MELBOURNE, Australia (Top40 Charts/ Phantom Sound & Vision) -
Simon & Garfunkel: The Collection. This deluxe Boxset contains all five of their studio albums plus the Live In Central Park DVD.
The partnership of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel was to shape the music scene throughout the 1960s. Cleverly blending pop and folk music, they dominated the charts with classic hits such as 'Mrs Robinson', 'Sound of Silence' and 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'.
The set comes packaged in a beautiful box making it the ideal gift purchase!
Wednesday Morning, 3AM (1964)
Simon and Garfunkel's debut album was initially unsuccessful but with their ascendancy to fame, it wasn't long before their fans harked back to this early work. With songs such as Sound of Silence, Bleeker Street, Wednesday Morning 3AM this is a debut which clearly shows the promise Paul Simon's songwriting. The pair's distinctive 2-part harmony arrangements lit the way for the huge success they had with later material.
Tracklisting:
1. You Can Tell the World
2. Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream
3. Bleeker Street
4. Sparrow
5. Benedictus
6. Sound of Silence
7. He Was My Brother
8. Peggy-O
9. Go Tell It on the Mountain
10. Sun Is Burning
11. Times They Are A-Changin'
12. Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.
Sound Of Silence (1966)
Though it was their second album, Sounds of Silence was the record that introduced Simon & Garfunkel to the world on a large scale. When the original, acoustic version of the title tune was given a rock sheen here, folk-rock was born! This essentially catapulted the duo to superstardom. The songs here follow in that electrified direction for the most part, with the widescreen irony of Blessed buoyed by plangent guitar and drums, and the paranoid Somewhere They Can't Find Me pushed to neurotic extremes by an insistent rhythm section.
Sounds of Silence marked the introduction proper of Simon as sensitive song poet: intellectual, and poetic, making him the perfect 60s folk-pop idol. From the romantic melodrama of Kathy's Song to the anthem of alienation I Am a Rock, Sounds of Silence was the ultimate sonic portrait of the artist as a young man. It is this style of music which undoubtedly inspired other artists in years to come such as Morrissey.
Tracklisting:
1. Sound Of Silence
2. Leaves That Are Green
3. Blessed
4. Kathy's Song
5. Somewhere They Can't Find Me
6. Anji
7. Richard Cory
8. Most Peculiar Man
9. April Come She Will
10. We've Got A Groovy Thing Goin'
11. I Am A Rock
12. Blues Run The Game
13. Barbriallen
14. Rose Of Aberdeen
15. Roving Gambler
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966)
From the opening finely-woven tapestry, Scarborough Fair/Canticle, to the closing wake-up call, 7 O'Clock News/Silent Night, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel present a powerful collection of songs that was to be the new standard in contemporary rock. These harmonies were not those of the fun-loving Beach Boys, and the two New Yorkers weren't singing about girls in bikinis. They sang about women who read Emily Dickinson. Intellectual folk-based rock flourished in this classic collection written by the poet-of-the-moment, Paul Simon. The chemistry between Paul's warm, low tenor and Art's high, airy, tenor was an unrivalled mix, creating a precise harmonic exchange that lent itself perfectly to the well-crafted songs. The intricate arrangement of Scarborough Fair is a prime example of this winning formula.
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme contains songs that have since become part of the American musical lexicon. Songs like Patterns signalled that there was now an articulate elite that was changing the sound of the musical landscape. The revolution in the streets and campuses was making its way on to radio airwaves and thence into people's homes. But as heavy as they were politically and intellectually, the duo could still offer up an infectious, light-hearted ditty like The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy).
Tracklisting:
1. Scarborough Fair/Canticle
2. Patterns
3. Cloudy
4. Homeward Bound
5. Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine
6. 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
7. Dangling Conversation
8. Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall
9. Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert MacNamara'dInto Submission)
10. For Emily Whenever I May Find Her
11. Poem On The Underground Wall
12. 7 O'clock News/Silent Night
13. Patterns
14. Poem On The Underground Wall
Bookends (1968)
Simon & Garfunkel's first consistently excellent album, Bookends is a brief (12 songs in less than 30 minutes) but beautiful song cycle. It manages to sum up all of Paul Simons themes of alienation and identity in a newly orchestrated and elegant style far removed from the skeletal folk-rock of their earlier albums. The entire first half, bracketed by the lovely Bookends Theme, has a suite-like feel even though it encompasses songs as varied as the chaotic Save the Life of My Child and the subtle acoustic reverie Overs.
The second half is the closest Simon & Garfunkel ever came to rock & roll, featuring not only the classics Mrs. Robinson and Hazy Shade of Winter, but the lesser-known, quirky gems such as Fakin' It and Punky's Dilemma. An eclectic and multi-dimensional album, Bookends is often considered to be Simon & Garfunkel's masterpiece.
Tracklisting:
1. Bookends Theme
2. Save The Life Of My Child
3. America
4. Overs
5. Voice Of Old People
6. Old Friends
7. Bookends Theme
8. Fakin' It
9. Punky's Dilemma
10. Mrs Robinson
11. Hazy Shade Of Winter
12. At The Zoo
13. You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies
14. Old Friends
Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)
After half a decade of pop superstardom, America's favourite folk-rock duo were just about ready to go their separate ways but not before releasing perhaps their most famous song to date. Possibly S&G's most diverse album, Bridge Over Troubled Water firmly established them as creators of pop standards on a par with Irving Berlin or Johnny Mercer. That title tune alone places them in the pop hall of fame forever.
The story obviously doesn't stop there. Foreshadowing Simon's solo work, the jubilant love song Cecilia and the poignant, yearning El Condor Pasa both turn to the traditions of other cultures for musical inspiration. The highly metaphorical The Boxer is the only real throwback to Simon's more self-conscious early work. The transcendent production of The Only Living Boy in New York puts a pop sheen on an early example of Simon's nascent Randy Newman influence. A great way to say goodbye.
Tracklisting:
1. Bridge over troubled water
2. El condor pasa
3. Cecilia
4. Keep the customer satisfied
5. So long Frank Lloyd Wright
6. Boxer
7. Baby driver
8. Only living boy in New York
9. Why don't you write me
10. Bye bye love
11. Song for the asking
Live in Central Park DVD
You can almost hear Simon & Garfunkel begin to like each other again on this now-legendary set. On September 19, 1981, the duo reunited for just the second time since their initial break-up and revealed a camaraderie that had apparently vanished years earlier. Not only do they reprise their shared hits, they also work in a few of Paul Simon's solo gems and a couple of telling covers, one from the Everley Brothers and one from Chuck Berry. The band includes the best session men around. By the time they get to the sincerity of Old Friends and the joy of The 59th Street Bridge Song, you sense a relationship fully repaired.
Tracklisting:
1. Mrs. Robinson
2. Homeward Bound
3. America
4. Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard
5. Scarborough Fair
6. April Come She Will
7. Wake Up Little Susie
8. Still Crazy After All These Years
9. American Tune
10. Late In The Evening
11. Slip Slidin' Away
12. A Heart In New York
13. Medley: Kodachrome / Maybelline
14. Bridge Over Troubled Water
15. Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover
16. The Boxer
17. Old Friends
18. The 59th Street
19. Bridge Song
20. The Sounds Of Silence
21. Late In The Evening
