Paul Simon

Maverick singer-songwriter of several decades' standing, as powerful for his solo work as in his working partnership with Art Garfunkel. His 1986 'Graceland' album earned great critical opprobrium, until said critics saw the truth of what he had done for the future of South Africa. Here are a few of his finest moments:

The Sound of Silence

Bridge Over Troubled Water

You Can Call Me Al

The Obvious Child

Still Crazy After All These Years

Simon & Garfunkel: The Harmony Game
Since their big final album 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' has been reissued for its 40th anniversary, this was a show that looked at its making. All the major players contributed talking heads, and their analyses were positive, enlightening, and exact. Engineer Roy Halee seems to have been 1 of several unsung heroes in the project. They also talked about making a one-off film, Songs of America (see below), and how a sponsor pulled out when they realised how political it was. Director Charles Grodin (!) was also present & correct. The sad truth of BOTW the album was that it represented their peak because it also started to send Simon & Garfunkel in different directions (and their later infamous disagreements lend credence to that). But a warm and detailed programme.

Songs of America
A delightful hour (from 1969) in which Simon & Garfunkel sing some of the songs from the album, but mainly they're used as a soundtrack for a liberal political message. There's also some behind the scenes stuff from the making of the album, and some Q&A type bits. The title of the above 'Harmony Game' comes from a scene in the back of a taxi cab here where Art talks about how they're in the harmony game, like it's some sort of industry. That prompts Paul to talk about Beethoven's 200th anniversary and how he responded to critics. Which then prompts Art to come back with the imminent 200th anniversary of America, to which Paul asks "Do you think it's gonna make it?" It's good to know from the other doc that they do have respect for each other now, because the needle between them seems really obvious. The songs are marvellous anyway.

An Evening With Paul Simon / BBC One Sessions: Paul Simon
Two differing gigs from the short singer-songwriting legend. The latter show had more recognisable hits to it, and I predictably enjoyed it a bit more.

Imagine: Under African Skies
25 years on from the release of Paul Simon's groundbreaking album 'Graceland', he returns to South Africa to meet up again with the musicians he met and worked with on the album, as well as considering the political storms created by breaking the "cultural boycott". Given that Ladysmith Black Mambazo and others still hold great mutual affection for Paul, it's eerie to see how some people reacted against the album on spurious holier-than-thou pretexts.

Omnibus: Paul Simon Solo
From 1988, a gentle lookback over the career of Art Garfunkel's other half From their early work (Simon claims he got into singing after witnessing the adulation Garfunkel was getting), to his own later efforts, with quite a bit of discussion about the unsuccessful Hearts & Bones LP, almost far more than on Graceland. Simon claims that the African rhythms of the latter project were not a radical departure, given his previous experiments with reggae rhythms. Certainly he presents a mildly chilled picture of a man willing to send himself up on Saturday Night Live, dressed in a turkey costume.

Discovering: Paul Simon
The usual story, how he met Art Garfunkel, discovered new influences and became a success, then they split, and he eventually made his own mark with 'Graceland', and he continues to make an impression as he goes along.

Heyday TV: Simon & Garfunkel - Across The Airwaves
Unlike most of this channel, this was just a series of performance clips. Notably, they leaned more towards Paul Simon & his solo stuff anyway. Most interesting was footage of him with George Harrison, performing Homeward Bound and Here Comes The Sun.

A new compilation has seen him top the UK album charts for the first time since 1990's "The Rhythm of the Saints"

Classic Albums: Graceland
Engineer Roy Halee and Paul himself were key contributors here on this 1997 effort, along with many of the musicians Paul worked with in South Africa to jam the magic that made such a global impact. He rued the way that 'You Can Call Me Al' has become perceived as a jolly track because of the Chevy Chase video, whereas it's central to Paul's story of how he was in a rut, and found salvation with a completely unexpected change of direction on this album.

He's doing the rounds here in the UK because he's got a new album out soon.

Also, happily, heavy band Disturbed are getting some traction with their cover of "The Sound of Silence"

Disturbed managed to clock up 5 weeks in the top 40, including 1 week in the top 30, their highest ever chart position.

misery guts wrote:He's doing the rounds here in the UK because he's got a new album out soon.

This, "Stranger to Stranger" has just gone in at #1

  Here's the article from Billboard .... Paul Simon Scores First No. 1 U.K. Album In 26 Years With 'Stranger to Stranger'

Paul Simon has scored his first U.K. No. 1 studio album in 26 years with Stranger To Stranger (Concord/EMI/Universal), while Drake's “One Dance” (Cash Money/ Republic/Universal), featuring Wizkid & Kyla, tops the singles chart for the ninth straight week. Additionally, Justin Bieber has created a first in the territory by breaking the barrier of 100 million streams, with last October's chart-topper “Sorry” (Def Jam/Universal).

Simon hit the U.K. album summit with the compilation The Ultimate Collection (Sony Music CG) in April last year, but the new release marks his first No. 1 there with a studio set since The Rhythm Of The Saints (Warner Bros./Warner Music) spent two weeks at the peak in the autumn of 1990.

'Sad Affleck' Gives 'Sound of Silence' New Life on Hot Rock Songs Chart

With Drake's Views album steady again at No. 2, Coldplay moved up again 4-3 with A Head Full Of Dreams (Parlophone/Warner Music), changing places with Beyoncé's Lemonade (Columbia/Sony). Last week's new entry at the top, Catfish and the Bottlemen's The Ride (Universal Island), fell to No. 5.

There were top ten debuts for grime MC Bugzy Malone at No. 6 with Facing Time (Ill Gotten), and Dexys (formerly known as Dexys Midnight Runners) at No. 10 with Let The Record Show — Dexys Do Irish And Country Soul (Rhino/Warner Music).

With 73,000 weekly combined chart sales, Drake's single has extended its run as the U.K.'s longest-running No. 1 single for nine years. One more week at the summit will put it level with Rihanna's ten-week reign with “Umbrella” in 2007.

Justin Timberlake's “Can't Stop The Feeling” (RCA/Sony) began a fourth straight week at No. 2, and “This Is What You Came For” (Columbia/Sony) by Calvin Harris and Rihanna also stretched its run at No. 3 to four weeks. “This Girl” (3 Beat) by Kungs Vs. Cookin' On 3 Burners climbed again, 10-4, and last week's highest new entry, Clean Bandit's “Tears” (Atlantic/Warner Music), featuring Louisa Johnson, climbed a place to No. 5.

Bieber's “Sorry” moved past 100 million streams as his other hits “What Do You Mean” and “Love Yourself” edge closer to the threshold, taking their totals to 98.6m and 94.3m streams, respectively.

Ray Phiri, a South African jazz musician who founded the band Stimela and became internationally known while performing on Paul Simon's Graceland tour, died of cancer on Wednesday at age 70.

Stimela's best-known albums include Fire, Passion and Ecstasy and Look, Listen and Decide, and Phiri contributed as a guitarist to Simon's Graceland album in the 1980s. The album evolved from Simon's interest in indigenous South African music.

RIP

Paul Simon - The Concert in Hyde Park
From Hard Rock Calling, in 2012, Paul did a steady hour of classic material, though I notice from the closing credits that he did 16 other songs on the night, with guests Jimmy Cliff, Hugh Masekela and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Oh well...

Belladrum 2016 - Cridhe Tartan - Bwani Junction
An Edinburgh outfit who've covered Graceland, and here did songs from it, to crowd delight. They were pretty good.

He's just become the latest star to announce plans to bring his touring to an end:

http://www.nme.com/news/music/paul-simon-announces-manchester-farewell-show-2236836

He's doing 9 last UK shows in early July.

Joseph Shabalala, of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, has died at the age of 78. He and they came to world prominence after their inclusion on Paul's 1986 classic album Graceland. RIP 

When Double Acts Fall Out
A jolly top 10 clip show, mainly about comic acts, but with a few musical or quasi-musical pairings, so Sonny & Cher, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis, and Simon & Garfunkel. In archive both Paul and Art had their say, but they've come together and separated a few times over the years. The main beef was that Simon didn't get enough credit for his writing, and Garfunkel got more credit for his singing.

He's now the latest name to sell off his back catalogue, in his case to Sony.

Paul Simon's Concert in the Park
From August 1991, from his "Born at the Right Time" tour, with guests including Chevy Chase joining him on a 2nd bash at You Can Call Me Al. He was pushing both his Graceland high point, and also his recent Rhythm of the Saints set too. The encores were some Simon & Garfunkel numbers.

He's 80 today 

misery guts wrote:He's 80 today 

Art Garfunkel turns 80 today 

The Concert in Central Park
In 1981, Simon and Garfunkel reunited for this charity concert, their first public performance in a long time. Acrimony still seemed to bubble under the surface, at times they gave each other funny looks, and their harmonies were closer on some songs than others (and laughably non-existent at times). But they handled the occasion well, got through a long choice of material, and bizarrely closed with a final encore of Late in the Evening, which they'd already played in the middle of the set. One good touch was to follow Art's belting (and famously solo) turn on Bridge Over Troubled Water with Paul's big hit 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.

He recently released a new album, Seven Psalms.

Graceland - The African Concert
From Zimbabwe in 1987, as Paul was joined by Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Stimela, and of course Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Hugh, Miriam and LBM got their chances to shine without Paul around, but he did most of the work, including tracks from the album in question. A heart-warming and still entertaining show. For Nelson Mandela, time did tell.

He's suffering with degenerative damage to his hearing, but he's stoic about it