| Product Summary | | Label: Rhino Records | | UPC: 00081227889920 | | Release Date: 7/13/2004 | | Buy.com Sku: 61011601 | | Item#: MXH2JP | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 25332 | Format:  CD |
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| Song Listing |  |
Disc 1
| | Song Title | Sample | | 1. Mother And Child Reunion ~ Paul Simon |  | | 2. Duncan ~ Paul Simon | | | 3. Everything Put Together Falls Apart ~ Paul Simon | | | 4. Run That Body Down ~ Paul Simon | | | 5. Armistice Day ~ Paul Simon | | | 6. Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard ~ Paul Simon | | | 7. Peace Like A River ~ Paul Simon | | | 8. Papa Hobo ~ Paul Simon | | | 9. Hobo's Blues ~ Paul Simon | | | 10. Paranoia Blues ~ Paul Simon | | | 11. Congratulations ~ Paul Simon | | | 12. Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard - (Demo, Bonus Track) ~ Paul Simon | | | 13. Duncan - (Demo, Bonus Track) ~ Paul Simon | | | 14. Paranoia Blues - (previously unreleased, Bonus Trackw) ~ Paul Simon | |
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| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel includes: Paul Simon (vocals, nylon-string acoustic guitar, acoustic & electric guitars, six-string electric bass); Michael Riesman (conductor); Eric Gale (nylon string & electric guitars); Pete Carr (acoustic & electrical guitars); Peter Drake (pedal steel guitar, dobro); Chikapa "Ray" Phiri (guitar); Onward Brass Band (horns); Larry Knechtel (piano, organ, bass); Richard Tee (piano, keyboards, bass); Ken Asher (organ); Greg Phillinganes (synthesizers, bass); Bob James (keyboards); Joe Osborn (bass); Hal Blaine, Steve Gadd, Victor Montanez (drums); Ralph McDonald, UAKTA (percussion). | | Additional guest artists: The Reverend Claude Jeter, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Phoebe Snow, The Dixie Hummingbirds, The Oak Ridge Boys, Milton Nascimento, C.J. Chenier, Rockin' Dopsie & The Twisters (vocals); Quincy Jones, Dave Grusin (arrangers); J.J. Cale, Ringo Starr (guitar); Charlie McCoy (harmonica); Michael Brecker (saxophone, trumpet, synthesizer); John Faddis, Randy Brecker (trumpet); Hugh Masekela (flugelhorn); Rick Marotta (drums); Nana Vasconcelos (percussion); The Waters, Cissy Houston, The Jesse Dixon Singers, Valerie Simpson, The Harptones, The Waters Sisters (background vocals). | | Producers include: Paul Simon, Reginald Warburton, Stanley West, Art Garfunkel, Phil Ramone. | | Engineers: Roy Halee Jerry Masters, Phil Ramone. | | Compilation producer: Paul Simon. | | Includes liner notes by Kevin Howlett, Paul Zollo and Philip Glass. | | This 3-CD box set contains a 40-page booklet with extensive liner notes, track by track annotations, complete personnel and recording information a discography, rare photographs and is divided into three sections "The Early Years," "The Solo Years" and "Graceland And Beyond." | | Personnel: Paul Simon (guitar, percussion); Paul Simon (vocals); Cissy Houston, Renelie Stafford, Von Eva Sims (vocals, background vocals); Deidre Tuck (vocals); Stefan Grossman (guitar, bottleneck guitar); Wallace "Red Rat" Wilson , Hux Brown, Huks Brown (guitar); Charlie McCoy (harmonica); Michael Manieri, Mike Mainieri (vibraphone); Russell George, Jackie Jackson , Ron Carter , Joe Osborn (bass guitar); Denzil Lang, Denzel Laing (percussion); Dierdre Tuck (background vocals); David Spinozza (guitar); Jerry Hahn (electric guitar); Los Incas (charango, flute, percussion); St?phane Grappelli (violin); Fred Lipsius, Steve Turre, John Schroer (horns); Larry Knechtel (piano, electric piano, harmonium, organ); Neville Hinds (organ); Hal Blaine, Victor Montanez, Winston Grennan (drums); Airto Moreira (percussion). | | Audio Remasterers: Dan Hersch; Bill Inglot. | | Audio Remixer: Roy Halee. | | Recording information: C.B.E. Studios Paris, France; columbia Studios, NY; Dynamic SOunds Studio, Kingston, Jamaica; Western Studios, Los Angeles, CA. | | Photographer: P.A. Harper. | | Upon the realization that 50 percent meant "half," Paul Simon terminated his wildly successful partnership with Art Garfunkel. Anyone who was paying attention to the quality of the writing on those Simon & Garfunkel albums shouldn't have been surprised by Simon's rapid emergence as a solo artist of the first order. His self-titled solo debut is a vibrant, eclectic affair that expands on the artistic developments of his former work while exploring new musical horizons. | | The elliptical "Mother and Child Reunion" is surely one of the first American pop flirtations with Jamaican music. "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" is similarly groundbreaking for its time in its use of Latin rhythms (a move Simon would eventually repeat on "Late in the Evening"). These cultural excursions foreshadow the road Simon would take decades later on GRACELAND. There are also some good old neurotic singer-songwriter tunes, like the sardonic "Run That Body Down," which stands up with the best work of Randy Newman, whose approach it recalls. | | The perfect companion to OLD FRIENDS, the Simon & Garfunkel box, this three-disc set is a marvelously comprehensive compilation of tunes by the baby boomers' Poet Laureate. You get everything from his earliest work with Garfunkel to his seminal '70s folk-rock albums and the breakthrough world music fusion of GRACELAND and RHYTHM OF THE SAINTS. This box was put together with a sharp eye for Simon's unique songwriting gift ("Peace Like a River," "Hearts and Bones") as well as an ear for his irresistible pop hits ("Cecilia," "Late in the Evening.") | | Enhancing the enjoyment of this package is a great booklet that features informative interviews with Simon as well as his own illuminating comments about the writing of many of the tunes included here. One of the things that comes to mind while listening is the eclecticism of Simon's muse. Even if there were other artists who could go from the skanking ska of "Mother and Child Reunion" to the gospel-tinged "Loves Me Like a Rock" to the big Brazilian beat of "The Obvious Child," there's nary a one who could make it all work the way Simon does. | | If any musical justification were needed for the breakup of Simon & Garfunkel, it could be found on this striking collection, Paul Simon's post-split debut. From the opening cut, "Mother and Child Reunion" (a Top Ten hit), Simon, who had snuck several subtle musical explorations into the generally conservative S&G sound, broke free, heralding the rise of reggae with an exuberant track recorded in Jamaica for a song about death. From there, it was off to Paris for a track in South American style and a rambling story of a fisherman's son, "Duncan" (which made the singles chart). But most of the album had a low-key feel, with Simon on acoustic guitar backed by only a few trusted associates (among them Joe Osborn, Larry Knechtel, David Spinozza, Mike Manieri, Ron Carter, and Hal Blaine, along with such guests as Stefan Grossman, Airto Moreira, and Stephane Grappelli), singing a group of informal, intimate, funny, and closely observed songs (among them the lively Top 40 hit "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard"). It was miles removed from the big, stately ballad style of Bridge Over Troubled Water and signaled that Simon was a versatile songwriter as well as an expressive singer with a much broader range of musical interests than he had previously demonstrated. You didn't miss Art Garfunkel on Paul Simon, not only because Simon didn't write Garfunkel-like showcases for himself, but because the songs he did write showed off his own, more varied musical strengths. [In 2004, Warner Strategic Marketing reissued Simon's studio albums as remastered editions with bonus tracks, packaged in a cardboard digipack. The remastering on Paul Simon is particularly startling -- it's crystal clear, yet warm, easily the best-sounding version of this album yet pressed. The three previously unreleased bonus tracks on Paul Simon are also revelatory, containing a demo of "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" with a different verse and a radically different version of "Duncan," which contains a different narrative than the final version. The third bonus track is an alternate version of "Paranoia Blues" that is more relaxed and laid-back than the album version.] ~ William Ruhlmann |
Musical Guests | | Art Garfunkel | | Stephane Grappelli | | Patti Austin | | Adrian Belew | | Airto Moreira | | Youssou N'Dour | | Linda Ronstadt | | Philip Glass | | The Everly Brothers |
| | Compilation Appearances |
| | Associated Artists and Works |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 07/13/2004 | | Original Release Date : 1972 | | Catalog ID : 78899 | | Label : Warner Bros. Records (Record Label) | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Mixed | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00081227889920 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Rolling Stone (3/2/72, p.56)
- "...PAUL SIMON leaves its composer's psyche finally exposed, as the various veneers he has used in the past to protect himself have receded into the background..."Rolling Stone (11/11/93, p.77)
- "...[1964/1993] gives a more satisfying picture of Simon's output than collections like NEGOTIATIONS AND LOVE SONGS or SIMON AND GARFUNKEL'S GREATEST HITS..." Entertainment Weekly (12/3/93, p.70)
- "...[Simon] has maintained a level of quality and innovation unequaled by his '60s peers.... - Rating: B Mojo (Publisher)
(p.116)
- 4 stars out of 5 - "[H]e was already adept at dressing songs in exotic garb....This is a reminder of just how fruitful Simon's genre-hopping could be." |
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