Paul Simon's 'Graceland'

I didn't grow up with it, but it was the last "family record" we had, coming out just as we stopped being able to do things as a unit. So it's nostalgic, but in a bittersweet sort of way.

Since it was the first CD my family owned (and I think the ONLY pop/rock CD for some time) it was a family experience for me as well - I was still young enough that I would listen to the music my parents liked, and it was an album the whole family seemed to really like.

def universally approved of in my family too

it was the first CD my family owned

Yup! Same here.

lol i think it's the only pop cd my mum owns

haha i didn't really hear this album growing up but when i went on vacation w/ my wife's family in June i must've heard this in the car like 8 times

I have still never heard more than four songs from this album. For some reason, this one totally passed my family by even though I think it would have been right up their alley.

we listened to it on vinyl, made me the indie fukk i am today

After listening to it again and again all summer, and getting kinda weirdly curious about what it would feel like to lose love and have a window to my heart, and then remembering that I'm happily married, I'm not sure what to think of this being a really popular family album, besides that the words must not be listened to very clearly.

what families cant appreciate having windows in their hearts plz

lolz yeah the lyrics on this album are a total downer! par for the course with Simon

Well that was your mother,
And that was your father,
Before you was born dude,
When life was great,
You are the burden, of my generation,
I sure do love you,
But let's get that straight,

what a horrible thing to say to your child

haha, yeah, the narrator of that song is an incredible asshole

yeah its sorta Steely Dan-ish the way it contrasts a really slick, joyful sounding tune with total asshole lyrics

ive always felt guilty for thinking the banter on i know what i know is smooth

Also heard this a lot on family car rides through America's heartland.

OTMFM!

ive always felt guilty for thinking the banter on i know what i know is smooth

Hmmm, I might try "don't I know you from the cinematographer's party?" on the next nice girl I meet and see what reaction it gets.

yeah who would she be to blow against the wind etc

haha cant believe how universal this record is for so many ppl ... i had no idea

for so many ppl's families, i mean ... it was for mine as well

yeah, me too. I remember driving around in the vanagon circa 1987 listening to this tape constantly. It wasn't my fam's first CD -- I think Rhythm of the Saints was!

Seriously, the playing on this is so good! I'm going to make a very embarrassing old man one day, earnestly beseeching some twelve-year-olds and their friends to 'just listen to that fretless bass'.

Mid-80's, this record was guaranteed to show up in two places: (1) right before the first speaker at a rally at my college to protest anything, they'd play it on the PA, and (2) the record collection of every adult lefty in my parents' circle of friends, along with the soundtrack to the Commitments.

srsly ill sound - why dont more musicians fuck w/the fretless

ugh the Commitments, what an abortion of an album

I remember getting totally inordinately upset with people who actually insisted that the Commitments sdtk was better than the original Stax recordings (even tho they are like note-for-note covers!)

the mind boggles

So you guys are saying I should totally hear Graceland some day?

I think nostalgia is probably coloring some people's emotions for this album. It was a hit in my family's van, too, of course.

Dudes from Los Lobos don't have many kind words to say about it, though.

I'd say that it's one of the few records from my childhood that holds up to my nostalgia for it. If that makes sense. There was probably a 10 year stretch where I didn't listen to it at all, but when I did, I loved it in a new way ...

o well the dudes from los lobos in that case

yeah we talked about the dudes from los lobos in that other graceland thread this week.

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

probably cuz Simon's from a previous generation, I assume

I've always found that this is a canonical record for most people my age and older.

yeah it sold, what, 16 million?

maybe the video w/ Chevy Chase wasn't quite as big a moment as those other albums' videos?

srsly ill sound - why dont more musicians fuck w/the fretless

Because the bad ones sound like Paul Young records?

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

In what sense? It didn't half of those three records, though, but shows up on any best of the eighties poll -- and it WAS a big hit, his biggest since S&G.

*It didn't sell half

well I didn't check any sales numbers or anything

just the reactions on this thread are weirdly universal - did every white kid in the 80s listen to this in the car on family vacations or what

Because the bad ones sound like Paul Young records?

this is true, but well done fretless is pretty awesome i must say

No argument.

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

― Jesus, the Czar of Czars (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, October 15, 2009 5:44 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i hav a playlists in my itunes containing 5 each songs from graceland born in the usa and brothers in arms

i think it's a little late to get slotted with those isn't it? I moved back to california in 1987 and I think it came out at least then, if not later. I associate the others with junior high (for me), graceland with later highschool.

agree w/all the sentiments itt. i would add that i bought the remaster a couple months ago and goddamn it sounds slammin

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.

I remember "You Can Call Me Al" being huge on Nick Rocks.

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.

I moved back to california in 1987 and I think it came out at least then, if not later.

?

"You Can Call Me Al" got got number 4 in the UK. I'd kinda assumed it did better in the US.