Another All Timer for Simon and Garfunkel
G. J Wiener | Westchester, NY USA | 10/19/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This collection is another gem in the cannon of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. The vocal harmonies are at an all time high. Everyone loves the title track and the 59th Street Bridge Song but Flowers Never Bend In The Rainfall and Cloudy are hidden gems. Heck almost every song has a beautiful melody. The Poem On The Underground Wall is a possible exception but the lyrics are somewhat captivating. And the Seven O Clock News/Silent Night rings so true with the violence and controvesy of the sixties. With some of the recent issues in the Middle East, it echoes to our troubles today.Anyway, this music has heart, soul, and feeling with a gentle acoustic flair. The second one to get after Bridge Over Troubled Waters."
A Gorgeous Mixture of Folk, Whimsy, and (Then) Topical Song
James Jones | Clive, IA United States | 03/03/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Some of the songs are very tied to the sixties, but at its best it's too beautiful for words. I'm a sucker for "Scarborough Fair/Canticle," which, like Dylan's "Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," overlays an antiwar message on a Child ballad (but far more subtly), and "For Emily Whenever I May Find Her." And how can anyone who has been outdoors in the spring under sprays of cirrus clouds not like "Cloudy"?As for pretension...come on, folks, you wouldn't say that Harriet Beecher Stowe favored slavery because Simon Legree was a slaveholder, would you? "Dangling Conversation" makes fun of pretentious, angst-ridden humanities majors, getting so totally over the top with the timpani riffs punctuating "Yes, we speak of things that matter/With words that must be said/Can analysis be worthwhile?/Is the theater really dead?" that it's hard to see how Simon could have sung with his tongue stuck that far in his cheek. He may have counted himself among his targets, but we can chuckle along with him."