gafa42
4
Behind CSNY, lots of Simon & Garfunkel got played in young ImTheOceans house and the 70's socal hippie church we attended. That being said, I find most of their albums have great singles and some overpretentious filler. While the same can be said here, even the weaker tracks have great moments. The horn section on Keep The Customer Satisfied, Garfunkels vocals on the title track, The Boxer all make this 5/5.
Hmmm. So The Boxer is very good and The Only Living Boy In New York is outstanding. The rest of the album isn’t great and the title track is a schmaltzy ott dirge that feels genetically designed to be covered by desperate contestants in those exploitative tv talent shows.
Another artist(s) going forward in time to steal a song to go back and record it first! Who does it best (Suggs!!) I feel like I should be in some kind of medieval court dancing round a pole waving a hankie or some shit. Lie la lie, lie la lie la lie la lie Lie la lie, lie la lie la lie la lie, la la lie la lie Did this song inspire the film, 'Baby Driver'? It is a toe-tapper though! Thematically, this record feels all over the place. Yeah, it's alright, but massively overrated, I feel. 3 / 5 stars.
Simon & Garfunkel are part of my musical DNA. My Grandfather and Mother talk about seeing them in Cameron Stadium when my Grandfather was a Duke Divinity student. Half of my full studio album discography on vinyl once belonged to my mother, including this album. While Cecilia, The Boxer, and Baby Driver were favorite songs, I did not hold this album in very high esteem until I listened to the 2020 season of The Opus on the album. I spent quite a bit of time with the album when I listened to that season in 2021. I came to love it during that period and it is probably my favorite album by them now. Part of it was probably a reaction to overhearing the title song (especially covers, Jesus, like Hallelujah, I could go the rest of my life without hearing a new version and they should set the songwriting royalties at such an exorbitant rate as to discourage people from singing it). But as I came to really understand the album and its place in time, I even over came that hurdle to love that song once again as I had as a youth. The album is like a minibiography of the band taking you from their humble beginnings with Bye Bye Love to foretelling Simon's solo stardom with The Only Living Boy in New York. It is nigh perfect by one of the greatest of singer songwriting teams. It's a beautiful swan song and probably should have been left as their last testament as opposed to numerous attempts to rekindle the flame rather through artistic desire, nostalgia, or money.