My Amazon Reviews: Various Artists "I'll Scratch Yours - A Tribute to Peter Gabriel"

Mutual Scratching Society
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Although it took him three years to pull it together, Peter Gabriel at last put his "Scratch My Back - And I'll Scratch Yours" out as a whole piece. Initially designed to be a collaborative project, Gabriel gets 10 of his "Scratch My Back" artists to add their voices to a select Gabriel song, with varying results. (You may also quibble about Bryan Eno subbing for David Bowie, but it does up the collabs; the missing links are Neil Young and Radiohead.) If you don't already have "Scratch My Back," I highly recommend getting the limited edition two CD issue.

One of the things that held my rating back of the initial album was that Gabriel had set all his choices to orchestral arrangements (he did the same to himslef on "New Blood"), which kept the album's pace to a crawl. Fortunately for "I'll Scratch Yours," the collaborators had no such imposition. It varies the album considerably and offers a few surprises. For starters is the realization that anything Randy Newman touches sounds like Randy Newman, from the dry wit of the vocals to the piano playing, and he turns "Big Time" from the ironically pop MTV hit into the biting commentary that the lyrics had posited all along.

My other favorite here is Lou Reed turning "Solisbury Hill" from Gabriel's gathering of courage in a pastoral setting into a dingy echo laden guitar look into the mean streets of New York City (and may be one of Reed's last recordings). The criminally underrated Elbow take one of my all-time favorite Gabriel songs, "Mercy Street," and do an uncanny sound-alike version. Stephin Merrit (Magnetic Fields) stamps the paranoia out from underneath "Not One Of Us" and makes it sound like a bubbly synth-pop record from the 80's. And finally, Paul Simon turns "Biko," a song I thought I was tired of, into an acoustic folk anthem.

Those are the hits. There are a couple of misses; Brian Eno doesn't do anything to make "Mother Of Violence" interesting. Bon Iver tries as hard as he can to sound interesting, but remains a bore to listen to. David Byrne uses his falsetto on "I Don't Remember" to make you remember what nails on chalkboard sounds like. But that's only three real duds. The remainder of the songs, from the likes of Feist, Arcade Fire and Regina Spektor at least show that Gabriel hasn't lost his taste for new artists and that his songwriting transcends formats. Taken together, "Scratch My Back and I'll Scratch Yours" is a good pair of bookends and a fine tribute to Gabriel's multi-decade career.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Simon And Garfunkel "The Best of Simon And Garfunkel"

All the Best, Remastered and Remembered
5 Out Of 5 Stars

What this "Best of Simon and Garfunkel" collection does is, simply, lay out all their amazing singles on one hour-plus CD. It outshines the original "Greatest Hits" by not overlapping songs and by having a much improved quality of sound. Sure, you've probably heard half (or more) of the songs in high rotation on classic pop radio stations, but hearing them in digital clarity really does - and I hate to use the cliche here - bring them back to life.

More than anything else, the best of these singles highlights the exquisite harmonies these men had together as well as spotlights the strengths of Paul Simon's and Art Garfunkel's singular voices. Garfunkel's young, angelic choirboy voice still elicits chills on "Bridge Over Troubled Water," while Simon's leads often show a potency that can be unexpectedly forceful ("Hazy Shade Of Winter"). Yet they are still at their best when the voices blend as they do so beautifully on "Scarborough Fair" or the 70's reunion hit "My Little Town."

The non-hits work in the collection's favor. Short of buying the complete collection box set, the pickings here are choice. "The Only Living Boy in New York," "Old Friends/Bookends" (the song they opened their concert with when I saw them a few years back) or the live version of "For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her" will please the curious who are looking for more than just the hits. Some of the songs are a bit goofy/dated ("At The Zoo" and "The 59th Street Bridge Song"), but they can be forgiven when something as magnificent as "The Boxer" or as joyous as "Cecelia" play. For the value per dollar, "The Best of Simon & Garfunkel" is as good as you're going to get.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Paul Simon "So Beautiful or So What"

Ain't No Song like and Old Song, Charlie
3 Out Of 5 Stars  

Paul Simon himself has expressed his belief that "So Beautiful or So What" is his best album in 20 years (although with "You're The One" and "Capeman" in that stretch, not exactly much to brag about). Elvis Costello hypes the work in the CD's liner notes. Critics in the major rags are comparing it to "Graceland." Me? Too much hype for what is, basically, an old songwriter taking the time to explore his relationship with God and a Guitar.

Granted, the songs on "So Beautiful" feel more lyrical than anything since "Graceland," but that doesn't make it a classic. Simon is again exploring the tricky interchange between rhythms and melody, which does merit the "Graceland" comparisons. Only on the song "Dazzling Blue" do all the separate parts fully integrate, more often than not, they merely grate. The novelty of working a sermon from 1941 into the opening song "Waiting for Christmas Day" wears out its welcome pretty fast. Frankly, there are way too many "God and his only son," heaven, afterlife and the glory of creation songs here for my tastes. If I really wanted a gospel album, I'd have gone searching for one. A fine line exists between the Spiritual and the Religious, and "So Beautiful" crosses it far too often.

Where Simon excels, as usual, are on the ballads. "Dazzling Blue" and "Questions for The Angels" are worth the cost of the CD, and the second half of "Love and Hard Times" is beautiful. Simon also shows his sense of humor/irony on "Rewrite," where a lost soul tries to redeem himself, and on "The Afterlife," where, no matter how good or noteworthy your life has been, you still have to do the paperwork. The title song, finally, may sum up why the album is garnering the hype it has. Simon has spent much of his career trying to string a tightwire between the glorious and the horrific, and at his best ("American Tune," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "My Little Town") he has created songs worthy of the great American songbook. The song "So Beautiful or So What" aims for that pantheon, and comes pretty darn close to making the mark. That makes four really good songs surrounded by five others that reflect past glories.

As Paul Simon begins encroaching into an advanced age (he recently hit 69,) there's nothing wrong with writing good songs that recall the greatness of your past. Like the Elton John/Leon Russell album "The Union," there's nothing wrong with making albums that are thoughtful and strongly made. It's just not fair to be calling "So Beautiful or So What" an instant classic. It's certainly not a "So What," but it's also no "Still Crazy After All These Years."

 

My Amazon Reviews: Paul Simon "The Rhythm Of The Saints"

I can't run, but I can run walk faster than this

3 Out Of 5 Stars

Paul Simon's "Graceland" was a joyous moment of rediscovery, wherein Simon reconnected with his muse and the ecstatic release of music poured out. "The Rhythm of The Saints" is a further venture down that trail, but is missing that integrated feeling that made "Graceland's" songs seem so refreshing. The songs here seem all but academic; a social studies field trip substituting for creative impulse.

There are some pretty good moments on Saints, as "The Obvious, Child" kicks things of with the echoes of its predecessor. So does "Can't Run." But things seems to get dragged down by following songs. Nothing pops out the way several of "Graceland's" songs did, in fact the demo of "Born at The Right Time" sounds better and more engaging than the finalized album track.

Which may be the problem I've had with "The Rhythm of The Saints" over these many years. I was lucky enough to see Simon on this tour, and it was an extravaganza. He had easily 20 plus musicians onstage with him and they created a glorious sound. It was rapturous, beautiful. I was on a buzz for days after. This album sounds sterile, like it didn't get a proper meshing of all the parts. As far as Paul Simon's albums are concerned, it merits a C grade.

My Amazon Reviews: Paul Simon "Graceland"

Shining Like a National Guitar
5 out of 5 Stars

Paul Simon needed a comeback in 1986 for a number of reasons. His marraige to actress Carrie Fischer had come apart. His last album, the wonderful "Hearts and Bones," was not met well commercially. An attempt at reconnecting with Art Garfunkel had also come undone for the usual animosities. So he travelled to South Africa to visit the musicians he had been studying for a few years.

The result was "Graceland." In his quest to rejuvenate his musical spirit, Simon connected with a host of well known African musicians who pushed him into writing music that lifted his creative muse to a new peak. In addition to introducing American to Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Simon brought Los Lobos, Linda Ronstadt, The Everly Brothers, Youssou N'Dour and Adrian Belew on board to his unconventional brew. Simon found the music he encountered so intriguing that he married his lyrics to most of the tracks (making songs like "Diamonds On The Soles of Her Shoes" and "Homeless" into mini-masterpieces).

Simon's newfound joy in creation made for some of the more whimsical moments, like "You Can Call Me Al" (and the accompanying video with Chevy Chase) and "The Myth Of Fingerprints," in his solo career. The songs blended together as a cohesive whole, without a filler track to be found, and deserving of the slew of Grammys Simon picked up in its wake.

    

My Amazon Reviews: Paul Simon "Herats and Bones"

They say the left side of the brain controls the right
4 Out of 5 Stars

It was the year of Flock of Seagulls, it was the year of The Clash, it was 1983, to paraphrase Paul Simon's best song on "Hearts and Bones." It was also the year of "Thriller," and the kind of music that was pushing old hands like Paul Simon off the radio. It was also the time he was in his final phases of breaking up with wife Carrie Fischer, and not long after the assassination of John Lennon. All these things filter into what is, in my opinion, Paul Simon's most overlooked album.

"Hearts and Bones" originally started life as a Simon and Garfunkel reunion album with a working title "Think Too Much." But the usual animosities came between the duo and Simon went solo. It may have to do with the extremely personal nature of the songs, like the title track that takes a sad look at 'one and one half wandering Jews' as their arc of a love affair comes to an end and the sublime "Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War."

Less obvious but still interesting is "Allergies," which was the first single. While Michael Jackson took Eddie Van Halen to light up a cross-over single, Simon lured in jazz guitarist Al DiMeola to let fingers fly across the frets. It's brilliant. I also found the presence of Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards on "Think Too Much B" as a cool move on Simon's part.

Most impressive, though, was "The Late Great Johnny Ace," which was also performed at the S&G reunion in Central Park. It ties Simon's musical growth over the years to the full-stop-shock of John Lennon's death. It may be the one song on "Hearts and Bones" that misses Garfunkel; his high voice would have added to the emotional heft of a song that's already a tear-jerker. Phillip Glass adds a moving instrumental coda to the song that closes the album with the kind of tug that most S&G albums were beloved for. "The Late Great Johnny Ace" is one of the best tribute songs ever recorded, and easily among Simon's finest works. 

    

My Amazon Reviews: Paul Simon "Still Crazy After All These Years"

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.

My Amazon Reviews: Paul Simon "There Goes Rymin' Simon"

We Come in The Age's Most Uncertain Hour
 5 Out of 5 Stars

For his second solo album after breaking up Simon and Garfunkel, "There Goes Rhymin' Simon" hit a peak that Paul was unable to attain until many years later. Freed from the compositional restraints of the old duo's expected style, Simon takes a full sheaf of musical styles and just throws them into the air. This album was recorded in various studios across the country with assorted bands (primarily the powerhouse Muscle Shoals band), allowing Simon free reign to experiment with styles.

The result was a grab-bag of songs that were all terrific, three top 40 singles and a solo Grammy. But even with the mix of styles, the sound is still distinctly Simon. The perky pop of "Kodachrome," the gospel of "Loves Me Like a Rock" and the jazzy "Take Me To The Mardi Gras" all intermingle. Two of his best love songs are here with the lullaby to his son ("St Judy's Comet") and the beautiful "Something So Right" (much later covered by Annie Lennox).

Then there is the classic "American Tune." Maybe the only song on the album that makes you wish Art was still around, Simon makes a declarative statement about his state of mind circa 1973. Watergate was beginning to bubble up from the pits, Nixon was still dragging out the VietNam War after his re-election and Simon was singing "I don't know a soul who's not been battered." Prescient even now, it's a song for the ages, even if Simon that 1973 was the most uncertain hour.