POLL paul simon - the rhythm of the saints

This is a lonely life
Sorrows everywhere you turn
And that is worth some money if you think about it
That is worth some money

surely one of his prettiest recordings? hard for me to imagine the album without that song, always feels like the centerpiece to me.

I dig it

Fans of this album; which has been your favourite since this?

So Beautiful or So What

I think Stranger to Stranger, Surprise, and So Beautiful or So What are all very respectable late career efforts.

'So Beautiful or So What' is my most favourite post-Rhythm record as well, but I love all of them - I'm even a big fan of 'Songs From The Capeman'. 'You're the One' seems rather underappreciated and was a primary target for re-recordings for 'In The Blue Light', but I'd say that many songs on that album are brilliant too.

'Rhythm of the Saints' is utterly perfect.

Valentijn otm

Love the first half of this album - track after track of total stunners. And then it mostly falls off a cliff on side 2, imo.

is 'The Cool Cool River' in the non-mostly section?

There is an evergreen debate in my head as to whether I prefer the way The Cool Cool River fades out on the album, or the bombastic horn section ending on Concert in the Park. Both so amazing.

Have always low-key loved

Maybe not in my lifetime, but in yours / I feel sure

A beautiful piece of misdirection. Following a line like "We shall suffer no more" it feels like it's gonna go into the formulation "maybe not in my lifetime, maybe not in yours, but someday" or something to that effect. But no, it's coming. In yours. He feels sure. The audacity!

God I'm looking at the Cool Cool River lyrics in full right now and it's just a masterpiece. I have deep personal connections to both Can't Run But and the Coast but it would be hard not to vote for Cool Cool River.

it's just a little lump but you feel it
in the creases and the shadows
with a rattling deep emotion

As I have said before, check out the muthaflippin DRAFTS. The work-in-progress tracks on the bonus disc reveal that even the lyrics he threw AWAY were top-notch.

"The Coast" work-in-progress

This is the echo of the echo of the first song that lullabied /
The heartbeat of the host

"Spirit Voices" work-in-progress:

My horse and my saddle and my gracious companions /
We tripped over a mountain and we fell into a vast canyon

I mean, really. Maybe the songs as eventually released were fine, but those throwaway lyrics are as good as most people will ever write.

beautiful

played this last night... it is august after all. "further to fly" really hitting last night

it's interesting on apple music now this album is listed first under the essentials section before graceland

Love the first half of this album - track after track of total stunners. And then it mostly falls off a cliff on side 2, imo.

― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Monday, August 3, 2020 1:58 PM (one hour ago)

idk how you could come up w/ a better half of an album than this record thru "she moves on," but i like "spirit voices" and the title track a lot. they're a bit looser and end the album ona. bit of a more whimsical note compared to some of the more studied emotional excavations

So Beautiful or So What would be my favorite since too, and Stranger to Stranger is also excellent. Surprise doesn't quite work all the way through, but there's at least a strong EP's worth of excellent music there. Beyond that, there's only a few other good songs worth revisiting ("Darling Lorraine" for one), but he's put out only five albums of all-new songs since The Rhythm of the Saints, so he's done all right.

So Beautiful ... is the only of his post Rhythm of the Saints albums I connected with. I got to see him play a small club behind it, was awesome.

Was this a New Jersey?

Not at all. I don't remember a sense of disappointment.

He was at risk of one post-Graceland but RotS totally delivered without rehashing it.

also pretty strong sonic connection between graceland and this... it's an expansion of that world from within as opposed to some deconstruction or pivot from it

There were, however, lazy white takes I remember glancing at (I was just becoming aware of rockcrit): "Brazilian percussion"= "South African rhythms."

Also, the album had no "You Can Call Me Al" as a hit even though (a) "The Obvious Child" and "Proof" got heavy MTV play (b) "You Can Call Me Al" only reached #23 in its second release.

this definitely doesn't have as many singles or single-esque tracks than Graceland, and overall the palette is way less interested in punching through the speakers and grabbing you, and a lot of the songs really stay in their groove and ride it into those emotional excavations. it's great. but can't imagine, for example, falling in love with almost every track as a child, the way i did with Graceland. it's just a different kind of record, for a different moment in a life. almost like /still crazy/ versus the first two solo albums, maybe. tho Graceland has plenty of that Simon wistfulness. just it also has like "Gumboots" and "I Know What I Know" and "That Was Your Mother" and the opening of "Diamonds." basically Graceland is a much more *fun* album - maybe his most fun album? but if you're in the mood, ROTS lets you ease into the sadness and the beauty, the middle-agedness, the reflection.

i think that's right. i had access to both albums as a child but i never really dug deep on RotS until my late 20s. graceland bounds from track to track with all these immediate new sounds in a way that few records ever have. i had to be much older to realize that melodically and lyrically RotS was just as good or better.

"spirit voices" is a great song... there's something about the way he sings the titular line that kinda drags along in this lazy way. love it

For years after I loved this album, I sort of hated it...it became associated with too many things I dislike.

But I returned to it a few weeks ago, and it truly is so so good.

confession, i've never been able to fully get on board with "Spirit Voices." maybe feels the most like what the bad version of this album would be --- white guy is cultural tourist, convinced he's had profound experience. but really it might just be the line "i drink a cup of herbal brew." it's a really lovely recording though.

you aren't wrong but the last part wins out for me

This thread inspired me to pull out my cassette of RotS as I'm trying to fall asleep--just a couple of tracks in, and I'm reminded that J.J. freaking Cale is on "Can't Run But"; his telltale gentle tonedoggery could only be coaxed from the fingers of one singular Okie guitar slinger (as much as Clapton would hope otherwise)

That reminds me that Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds plays harmonica on "The Obvious Child", which is slightly less surprising once you remember that at the time he was go-to guy for the authentic harp thang.

there is a crazy storm here atm & i am a bit terrified of storms so i put on Rhythm Of The Saints & it’s like the musical equivalent of a weighted blanket but like, magical & restorative

i have loved Paul Simon my whole entire life but holy shit, since I hit middle age he just hits so ~beautifully~ i feel v corny but it is so profound for me these past few years in particular

j0rd’s original origin story for this thread is pure gold btw

Love u

back atcha <3

i would change my vote to “she moves on” now. such a tender and vivid song

there were a few weeks this past summer where i basically only listened to the 91 concert in the park album… great new york summer album, when he says it’s a beautiful night in new york you can really feel it. he plays a good number of rhythm of the saints songs including ones like “she moves on” that seem to have been dropped from his sets by the 2000s.

My storybook lover
You have underestimated my power
As you surely will discover

appreciate this revive, Veg. giving this a listen this morning. my boo got us an upgrade for the turntable cartridge for Christmas and it is sounding so gently enveloping and fabulous on headphones. love the little bits of synth sprinkled throughout. and man, Vincent Nguini deserves a lot more attention... his guitar work is so lovely and so essential to the sound of the album.

Love that '91 concert album.

guys now that i have a kid i sing so much paul simes to her

can't listen to "born at the right time" without sobbing tbh

i also feel v corny, but there it is

not rhythm of the saints-specific but she just stopped letting me sing her "graceland" to sleep after basically a year of doing so.

i think rhythm has become my favorite of his albums

guys now that i have a kid i sing so much paul simes to her

can't listen to "born at the right time" without sobbing tbh

i also feel v corny, but there it is

not rhythm of the saints-specific but she just stopped letting me sing her "graceland" to sleep after basically a year of doing so.

i think rhythm has become my favorite of his albums

argh sorry for the double post

great post tho!

so nice it needed posting twice :)

I got this t-shirt on the Born at the Right Time tour — let me tell you, I was the envy of my 6th grade peers.

https://totalholisticbody.s3.amazonaws.com/band-tees-rock-tees-vintage-paul-simon-born-at-the-right-time-tour-1991-lhoxc.jpg

damn that shirt rules wtf

Scorned at the Right Time

Never been laundered, never been dry cleaned

i was pretty into comic books at the time, so i thought Paul looked kinda like the surprisingly ruthless villain in a Punisher graphic novel or something

It's funny how, for exemplifying "grown-up" songwriting, Simon's songs connect so well with kids. One of the earliest songs I remember hearing and loving was "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," though I thought the line was "you don't have to be corduroy."