The dangling conversation (Simon and Garfunkel) (LP 3778 - 3782)

Simon and Garfunkel  Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1966) *****  

Simon & Garfunkel   Live from New York City, 1967 (CD, Columbia Records, 2002) *** 

Simon & Garfunkel  Bookends (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1968) *****   

Simon and Garfunkel  Bridge Over Troubled Water (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1970) *****   

Simon and Garfunkel  Old Friends: Live on Stage (CD, Columbia Records, 2004) ****   

Genre: Folk rock, pop

Places I remember: Marbecks Records, Kings Recording

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Cecilia (BOTW)

Gear costume: Mrs. Robinson (Bookends), The Boxer (BOTW)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: As I was growing up, I was, of course, aware of their big hits, but I was late coming to the Simon and Garfunkel albums. I'd started with Paul's solo album - There Goes Rhymin' Simon, and worked backwards, beginning with Bridge Over Troubled Water, but then going further into their back catalogue. 

The awkwardly titled Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme was their third album. The Sounds of Silence had been successful so Paul returned from London and the duo was reunited.

Now with time (four months) to work on songs, the pair came up with some enduring classics: Homeward Bound; The Dangling Conversation; Scarborough Fair/Canticle; The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy); For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her and 7 O'Clock News/Silent Night.

The Live in New York album documents their early approach (the set was well recorded, in early 1967) - Paul on guitar and both Art and Paul on vocals. This is an excellent concert - warm and relaxed pretty much, as they go through their early hits amongst the material from their first couple of albums.  

Bookends is a carefully realised album. The first side follows a concept - the aging process, while the second has the hits - Mrs. Robinson, and A Hazy Shade of Winter. It all hangs together - showing the serious/art side of their music. 

AllMusic sums it up well: Simon & Garfunkel never overstate; instead they observe, almost journalistically, enormous life and cultural questions in the process of them being asked. In just over 29 minutes, Bookends is stunning in its vision of a bewildered America in search of itself.

What can be said of Bridge Over Troubled Water? An unbelievable collection that serves as testament to the genius of both Simon and Garfunkel. Art's singing on the title song is peerless, and Paul's writing peeks on this album. As a duo they left the best to last as they effortlessly feature a range of styles, from rock, R&B,gospel, jazz, South American music, folk rock and pop. An embarrassment of riches!

The Old Friends Live on Stage double CD set is magic as well. It documents their 2003 tour well and even though Art's voice isn't the pristine instrument it once was, the concert and CD become a fitting reminder of the magic the two old friends could conjure up. Yes, it's an exercise in nostalgia but so what.

Where do they all belong? The notable exception is 1981's Concert in Central Park reunion album - for some reason I never bought it.

There are plethora of Greatest Hits style compilations out there - I have three. They act as a great sampler.

And that's the 7 o'clock edition of the news (Simon and Garfunkel)

Gregarious in his seventies music blog recently wrote about the Tom Clay song What The World Needs Now/ Abraham, Martin and John and wondered aloud if it was the most emotionally charged song of all time.

It's a tear jerker – there is no doubt and the song cleverly manipulates our emotions with its collection of sound bites from the assassinations and speeches by the three Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King, most notably Edward Kennedy's moving eulogy for Bobby.

On the plus side, I have always liked the way the ambiguous Hal David line – 'we don't need another mountain' and King's metaphoric 'I have been to the mountaintop' juxtapose.

But on the whole it's a form of middle of the road song married to sound bites shtick that doesn't really hold water. It becomes too manipulative and the little kid's bookending of the song (I don't know what segaration is) becomes cloying and redundant after repeat listens.

So what else is out there that provokes real/raw emotions in a less contrived way? And, yes, I know, we're heading into deeply subjective territory here.

Here are some other contenders:

Simon and Garfunkel's Silent Night/Seven O'Clock News is top of my list (in under two minutes we have a slow build under the hymn of the anodyne newsreader telling us about death and violence in a sixties world where Lenny Bruce has just died but where Martin Luther King is still alive. Chilling! A simple idea – not overdone and leaves us thinking rather than manipulating an emotional response like the Clay contrivance. We also get the trivialising of the news thrown in for good measure).

 

There are a few more that spring to mind as second equals:

Jim Croce Alabama Rain (probably only emotion for me as I associate the song with my maternal grandmother - like I said - it's highly subjective what works the emotions).

June Tabor And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (I've posted on this before – a sober and unsentimental song about the ANZACs during World War 1)

Bob Dylan Idiot Wind (pretty sure I've posted on this amazingly vitriolic song before too – try the live Rolling Thunder Revue version on Hard Rain for extra venom)

Bruce Springsteen 41 Shots (you can get killed just for living in your American skin is the harrowing message from Scooter, a.k.a. The Boss).

And what about the Fabs you ask? Try George Martin's Pepperland track for The Beatles Yellow Submarine (it conjures up perfect childlike, and somehow, psychedelic swirls of emotion).

A lifetime is so short, a new one can't be bought (The Beatles)

The latest Mojo Magazine had a 'How to buy' guide on Simon and Garfunkel.

In the top 10 the readers had picked three S&G duo albums and the other seven were all Paul Simon solo albums. No solo Garfunkel which is understandable. He is a superb singer and harmony man but his solo albums stink as a rule.

I was pleased to see Hearts and Bones in the mix at number 9. It's a superb Carrie Fisher break up album. Simon tackles the subject in a self deprecating way which makes it all the more endearing. I read Carrie's blog from time to time and, she's great and all, but, whooah - she would be hard work.

I had no arguments with the number one vote - Bridge Over Troubled Water. A sublime collection.

But where oh where was There Goes Rhymin' Simon????? The best album of 1974 according to Mr Grammy. Nowhere to be seen. So Beautiful Or So What is rated better. So is Surprise.

This is a travesty, a mockery. A mockery of a travesty.

Here then is my little plug for one of the best albums of all time and the criminally insanely great 'American Tune'.