The nadir is a lively cover of Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are A-Changin”, which misses the nastiness of the original. Their debut is a very strait-laced traditional folk album, featuring fare such as the Christmas carol ‘Go Tell It On The Mountain’ and the shanty ‘Peggy-O’. Overlooked Gem: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and ThymeĪfter releasing singles in the 1950s as Tom and Jerry, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel re-emerged in the sixties folk movement with 1964’s Wednesday Morning 3AM. Wednesday Morning, 3AM | The Paul Simon Songbook | Sounds of Silence | Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme | Bookends | Bridge Over Troubled Water | The Concert in Central Park There’s also a reunion track from 1975 that ended up on both of their solo albums from that year – the Simon penned ‘My Little Town’. ![]() It’s not that exciting musically, but it is a significant event and at least worth watching. I’ve only reviewed the studio albums, but the other noteworthy item in their discography is the Concert at Central Park live album from their 1981 reunion. At this point, Simon’s solo work has easily eclipsed Simon and Garfunkel’s catalogue in quantity and quality, but he’s never won the same place in popular culture that he did as part of Simon and Garfunkel. Paul Simon was clearly the driving force behind the band, as the songwriter and guitarist, but Garfunkel’s beautiful tenor and ear for harmony is also a key component of their sound. The pair splintered in 1970, and never recorded another studio album, but have periodically toured. Simon and Garfunkel cobbled together a quick second LP before hitting their stride in the late 1960s, with their meticulously produced, sweetly harmonised and literate blend of folk and pop. ![]() This created a number one hit and launched the duo’s career. But producer Tom Wilson noticed that ‘The Sound of Silence’ was popular among students, and overdubbed electric guitar and a rhythm section onto the original recording. The pair initially tried to break into the music industry as Tom and Jerry, playing Everly Brothers inspired teeny pop, then made their first LP in the midst of the 1960s folk revival. But on Bookends the duo, and Paul Simon in particular, were keen to wrongfoot any doe-eyed newcomers, expecting some calming, soothing wisdom of folk.Simon and Garfunkel met as teenagers in a school play, where Simon played the White Rabbit and Garfunkel the Cheshire Cat.The film of The Graduate, too, attempted to address the question of age, and not simply how wrongly the old were regarding the young from either perspective (prospective employer or mistress) the couple may elope at the end, but are they also ready to turn into reactionaries, think by 1980 that Reagan has a point?.If brought childhood to the fore, Bookends addresses the other end of the telescope – and apart from the Beatles, few players in this tale thus far have addressed the question of age and impermanence.Richard Avedon had David Bailey’s famous photograph of the Kray twins in mind when he shot the cover.In their album retrospective, Marcello Carlin and Lena Friesen reflect on the historical context surrounding the album through a track by track examination.Ī few highlights from the album retrospective: To the collector, the mono pressing of the album contains many noticeable sonic differences. Interestingly, this was the last album to be released in both mono and stereo. This concept-album topped the music charts in the United Kingdom and United States at #1, and #3 in both Australia and France. Forty-five years ago, Simon & Garfunkel released their fourth album, Bookends (1968).
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