Paul Simon- Career in Review

When you look at an artist who has real longevity, you'll notice a lot of the time that their albums go in twos. Jill and I are big Paul Simon fans. I might go so far as to say that he is the musical embodiment of the true American spirit. WHile we spend a lot of car time listening to his Garfunkel years and his early solo stuff, we have recently discovered his recent work. And his recent work definately goes in couples.












2000's "You're the One" and 2006's "Surprise" are what I'm tlaking about. We've recently been digging on them. Both are sonically similar.They continue to traverse (in sort of a boring, generic way) the multiculturalism of "world music" that earlier albums explored so innocently. Songs are held together by rhythm rather than an instrument or a melody or a chord progression. And he talks and scats (litterally) over the music. Most tackle the theme of being middle-aged and the things that [might] come with that: body image, blended families, having babies late in life, mature marriage, etc. The highlights tend to be on "Surprise", his newest album, and they are the first and last tracks. One is about his baby but there is this weird electronic munchkin voice that sings in the background and really takes the song down a notch.

I'm not dissing these two records. I like them a lot. I'm just saying that stuff to prove a point. If you are looking to buy an album of someone with a big long career, like that of Paul Simon, you have to realize that the albums probably go in twos and that you shouldn't look toward the beginning of the career, nor toward the end. After all, Simon's early Garfunkel years have records that contain mostly crap. Start buying their records they did like ....three fifths into their career.










I'm talking here about "Graceland" and "Rhythm oif the Saints". It's his most brilliant work. The former blends what you'd expect from Simon with South African music. The latter does the same with Brazillian music/rhythms. You can listen to either of those and never get tired of them. True genius.

Post Script
Now. If you're looking to buy something from a band that was around for like 4 years (or will be around for only 4 years) then definately buy their first one first. That's a rule.