Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel: Paul Simon (vocals, guitar); Sivuca (vocals, accordion); Patti Austin, Art Garfunkel, Phoebe Snow (vocals); Hugh McCracken, Joe Beck , John Tropea, Pete Carr, Jerry Friedman (electric guitar); Toots Thielemans (harmonica); David Sanborn, Eddie Daniels, Michael Brecker, Phil Woods (saxophone); Leon Pendarvis, Richard Tee (piano); Bob James (electric piano); Barry Beckett, Ken Asher (keyboards); David Hood, Gordon Edwards, Tony Levin (bass guitar); Grady Tate, Roger Hawkins, Steve Gadd (drums); Ralph McDonald (percussion); Rev. Jessy Dixon & The Chicago Community Choir, Valerie Simpson (background vocals). | | The third new studio album of Paul Simon's post-Simon & Garfunkel career was a musical and lyrical change of pace from his first two, Paul Simon and There Goes Rhymin' Simon. Where Simon had taken an eclectic approach before, delving into a variety of musical styles and recording all over the world, Still Crazy found him working for the most part with a group of jazz-pop New York session players, though he did do a couple of tracks ("My Little Town" and "Still Crazy After All These Years") with the Muscle Shoals rhythm section that had appeared on Rhymin' Simon and another ("Gone at Last") returned to the gospel style of earlier songs like "Loves Me Like a Rock." Of course, "My Little Town" also marked a return to working with Art Garfunkel, and another Top Ten entry for S&G. But the overall feel of Still Crazy was of a jazzy style subtly augmented with strings and horns. Perhaps more striking, however, was Simon's lyrical approach. Where Rhymin' Simon was the work of a confident family man, Still Crazy came off as a post-divorce album, its songs reeking of smug self-satisfaction and romantic disillusionment. At their best, such sentiments were undercut by humor and made palatable by musical hooks, as on "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," which became the biggest solo hit of Simon's career. But elsewhere, as on "Have a Good Time" (written for but not used in the film Shampoo and perhaps intended to express the shallow feelings of the main character), the singer's cynicism seemed unearned. Still, as out of sorts as Simon may have been, he was never more in tune with his audience: Still Crazy topped the charts, spawned four Top 40 hits, and won Grammys for Song of the Year and Best Vocal Performance. ~ William Ruhlmann | | STILL CRAZY marked the end of one era for Simon and pointed toward the beginning of another. Simon was always the kind of artist whose growth could be easily measured from album to album, as he progressed from and expanded upon his previous work. The songs here are the furthest logical extensions of the songwriting style he developed in the early '70s. The musical and lyrical sophistication of said style is at its apex; it was the best Paul Simon album possible at that time. | | From the brooding sexual disconsolation of "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" to the the barely veiled psychosis of the title track, STILL CRAZY is full of expertly crafted songs of neurosis and disaffection. Also at its peak is the Randy Newmanesque irony Simon was fond of practicing in the '70s, as on "You're Kind" and "Have A Good Time." Listeners must have thought there was nowhere left for Simon to go after this seeming creative peak. Little did they know, they hadn't heard nothin' yet. |
Producer: Paul Simon; Phil Ramone; Art Garfunkel |
Engineer: Phil Ramone; Jerry Masters |
Musical Guests | | Art Garfunkel | | Toots Thielemans | | David Sanborn | | Joe Beck | | Phoebe Snow | | Bob James | | Patti Austin | | Steve Gadd |
|
CD
