A little insanity is a wonderful thing
4 Out of 5 Stars
The collapse of his marriage fed the inspiration for Paul Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years," his third solo album. After the jubilant and gleeful genre playfulness of his previous albums, this one stayed more in one pocket; a laid-back and moody feeling that often felt to me to be his most New York City-centric album. The variety is sorely missed; when the album hits, it is among his best, but for the first time in his solo albums, there were songs that just lay flat.
The greats are obvious; the martial adulterer's drumbeat of "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," the glorious gospel of his duet with Phoebe Snow on "Gone at Last" and deliciously ironic look at middle age on the title track. Then there was the long awaited reunion recording with Art Garfunkel on the bitter look back at "My Little Town" (also appearing on Garfunkel's "Breakaway"), their last truly great studio collaboration. These four songs alone justify the purchase of this album.
Yet I have never been able to get behind the glib "You're Kind" or the dullness of "Night Game." "Silent Eyes" has many potential meanings, but felt like a whimpering closer to an album that already spent more than it's share of time dwelling on isolation and sadness. It's hard to ignore the great stuff for a few duff numbers, and "I Do It For Your Love" comes close to the brilliance of the album's other bests. Simon never seemed content to make an album that wasn't a challenge, and despite how good the bulk of "Still Crazy" is, it sounded like he was coasting
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