Paul Simon

Christgau loves it – his first A for a Simon record since Graceland.

A Bigger Bang was better than Surprise.

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."

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?

you know all the best Christmas songs? written by Jews

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.

sb

annoying percussion forever

still hongro after all these years

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.

kinda mostly loving everything abt this rec

'questions for the angels' is on some dreamy vdparks song cycle ish

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")

good album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI0enx_Jnqc

impressed they sounded so good live with just 2 vox and a single acoustic guitar

The title track (nice electro blues stomp) and "Dazzling Blue" are the keepers.

can we talk about how good so beautiful or so what is? it is really good!

It's really surprisingly good live, too.

I like it, although there's too many angels, Christmas mornings, and too much love.

you monster.

Saw him this past Monday at the smaller local venue. Boy, is his band good. Also occurred to me what a natural fit the African stuff remains for Simon, making songs like "50 Ways" and "Kodachrome" sound even more square than ever. The night's deep cut: "Cool, Cool River."

yurgh would love to see him in one of these clubs he's been playing.

yeah, The Vic show was great. one of the best shows I've ever seen in my life. and I'm not even the hugest Paul Simon fan! but damn that band was amazing. Super tight, but also loose enough to pull off a few Grateful Dead "->" style transitions ("Vietnam" -> "Mother and Child Reunion", "Hearts and Bones" -> "Mystery Train", "Kodachrome"-> "Gone at Last")

His new songs all sound great, they blended right in with the older stuff.

I was actually worried for a minute at the start. He looked so old, and the sound was kind of eh, but it perked up quick! Perfectly paced, too. Almost like he's some sort of a pro or something. ;) Didn't know you'd be there, Rob, otherwise I would have made my way through all the rich/pretty/old people to wherever you were.

(Crossposting, the Cars last night also started sort of eh but stayed that way).

gonna see him in exactly a month in a 1500-capacity venue in Dublin. Can't wait.

That video of him on Sesame Street posted by Scott way upthread is great!

This is a pretty great story:
http://coverlaydown.com/2011/05/great-moments-in-coverage-paul-simon-picks-random-fan-out-of-the-crowd-to-cover-duncan/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CoverLayDown+%28Cover+Lay+Down%29

He did that in Washington DC too! This is starting to look fishy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/paul-simon-at-dar/2011/05/26/AGvtsFCH_story.html

Maybe he's just doing that everywhere on this tour

well even if it's a "thing" the woman's facial expressions in the duncan clip are pretty priceless.

aw

i remember reading abt that on roger eberts blog

its awesome!

omg that is killing me

i'm dead

also
http://stereogum.com/722022/david-byrne-paul-simon-you-can-call-me-al-road-to-nowhere-live-in-nyc/video/

30 years later, the cartoon brought to life:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_W8pwMnZMNuQ/TINIzcGfauI/AAAAAAAADoA/wrlli9MgQcs/s400/slfig1.jpg

Hold on!
This album is bloody great!
I only got it this weekend. Already I'm liking this more than Rhythm Of The Saints, which I love.

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).

It's sparser, here, sonically, but keeps this loose sense of time that is absent on records by ____ and ____ and other bands who are influenced by ____.
Great kora on "Rewrite". Great lyrics! This is totally awesome!

yessssssss

such a good, good rec. amazed

i thought he and garfunkel were both so likable in the 'bridge over troubled water' documentary.

Giving this my first attentive listen now and really enjoying it - the sound is really great, really feels like he's in the same room with the galloping chug of the percussion but with lots of space for his voice in there. Need to give it a few more spins, see if the songs themselves really sink in, but it's a nice listen on a purely sonic level.

I saw Shampoo last night for the first time in a while. Don't think I ever noticed before that Simon got the music credit. The stuff by other people is fine ("Manic Depression" at the party is really good); don't know how much the selection was his and how much was Hal Ashby's. The recurring bit of background music written just for the film didn't sound anything like something Simon would write, though.

can we talk about how good so beautiful or so what is? it is really good!

yeah its really p rad

Didn't want to muck up the poll thread, but hey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FLuu1Brk7U

^^ Comedy special w/ Charles Grodin et al

lol @ Art Garfunkel getting 4th billing

can't remember if this came up in the poll thread but, y'know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1DJDnddsbU

Paul Simon & Sting: On Stage Together
Thu, Mar 13
Verizon Center
On Sale: Mon, 11/18 10am

Hmmmmm, not sure I like the sound of this

it's the King of Pain championship

for a nice Jewish boy, it's always seemed odd to me that Simon invested so much of his work with Xtian imagery and references. has he ever talked about this?

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=10056