A really talented guy who since the mid 80s has done the mistake of letting other people control a bit too much of his sound and songwriting style. "Hearts And Bones" is fantastic, and seems to be his peak. "Surprise" was an aptly titled Eno collaboration though, just need to relax the rhythm section even a good bit and find back to his good, old pre-"Graceland" style.
― You're Twistin' My Melody Man! (Geir Hongro), Saturday, 13 November 2010 10:24 (thirteen years ago) link
New album streaming on NPR. Sounds pretty good, glad to hear him dabbling in Afropop again, the rhythms overall are stronger than anything he's done in a long time (and I think rhythm is really key to his best songwriting).
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Monday, 4 April 2011 14:47 (twelve years ago) link
He's touring the US and doing mid-sized halls and some club gigs (930 club and others).
― curmudgeon, Monday, 4 April 2011 14:51 (twelve years ago) link
this sounds good!
― tylerw, Monday, 4 April 2011 16:26 (twelve years ago) link
"dazzling blue" kinda dazzling!
― tylerw, Monday, 4 April 2011 16:35 (twelve years ago) link
Haven't kept up with his new output since Rhythm of the Saints (other than hearing the ghastly Capeman). This is nice, in a pleasantly unassuming sort of way. Nothing jumped out me after one listen but it was solid throughout.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Monday, 4 April 2011 16:41 (twelve years ago) link
you're the one is worth hearing.... surprise has its moments, but some of those moments are not so hot.
― tylerw, Monday, 4 April 2011 16:51 (twelve years ago) link
The coupla tracks I heard from the new one implies Simon learned a few lessons from Eno, even if that last record was a stiff.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 4 April 2011 16:56 (twelve years ago) link
Stuff I read about this: He samples Sonny Terry. "Amulet" was originally an instrumental he wrote for Brazilian singer Luciana Souza who added her own vocal melody overtop.
Here's part of the L. Souza with Simon duet at the Beacon in NYc awhile back doing "Amulet". The Simon album version is just an instrumental
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v517/paulfournier/Paul%20Simon%20Beacon%20NYC%202-13-09/?action=view¤t=Amulet2-13-09016.flv
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 04:26 (twelve years ago) link
He samples a bit of Reverend J.M. Gates' sermon "getting Ready for Christmas Day" in “Getting Ready For Christmas Day"
http://dust-digital.com/gates
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 04:37 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.avclub.com/articles/paul-simon,53706/
some interesting bits in this interview. He explains the "Jay-Z" lyrical reference and talks about Eno and his 18 year-old son playing James Blake for him
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 04:41 (twelve years ago) link
I listened to some of the Panda Bear (from Animal Collective) stream on NPR after this one on NPR and I think Simon, despite utilizing some of his same ol' techniques, is less monochromatic than Panda Bear who is stuck on his dreamy Brian Wilson thing. Not that either one is great, but this appears to be more listenable. Does this type of thinking mean I'm old?
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 13:13 (twelve years ago) link
the rhythms overall are stronger than anything he's done in a long time (and I think rhythm is really key to his best songwriting).
I swear I read somewhere that while Simon had done so on ocassion before Graceland, that starting with that cd he began emphasing the usage of interesting rhythms that he heard from others to get him out of a songwriting block. He uses influences from others to kickstart his writing. Now previously we have discussed how some of his collaborators (Los Lobos, Terrance Simien) have grumbled that they have not gotten any songwriting credit on songs(some defend Simon on this).
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 13:19 (twelve years ago) link
I hear the so-called "rhythmic" approach on his first solo album!
― Hey Look More Than Five Years Has Passed And You Have A C (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 April 2011 13:21 (twelve years ago) link
Sometimes over the years he added rhythm himself via guitar in the songwriting process and sometime in the studio via supporting musicians at various stages of the songwriting process. With some albums he notes in that AV Club interview that he started with drums first.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 14:11 (twelve years ago) link
at the end of the day, will any bed of exotica rhythms or chance operations overcome the preciousness inherent to simon's songwriting though?
― bb, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 14:20 (twelve years ago) link
Will any message board put an end to rhetorical questions?
― Hey Look More Than Five Years Has Passed And You Have A C (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 April 2011 14:23 (twelve years ago) link
But, to answer it, the preciousness is his most charming feature, cuz it's so precise.
― Hey Look More Than Five Years Has Passed And You Have A C (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 April 2011 14:25 (twelve years ago) link
You won't find an answer to your question here bb, we've got diamonds on the soles of our shoes.
― Euler, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 14:25 (twelve years ago) link
or: xp
i knew he was talking about that jay-z billboard, it was close to my house.
― mizzell, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 14:27 (twelve years ago) link
Interview is interesting. Funny how to him this is less of a 'drum' record, but to me it seems more rhythmically alive than the last few. I like this, because it makes sense of some things I've long thought about him, that people miss a lot of what makes him great by focusing so much on his lyrics:
I like working with sound—sound and rhythm. I like the abstract more than “What does that mean?” Nobody ever says to you, “Why did you use a harmonium?” Or “What is that ringing sound that occurs here?” The questions are always “What does that song mean?” or “What were you trying to say here?” The abstract is just more interesting because it doesn’t really have anything to say, but if it is good, it creates thoughts and feelings, and I enjoy that. For me, once the music creates those thoughts and feelings, I begin to write a song about it. But if I just left it at the instrumental track, I think people would listen to it and think up their own songs and thoughts. That would be fun, too.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 5 April 2011 16:05 (twelve years ago) link
Surprise isn't bad at all, I just never listen to it.
― Hey Look More Than Five Years Has Passed And You Have A C (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 April 2011 16:07 (twelve years ago) link
btw there's some docfilm on the way about the making of Bridge over Troubled Water
― your generation appalls me (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 5 April 2011 16:09 (twelve years ago) link
yeahhh, i think it's included w/ the new reish of that album. preciousness, eh? i mean, maybe at times, but to me it's more clarity of intent. or something.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 16:26 (twelve years ago) link
it's interesting to me how the real "serious" sorta folk songwriting giants of the 60s - Dylan, Neil Young, Paul Simon - who could all be comfortably resting on their laurels by now, are still cranking out records. and genuinely interesting records at that. whereas all the more rock guys are burned out and worthless (lol Rolling Stones)
― in my world of loose geirs (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 5 April 2011 16:28 (twelve years ago) link
probably something to do with being a band vs. a solo artist? all of the dudes you mentioned (dylan, young, simon) have been able to swtich things up in terms of collaborators and sounds over the years, whereas the stones are kinda locked in one thing.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 16:30 (twelve years ago) link
hmm yeah that makes sense.
― in my world of loose geirs (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 5 April 2011 16:45 (twelve years ago) link
otoh Lou Reed, not so vital a songwriter anymore eh
yeah not really. i sort of expect lou to have one more good to great album, but maybe that is expecting too much. does he even really write songs anymore?
― tylerw, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 17:00 (twelve years ago) link
A Bigger Bang was better than Surprise.
― Hey Look More Than Five Years Has Passed And You Have A C (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 April 2011 19:21 (twelve years ago) link
harsh
― tylerw, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 19:22 (twelve years ago) link
A- vs B record.
― Hey Look More Than Five Years Has Passed And You Have A C (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 April 2011 19:22 (twelve years ago) link
playing Glastonbury if the hints are owt to go byhttp://www.nme.com/news/glastonbury/55932
― piscesx, Wednesday, 6 April 2011 04:24 (twelve years ago) link
how come no one told me paul simon did a solo acoustic tour in 1984? just found a recording, sounds amazing. great set list, cool reworkings of the songs.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 17:34 (twelve years ago) link
Christgau loves it – his first A for a Simon record since Graceland.
― Hey Look More Than Five Years Has Passed And You Have A C (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 17:35 (twelve years ago) link
OTM. "A Bigger Bag" is pretty good! "Surprise" was super dull, especially considering the Eno imprimatur and compared to the underrated "You're the One."
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 19:44 (twelve years ago) link
BTW, I don't know if there's a thread for this, but what's up with Jewish songwriters like Simon, Leonard Cohen and Dylan (even pre-Christianity) invoking lots of Christian imagery?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 20:35 (twelve years ago) link
you know all the best Christmas songs? written by Jews
― in my world of ugly tribadists (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 20:42 (twelve years ago) link
I read one reviewer here compare the new album to "Heart and Bones". This is obviously not at all true though, because what made "Hearts and Bones" so special was all the ballads, and the new album doesn't have ballads at all.
It is not at all bad, but it is now about time Paul Simon put away all that annoying percussion forever and go back to all those Rhodes-tinged ballads he was so great at until and including "Hearts and Bones". Those are the ones that represents Simon at his best and most musically sophisticated.
― Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 20:45 (twelve years ago) link
sb
― in my world of ugly tribadists (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 20:48 (twelve years ago) link
annoying percussion forever
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 21:04 (twelve years ago) link
still hongro after all these years
― tylerw, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 21:06 (twelve years ago) link
There's a ballad called "Dazzling Blue" which evokes "Hearts and Bones," but Geir, I guess, missed it because the tabla confused him into thinking he was listening to a George Harrison or Kula Shaker recod.
― Hey Look More Than Five Years Has Passed And You Have A C (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 21:19 (twelve years ago) link
kinda mostly loving everything abt this rec
― bear, bear, bear, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 23:30 (twelve years ago) link
'questions for the angels' is on some dreamy vdparks song cycle ish
― bear, bear, bear, Thursday, 14 April 2011 00:00 (twelve years ago) link
First Paul Simon album since Rhythm of the Saints that I like after one listen - and I've found that none of those records I initially disliked have grown on me at all. I wonder if it's the production, which in many ways seems to hearken back to his mid-70s heyday (some of my first musical memories are of lying in the back section of the station wagon watching the telephone poles tick by and listening to "My Little Town" and the rest of Still Crazy on the 8-track) but with a nice, understated update-sheen (unlike Surprise which sounded to me like "LOOKY HOW MODERN I CAN DO")
― relentlessly ugly frat hedonist retard anthems I have loved (staggerlee), Thursday, 14 April 2011 05:01 (twelve years ago) link
good album
― akm, Thursday, 14 April 2011 05:43 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI0enx_Jnqc
impressed they sounded so good live with just 2 vox and a single acoustic guitar
― messiahwannabe, Thursday, 14 April 2011 07:00 (twelve years ago) link
The title track (nice electro blues stomp) and "Dazzling Blue" are the keepers.
― Hey Look More Than Five Years Has Passed And You Have A C (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 14 April 2011 12:46 (twelve years ago) link
Jason Isbell and Sadler Vaden, “Kodachrome”
Fitting, as Patterson Hood's dad plays bass on the original!
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 6 February 2024 18:17 (one month ago) link
That's a great lineup. Would have loved to see that last 6 song stretch in particular.
― Indexed, Tuesday, 6 February 2024 20:39 (one month ago) link
Rufus oh wow! <3
― brimstead, Tuesday, 6 February 2024 20:45 (one month ago) link
John Vincent III, “The Only Living Boy in New York City, New York, 10003, USA”
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 6 February 2024 21:26 (one month ago) link
no rhythm of the saints appreciators among the bunch, apparently -- not my people!
― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 6 February 2024 21:29 (one month ago) link
(Yeah, I thought ‘City’ sounded odd at the end of that title, wondered if I remembered it wrong, but that’s from Variety.)
― paisley got boring (Eazy), Tuesday, 6 February 2024 21:36 (one month ago) link
Anyone have MGM+?
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/15/entertainment/paul-simon-restless-dreams-review/index.html
― Indexed, Friday, 15 March 2024 16:02 (one week ago) link