Paul Simons Ballads

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The Boxer, Late Great Johnny Ace, Graceland, Slip Slidin' Away, Kodachrome ... They have this deeply meloncholic nostagia that stays with you, this literate longing . Or have i been smoking crack ?

― anthony, Saturday, 10 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"We'v all gone to look for America" - no yr not msoking crack, something softer perhaps.

― Geoff, Saturday, 10 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

well come on folks fuck this obscure crap . MOR Meloncholy

― anthony, Sunday, 11 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

America and The Dangling Conversation and some other S&G stuff = fantastic! Lots of solo stuff = dull or annoying or both.

― Ally C, Sunday, 11 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"The Only Living Boy in NY" - yeah!

― Arthur, Sunday, 11 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i really rate a lot of Paul Simon's solo stuff. the One Trick Pony LP has some very beautiful and sad moments, and Rhythm of the Saints is GRATE once you get past the annoying first track (which was the single). the rest of the album is mysterious late-night bossa brilliance. oh yeah, and Hearts and Bones is fantastic as well (if you miss out 'Cars'), esp the Late Great Johnny Ace

― m jemmeson, Monday, 12 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Like, hello. Bridge over troubled water. "Sail on silver girl, sail on by. Your time has come to shine."

I sing this when I drink.

I like Capeman immensely as well. Also, Kodachrome: "When I think back on all the crap I learned in High School it's a wonder I learned a thing at all." -- the nostalgic feel was nice coz it sort of said HS sucked then, and of course it sucks now.

― Sterling Clover, Monday, 12 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Can't Run But" from Rhythm of the Saints should be a classic.

― dleone, Monday, 12 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I hate Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

Q: Which one has worse hair?

― Sean, Monday, 12 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yep, Paul Simon's done some heartbreaking stuff. Oddly enough I found myself in floods of tears listening to "Homeward bound" in hospital last week (I was in there for kidney stones, longest I've spent away from my wife since we got married), and it's never affected me like that before. As someone's already pointed out, "Only living boy in New York" is probably his best, both as a song and a performance (those spectral Artie harmonies in the bridge) but there are other examples throughout his past. I still think his first solo album is his best, the simplicity and darkness of all of the songs...

― Rob M, Monday, 12 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

My dad had a cassette of the concert in Central Park, so I used to listen to it when I was young. This weekend I got a best of. So far, of the songs that are new to me, I like 'I Am A Rock'. Because 'The Dangling Conversation' wasn't on the cassette so that I first heard of it from mark s's article, I'll think of these three images when I hear it: a couple sitting face to face in armchairs with books of poetry and, in younger days, the man in academic robes running through courtyards and the woman fanning herself with a blue examination booklet (the color filled in according to the color here) with damp tendrils curling and sticking to the nape of her neck.

― youn, Monday, 12 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

...damp tendrils?

what is this, Day of the Triffids, or something?

― m jemmeson, Monday, 12 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sorry. She had to take an exam when it was very hot. (Or maybe my writing is ridiculous. I got carried away. mark s wrote an article about 'The Dangling Conversation' for Freaky Trigger in which he mentions his parents, and he also mentions them in the 'Oxbridge: Classic or Dud' thread on ILE.)

The arrangements on this best of are pretty nice. In 'I Am A Rock', I also like this sort of flurry(?) at the end of each figure(?) in the introduction.

― youn, Monday, 12 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

S&G basically stunk except for "The Boxer" and bits of Troubled Water. The first Simon solo album, on the other hand, is a perfect piece of work--he never bettered it, even with Graceland.

― M. Matos, Wednesday, 14 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Matos: what do you think about Capeman? This album is I think by far his finest, more natural feeling than his africa-beat stuff, seeped both in tradition and in non-american sounds, & Trailways Bus, now that I think of it, probably is the best of all his ballads.

― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 14 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i enjoyed the Capeman album, maybe he should have left it as a concept album rather than a stage musical.

― m jemmeson, Thursday, 15 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think 'I Am A Rock' is a red herring. But I also think 'The Dangling Conversation' is a kind of strange masterpiece. The way the strings arrive during (?) the 2nd verse, with such absurd, unwonted melodrama, is heartstopping (except that I am, apparently, still alive).

― the pinefox, Friday, 16 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

two years pass...

I GET ALL THE NEWS I NEED ON THE WEATHER REPORT!1

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 05:17 (twenty-one years ago)

And I'm one step ahead of the shoe shine
Two steps away from the county line
Just trying to keep my customers satisfied

― gem (trisk), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 05:39 (twenty-one years ago)

The new remasters of his solo albums are amazing. Some of the most vivid improvements I've ever heard.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 07:36 (twenty-one years ago)

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