Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What

[Jackal]

Dig it dig it dig it!

 

[Fletch]

Okay, let's see... "There Goes Rhymin' Simon" features The Dixie Hummingbirds; you probably know songs like "Loves Me Like A Rock" or the famous "Kodachrome". The whole album has a great bluesy, gospel-y New Orleans kind of feeling, if you like that.

....

So, I don't know which description sounds most appealing to you but I'd probably start with "There Goes Rhymin' Simon"  

... So Amazon sent me Pauls first solo (which I already know and love) cd AND Rhymin' Simon! What an album! MK fans go for it.... Brilliant feel, and instrumentation, sublime lyrics. Loving, "One Mans Ceiling" and "American Tune" + the hits of course... "St Judys" has always been a fave....

"...well if I can't sing my boy to sleep, well it makes your famous daddy look so dumb..."

[Jackal]

Some great recent PS videos:

 

 

 

[goldenheart96]

Love the vids, especially Paul's rendition of "Mystery Train" has been a real treat live! Also, glad you like "Rhymn' Simon", Fletch. Which album is next on your list? By the way, can you believe Paul will be 70 in two weeks! 

[Fletch]

Graceland (rerelease Oct) - haven't had a copy since cassette players went out of fashion! A masterpiece everyone should own.

Thanks for recommending Rhymin, it pushed me over the edge to buy it and it's wonderful.
At my age I love discovering some lost forgotten classic album and thinking on the first listen, 'Man, that's wonderful' - just when you think you've heard them all!

[goldenheart96]

Graceland (rerelease Oct) - haven't had a copy since cassette players went out of fashion! A masterpiece everyone should own.

Thanks for recommending Rhymin, it pushed me over the edge to buy it and it's wonderful.
At my age I love discovering some lost forgotten classic album and thinking on the first listen, 'Man, that's wonderful' - just when you think you've heard them all!

Very happy to hear that! It is a lovely album indeed. Agree about Graceland of course. After you've listened to that one, you could get "The Rhythm Of The Saints" next, which I personally like even better than Graceland because it shows what Paul has learned from his collaborations with international musicians. "The Obvious Child" is fantastic, and "The Cool Cool River" is one of my favourite PS songs.

[Jackal]

I got into Paul Simon via Rhythm of the saints. Great album. Maybe a little slick today, but when I first heard in the early 90s, I absolutely dug it. Cool, cool river was also my favorite.

[goldenheart96]

I got into Paul Simon via Rhythm of the saints. Great album. Maybe a little slick today, but when I first heard in the early 90s, I absolutely dug it. Cool, cool river was also my favorite.

Yes, I can understand the "slickness" thing - First I misunderstood it as "overproduced" but I suppose these are different things. I don't think it's overproduced, it has some "edginess" in it; the drums on "The Obvious Child" for example were recorded live somewhere on the streets of Brazil. But the slickness is probably because Paul is a perfectionist. Every rhythm, every melody line has to be perfect. Not everyone's cup of tea - and I must say I sometimes prefer the live versions more - but understandable, since the music is so complex.

[Jackal]

Not overproduced, just slick as in "polished". Probably just a few remnants from the artificial 80s sound.

[goldenheart96]

A very happy 70th birthday to Paul Simon!!

[ds1984]

A very happy 70th birthday to Paul Simon!!

70? Really? He can't be that old!

[vgonis]

A very happy 70th birthday to Paul Simon!!

70? Really? He can't be that old!

And then again he is! I have been listening to his work for over 20 years and he has been writing songs from the mid fifties with Art, as Tom & Jerry! But his music is so fresh that could fool everybody!
 I was just thinking that Bob had a 50 year birthday celebration with all sort of guests playing his songs and then singing with him. (Listen to the Willie Nelson rendition of "What was that you wanted" from that concert. It is a fantastic song made even better!) Paul Simon and MK gave us the slip on that. I was hoping for such a 50th birthday surprise, but it never came. Not so influential, not many friends or just  a felling that it has already been done? Maybe a tribute when he is 80, like the one with B.B. King? But King had already recorded at least 2 such albums, without the celebratory reason.

[dustyvalentino]

I thought he was 69...

[goldenheart96]

He is indeed 70 years old already... "Can you imagine us years from today/Sharing a parkbench quietly/How terribly strange to be seventy..."

And whereas Dylan gets dozens of birthday specials all the time, Simon never has. Not surpringly since he has always been Number Two. 

[Love Expresso]

Maybe he's too small.

LE