I've been listening to a lot of Paul Simon (solo and Simon and Garfunkel) recently and I’ve come to realize just how great of a folk-pop writer he is. I tag 'pop' there because he has a way of making these mellow, tight, and punchy tracks so damn easy to enjoy - especially tracks like 'Mother and Child Reunion', 'Run That Body Down', 'Duncan', and 'Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard'. While not as melancholic as some of his stuff with S&G, it still has subtle hints of those bleaker moments, like on the song 'Congratulations' While I found the final few tracks semi-underwhelming, it was interesting to hear some of Paul's earlier folk-leaning works for the first time - and as expected, there are a handful of songs here that I'll be revisiting for, maybe, the rest of my life.