It’s 1971, and Aretha Franklin has just introduced the world to “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” a rousing, spiritual anthem that could have been written decades if not centuries ago. She takes the song to the top of the charts. Its notoriety leads to the rise of jobbing songwriter Paul Simon, who no longer needs to kick around the Brill Building in its waning days. Simon’s career kicks off in earnest the following year with the release of his self-titled solo album. It’s a quirky, offbeat affair, touching on reggae (“Mother and Child…
And Here’s To You, Mr. Simon: Paul Simon Mulls “Graceland” Box Set and Tour, Reflects On His Career With “Songwriter” (UPDATED)
How terribly strange to be seventy. Today, October 13, Paul Simon reaches that milestone, over forty-three years after he first mused what it would be like to be sitting on that park bench with his friend, like bookends. Yet in that time, Simon’s music has remained resonant and timely, a point driven home when the singer paid tribute on September 11, 2011 to the fallen at New York City’s Ground Zero with a poignant performance of “The Sound of Silence.” His music has been a soundtrack to countless lives, bringing particular solace…
Review: Paul Simon, “Live Rhymin'” and Expanded, Remastered Studio Works (1972-1975)
Paul Simon may have titled his latest studio album So Beautiful or So What, but the same name could apply to his catalogue relaunch at Legacy Recordings. So Beautiful has been hailed as a return to form for Simon, writing with a guitar for the first time in many years. A timely reminder of that form and of the style Simon both recalls and updates on the new disc can be rediscovered on these four reissued titles. Paul Simon, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, Live Rhymin’ and Still Crazy After All These Years…
Friday Feature: “The Graduate”
“Just one word…plastics.” With that one word, spoken to the disaffected Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) by an associate of his father’s, the audience viewing 1967’s film The Graduate, could both laugh and sneer along with Benjamin. After all, “plastics” stood for all that was superficial and fake in society. Mike Nichols, directing only his second feature film after a successful Broadway career, was anything but subtle as he masterfully threaded the film’s themes throughout every aspect of the production. To represent Benjamin’s most inner thoughts on the film soundtrack, Nichols called on…
Review: Simon and Garfunkel, “Bridge Over Troubled Water: 40th Anniversary Edition”
“What’s the point of [making] this album?,” an impossibly youthful Paul Simon asks in the 1969 television special Songs of America. “The world is crumbling.” If Simon didn’t know then why he was “just” recording an album despite all of the tumult around him, he almost certainly knows now. After all, he and partner Art Garfunkel have seen Bridge Over Troubled Water make it to 40 years (actually, 41!), and have even participated in the celebration. The duo have also seen the accompanying album and its title track embraced by countless citizens…
Release Round-Up: Week of March 8
Billy Joel, Live at Shea Stadium: The Concert (Columbia/Legacy) The best of the Shea Stadium farewell shows on two CDs and a DVD or Blu-Ray. Not my favorite Joel show, but it’s now yours for the buying. (Official site) Neil Diamond, The Bang Years 1966-1968 (Columbia/Legacy) Two Bang LPs (and one non-album single) on a nicely put-together disc – hopefully the first of many deserved tributes to the Solitary Man on the eve of his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. (Official site) Simon & Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water: 40th…
Sail On, Silvergirl: “Bridge” Returns for 40th Anniversary Edition (UPDATED 1/22)
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” began as Paul Simon’s “humble little gospel hymn song.” But upon its release, it quickly took on a life of its own. Simon’s inspirational words and music, Art Garfunkel’s spine-tingling vocal and Larry Knechtel’s majestic piano all contributed to a work that resonated deeply, as a both an epitaph for the 1960s and a reassuring affirmation for a new decade’s beginning. Believe it or not, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is 40 years old; what’s hard to grasp isn’t that the song has reached that landmark, but that this…
Simon Officially Rhymin’ for Legacy in 2011
Legacy Recordings just announced another big catalogue overhaul planned for 2011: Paul Simon’s catalogue is indeed getting a new reissue campaign next year. Our own Joe Marchese reported in June that Simon had planned to move his back catalogue from Warner Bros. back to Columbia, the home of Simon & Garfunkel. And The Essential Paul Simon, a straight reissue of the 2007 Rhino compilation, was released a few weeks ago. But this is the first official confirmation from the label that something is coming. We’re still not sure what that something exactly…
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