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Post by lonelysummer on Oct 14, 2023 5:09:14 GMT
This thread sure got silent.
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Post by B.E. on Oct 14, 2023 11:06:30 GMT
This thread sure got silent. I’ve been very busy with work. Sorry to hold things up. Hopefully this weekend I can get this thread back on track. I’d still like to listen to the second album at least once more and comment on it.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 14, 2023 11:32:03 GMT
This thread sure got silent. You could always be part of the solution to that by chiming in more, too!
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Post by jk on Oct 14, 2023 20:41:02 GMT
This thread sure got silent. I’ve been very busy with work. Sorry to hold things up. Hopefully this weekend I can get this thread back on track. I’d still like to listen to the second album at least once more and comment on it. Know the problem, B.E.. No worries -- when the time is right.
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Post by B.E. on Oct 15, 2023 23:04:24 GMT
"I Am a Rock" IMO is kind of juvenile. It's a good record, but the lyrics are kind of embarassing. I wouldn't go as far as to say the lyrics are embarassing, but this is a good introduction to the topic. Paul Simon can be a brilliant lyricist. I love a lot of his lyrics. But there is for me absolutely something about especially some of his early lyrics that can be really off-putting. They can come across as the clearly very gifted adolescent or young man (or woman, though this seems more common in men) whose intelligence can be a little too clever, a little too showy. The kind of person who carries around some weighty book in the hopes that you'll ask him about it. (And gawd, he can't wait to tell you about it.) The kind of person who, at age 22, is ready to lecture any- and everyone about politics, about religion, about the nature of the universe itself. ("I took a class once..." or "I read that...") The kind of person who has a lot to say, but is always trying to say it all. It's pretentious, basically. Now, I'd take a pretentious, young Paul Simon over some idiot spouting hatred or nonsense all day, every day. But nobody wants to be lectured, and especially not by someone whose wisdom of the world comes mostly from what he read last semester, or that overseas trip he took last summer. I prefer someone who learns to shut up every now and again, to be a little less certain of everything. That is, of course, simply a matter of growing up. I like to think most people do it. I do think Simon's lyrics got better in that respect as time went on (and plenty of them were plenty good from the beginning: this is just a minor issue I'm babbling about because, hey why not?). Yes, I can hear some pretentiousness (I don't think I ever used that word before) in some S & G's songs, and maybe a little - just a little - in "I Am A Rock", but I still love the lyrics in that particular song. I think Paul nailed it (the lyrics) and I think they are just as important as the music. The setting, imagery, the loneliness, the resentment, the pain...come on, you can't say it (or sing it) any better than that! Interesting topic. I think the only lyric that I was put-off by on the album was "Blessed", particularly the line "blessed is a lamb whose blood flows". I get that that's a biblical reference, but it sure comes off like a weird thing to sing in a pop song. Regarding "I Am A Rock", even with the initial comments above in mind, the lyrics didn't bother me at all. Perhaps the presentation helps (unlike with "Blessed", IMO), but even just reading the lyrics I like them.
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Post by B.E. on Oct 15, 2023 23:29:47 GMT
I think I prefer their debut album. I thought that was much more cohesive. Sounds of Silence has the pretty, acoustic tracks (which is the side of Simon & Garfunkel I think I prefer and was expecting) but it also has busier and, frankly, dated mid 60s pop rock tracks that sound to me like they were following (catering to?) the trends and sounds of the day. I wonder what more knowledge fans of Simon & Garfunkel think of that. Whatever the case, the different styles is pretty jarring. Additionally, on the whole, I just don't think I like the underlying songs quite as much as those featured on their debut. "The Sound of Silence" is my favorite and it's really become apparent that no matter how many times I hear it - and no matter which version - it blows me away. It's truly a timeless classic. That said, I'm pretty confident now that I prefer the original version. "Kathy's Song" is next best, IMO. I'd consider that a special track, as Sheriff John Stone described it. I also like "April Come She Will", "I Am A Rock", and (to a lesser extent) "We've Got A Groovy Thing Goin' On" quite a bit. Oh, and I hadn't realized Paul Simon wrote "Richard Cory". Now I know. 7/10
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Post by B.E. on Oct 16, 2023 22:57:49 GMT
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme is the third studio album by Simon & Garfunkel. Produced by Bob Johnston, the album was released on October 24, 1966. Following the success of the re-release of their debut single "The Sound of Silence", Simon & Garfunkel regrouped after a time apart while Columbia issued their second album. For their third album, the duo spent almost three months in the studio working on instrumentation and production. The album largely consists of acoustic pieces that were mostly written during Paul Simon's period in England the previous year, including some songs recycled from his debut solo record, The Paul Simon Songbook. The album includes the Garfunkel-led piece "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her", as well as "7 O'Clock News/Silent Night", a combination of news reports of the day (the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, the death of comedian Lenny Bruce), and the Christmas carol "Silent Night". Many critics have considered it a breakthrough in recording for the duo, and one of their best efforts. "Homeward Bound" had already been a top five hit in numerous countries and "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" performed similarly. The album peaked at number four on the Billboard Pop Album Chart and was eventually certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. In 1999, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. 12 tracks; 28 minutes 1. Scarborough Fair/Canticle 2. Patterns 3. Cloudy 4. Homeward Bound 5. The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine 6. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) 7. The Dangling Conversation 8. Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall 9. A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission) 10. For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her 11. A Poem on the Underground Wall 12. 7 O'Clock News/Silent Night
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Post by B.E. on Oct 16, 2023 22:59:55 GMT
I can't help but think of the conversation regarding pretentious lyrics upon reading some of these song titles..
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 16, 2023 23:24:12 GMT
I can't help but think of the conversation regarding pretentious lyrics upon reading some of these song titles.. 9. A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission) Ladies and gentlemen of the jury...
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Post by B.E. on Oct 16, 2023 23:28:03 GMT
I can't help but think of the conversation regarding pretentious lyrics upon reading some of these song titles.. 9. A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission) Ladies and gentlemen of the jury... That’s exhibit A for sure!
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Post by B.E. on Oct 16, 2023 23:38:48 GMT
Actually, exhibit 1 would be more accurate. I just read that letters are associated with the defendant and numbers with the plaintiff. The internet is incredible, isn’t it? So much information right at our fingertips.
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Post by B.E. on Oct 16, 2023 23:45:50 GMT
By the way, I’m loving these song/album lengths. 11-12 tracks; 28-31 minutes. Nice and concise. The ‘60s did it better!
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 17, 2023 0:56:56 GMT
This is S&G's best album so far by far, and maybe their most really album-album ever. While the songs cover a lot of musical ground, it really feels like an album in that mid-to-late '60s great kind of way. This is where Simon and Garfunkel themselves got involved, and as B.E. said, they got to spend some time in the studio on it. It paid off. A person could say it lacks truly top-notch material, but of course one could point out the "Scarborough Fair/Canticle," "Homeward Bound," and "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)," to name a few. Then there are those beauties, like "Cloudy." Or the surprisingly funny Dylan homage/joke with the pretentious title, "A Simple Desultory Phillipic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd Into Submission)." The singing is great, of course. This is one of my favorites of theirs.
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Post by lonelysummer on Oct 17, 2023 1:17:33 GMT
And you read your Emily Dickenson, and I my Robert Frost... Although there are some gems here - Homeward Bound, Scarborough Fair - there's a fair amount of IMHO substandard material. I prefer Sounds of Silence as an album, even if it was cobbled together. I had some of these albums years ago, and let them go because they were so common. These albums sold millions, but they don't seem to go for the big dollars that Beatles and Dylan albums do.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 17, 2023 12:10:28 GMT
This kind of comment usually isn't my style, but on the topic of pretentious ... that's quite a shirt, Paul. Back to the music, or at least the presentation of it, I'm fully on board with B.E.'s comment on the song and album lengths of these S&G albums. I do like concise presentation of music, whether within each song or across each album. I wonder what (or whether) Dylan thought of "A Simple Desultory Philippic."
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