to Stranger

In a Parade

Proof of Love

In the Garden of Edie

The Riverbank

Cool Papa Bell

Insomniac's Lullaby

Released 7th September 2018

IN THE BLUE LIGHT - Paul Simon

In the Blue Light is the fourteenth solo studio album by American folk rock singer-songwriter Paul Simon. Produced by Paul Simon and Roy Halee, it was released on September 7, 2018, through Legacy Recordings.^[1] The album consists of re-recordings of lesser-known songs from Simon's catalog, often altering their original arrangements, harmonic structures, and lyrics. The songs were recorded with guests including the instrumental ensemble yMusic, guitarist Bill Frisell, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and Bryce Dessner. The album's title is a reference to the lyrics in the song "How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns" from the 1980 album One-Trick Pony.

In an interview for CBC Radio, Simon confirmed that more songs were recorded during sessions for the album but ultimately left off the finished record.^[2] Outtakes include a number of unspecified songs from You're the One and a re-recording of "The Sound of Silence" with music based on the arrangement of Simon's live version from recent years. It is unknown whether or not these recordings will be released.

In the Blue Light was released to favorable reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 70, based on eleven reviews.^[3]

In what feels like a very generous gesture by Paul Simon in the context of this blog post, his final studio album to date is actually a compilation of re-recordings of some lesser known songs from his back catalogue. It means I can look back and see if any of these songs siezed my attention first time around. He does lean heavily on You're The One mind you, 4 of the 10 tracks come from there.

So 'One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor' from Rhymin' Simon is just as good. He retains the piano, how could he not? I was quite ambivalent about 2000's You're The One, blaming a lack of adventure on the Capeman disaster, and to be honest, 'Love' from that album is still no more than a pleasant song. 'Can't Run But' feels rather more stripped down than the original from Rhythm of the Saints with little more than a string quartet for instrumentation.

I didn't mention 'How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns' on the One Trick Pony piece. It provides this album's title but it remains unremarkable to me, in so much as he churns out anything, he churns out this kind of thing quite regularly.

I'm not sure why I missed 'Pig Sheep and Wolf' from You're The One, a quirky metaphorical tale of how a pack of wolves get the blame for killing a sheep when it was the pig wot done it.

'Renee and Georgette Magritte with their Dog After the War' is just as good as the Hearts and Bones version and it's followed by two more from You're the One, 'The Teacher' and the standout for me from that album, 'Darling Lorraine', which seems to have acquired some animal noises? Maybe he felt that the songs on that album didn't get the treatment they deserved, which is why they make up so much of this one.

'Some Folks Lives Roll Easy' was on Still Crazy..., buried on side 2. It's an odd little song really, made odder by the jazz arrangement here in place of the more countrified original. He then finishes with the relatively recent 'Questions for the Angels from So Beautiful or So What.

One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor

Love

Can't Run But

How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns

Pigs, Sheep and Wolves

René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War

The Teacher

Darling Lorraine

Some Folks' Lives Roll Easy

Questions for the Angels

Released 19th May 2023

SEVEN PSALMS - Paul Simon

Seven Psalms is the fifteenth solo studio album by American musician Paul Simon. It was released on May 19, 2023, through Owl Records and Legacy Recordings.^[2] The album was conceived as a seven-part piece meant to be listened to in its entirety, and is a completely acoustic performance.^[1]

The album is Simon's first since In the Blue Light (2018) and his first of new material since Stranger to Stranger (2016). Guests on the album include Voces8 and Simon's wife Edie Brickell.^[3]

It turns out Simon sneaked out another offering this year, which I had not accounted for. Seven Psalms seems to be just that, Simon's attempt to create seven pieces of music in the style of the biblical psalms. It's all acoustic and Spotify actually presents it as a single 33 minute track.

Here's my take on the lessons he is presenting to us...

'The Lord' seems to be a meditation on what we, or Paul Simon at least can conceive of as God from the benign virgin forest to the destructive forces of COVID and oncoming environmental doom. This serves as a refrain throughout the rest of the piece.

His reflection on love with 'Love Is Like a Braid', represents it as both an entanglement and harmony and beauty entwined. The duality of love is also compared to the rose and the thorn, if you have both then the damage that the thorn makes must be mended.

'My Professional Opinion' is s conversation with himself, your opinion of yourself sort of has to be a professional one, you are your own life's work after all. His conclusion is that there isn't much point being miserable, let the tensions and bad feelings go. Oh, and yo can blame God for them too.

In 'Your Forgiveness' is a little too oblique for me to really get a sense of meaning. It's certainly abut forgiveness, but is it being asked of God at the point of death (the "white light" after "2 billion hearbeats").

'Trail of Volcanoes' raises some serious questions about how Simon views his legacy, certainly from the early days. His journeys now look like a "trail of volcanoes exploding with refugees". Is he sick of being asked about meaning? He seems to regret that any past misinterpretation cannot now be fixed.

'The Sacred Harp' is a tale of picking up a mother and son on the road who seem to be either on the run from their past or simply on a constant journey. The boy is selectively mute suggesting underlying anxiety with his situation.

More death with the final 'Wait'. He fears his 'dark intuition' about what is coming by hopes for 'a dreamless transtion'.

A couple of reviewers have compared this to Bowie's Blackstar due to the themes of reflection on impending death. Simon is still here at time of writing, so let's hope this is more of an artistic exercise than anything more concerning

The Lord

Love Is Like a Braid

My Professional Opinion

Your Forgiveness

Trail of Volcanoes

The Sacred Harp

Wait