its weird how this is never really mentioned in the same breath with other 80s milestones like Thriller or Purple Rain or Born in the USA
It wasn't a singles/videos monster like those records. It only placed three on the hot 100 ("Graceland": 81, "You Can Call Me Al": 22, & "The Boy In The Bubble": 86), altough several other tracks were mere radio hits. I seem to rember reading in some old 80s mags that Graceland was kind of seen as a new model for selling an album in the MTV era around a concept (such as the world beat stuff) instead of having big hits or videos.
― Roomful of Moogs (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 16 October 2009 17:38 (10 months ago) Permalink
I remember "You Can Call Me Al" being huge on Nick Rocks.
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Friday, 16 October 2009 17:40 (10 months ago) Permalink
Yeah, that one probably had the longest shelf life. Seems like it should have been a bigger hit.
This thread made me dig out my copy of Negotiations and Love Songs (never owned Graceland knew it only from radio and school). Kinda funny that they cut "Graceland" off the cd and tape even though some other tracks were edits and even then the set was just over an hour.
― Roomful of Moogs (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 16 October 2009 18:04 (10 months ago) Permalink
I moved back to california in 1987 and I think it came out at least then, if not later.
?
― Kevin John Bozelka, Friday, 16 October 2009 18:16 (10 months ago) Permalink
"You Can Call Me Al" got got number 4 in the UK. I'd kinda assumed it did better in the US.
― Disco Stfu (Raw Patrick), Friday, 16 October 2009 18:18 (10 months ago) Permalink
yeah i recall it being a bit of a phenomenon
― ice cr?m, Friday, 16 October 2009 18:38 (10 months ago) Permalink
video had chevy chase, A+++
― i got nothin (deej), Friday, 16 October 2009 20:46 (10 months ago) Permalink
yeah who would she be to blow against the wind etc
― ice cr?m, Thursday, 15 October 2009 19:07 (3 days ago)
Whenever he sings this line I picture him closing his eyes, grinning sheepishly and doing this corny arms-in-the-wind dance
― Bay-L.A. Bar Talk (Hurting 2), Sunday, 18 October 2009 04:40 (10 months ago) Permalink
I'm taking Shakey's prerog and talking about Songs From The Capeman here...Simon doesn't usually write songs that are too long, but "Can I Forgive Him" is a momentum killer, at 6+ minutes. And it's not the simplicity of the arrangement, since both "Killer Wants To Go To College"s are pretty stripped down. Maybe the song needed to be long for its role in the play? "Trailways Bus" is great too. "Can I Forgive Him" aside, the songs where Simon's voice dominates are good, but I don't like the other singers as much on this: too showtunes-y for my tastes, and I don't think Simon wrote very well for those singers' voices. Though José Feliciano on the bonus "Born In Puerto Rico" is excellent; that song is better than most everything on the "real" album.
― offshore "drilling" for (Euler), Saturday, 3 April 2010 06:30 (5 months ago) Permalink