Simon & Garfunkel Sounds Of Silence CD

+ 4 Bonus Tracks

Personnel includes: Paul Simon (vocals, guitar); Art Garfunkel (vocals).
Producers include: Bob Johnston, Tom Wilson, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel,
Roy Halee.
Reissue producer: Bob Irwin.
Recorded between March 10, 1964 and July 8, 1970.
Originally released on Columbia Records (9269).
Includes liner notes by Bud Scoppa.
Audio Mixers: Jen Wyler; Vic Anesini.
Liner Note Author: Bud Scoppa.
Recording information: 03/10/1964-07/08/1970.
Photographers: Guy Webster; Don Hunstein.
Arrangers: Paul Simon; Roy Halee; Art Garfunkel.
Though it was their second album, SOUNDS OF SILENCE was the record that introduced Simon & Garfunkel to the world at large. When the original, acoustic version of the title tune (included on the debut album) was given a rock sheen here, courtesy of a hastily added electric backing track, folk-rock was invented, and Paul and Art were catapulted to superstardom. The songs here follow in that electrified direction for the most part, with the widescreen irony of "Blessed" buoyed by plangent guitar and drums, and the paranoid "Somewhere They Can't Find Me" pushed to neurotic extremes by an insistent rhythm section.
SOUNDS OF SILENCE marked the introduction proper of Simon as sensitive song poet: intellectual, well-read, politely iconoclastic, self-consciously poetic--the perfect '60s folk-pop idol. Fortunately, Simon's melodic and lyrical prowess and the duo's beautiful post-Everly Brothers harmonies were enough to counteract any intrinsic tendencies toward pretension. From the romantic melodrama of "Kathy's Song" to the anthem of alienation "I Am a Rock," SOUNDS OF SILENCE was the ultimate sonic portrait of the artist as a young man. Somewhere, a young Morrissey was taking notes.
Simon & Garfunkel's second album was a radical departure from their first (Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.), owing to its being recorded in the wake of "The Sound of Silence" single, with its overdubbed electric instrument backing, topping the charts. Paul Simon arrived with a large songbag, enhanced by his stay in England over the previous year and his exposure to English folk music (and the work of Martin Carthy and Davy Graham, among others), and the duo rushed into the studio to come up with ten more songs that would fit into the folk-rock context of the single. The result was this, their most hurried and uncharacteristic album -- Simon and Art Garfunkel had to sound like something they weren't, surrounded on many cuts by amplified folk-rock-style guitar, electric piano, and even horns. Much of the material came from The Paul Simon Songbook, an album that Simon had recorded for British CBS during his stay in England, some parts of it more radically altered than others. "Kathy's Song" and "April Come She Will," two of the most personal songs in Simon's output, were close to the stripped-down originals, and among the most affecting (as opposed to affected) folk-style records of their era; Simon's rendition of Davy Graham's folk-blues instrumental "Anji" is also close to his British version, just recorded hotter, while "Leaves That Are Green" is pleasantly ornamented with electric harpischord and features a more prominent rhythm guitar; "Blessed," by contrast, is given a dissonant electric guitar accompaniment that sounds like the Byrds trying very hard to annoy people.
Some of the rest, like "Somewhere They Can't Find Me" and "We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin'," show Simon & Garfunkel sounding more like the Cyrkle later did, with a smooth, hip dual persona far removed from the thoughtful innocence of "April Come She Will" or "Kathy's Song." The record was a rushed job overall, and, apart from the title track, the most important songs here were also, oddly enough, among the least enduring, including "I Am a Rock" and "Richard Cory" -- the former for establishing the duo (and Simon as a songwriter) as confessional pop poets, sensitive and alienated post-adolescents that endeared them toQ (Summer/01, p.126) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...All winsome and alienated...this was their album for teenagers..."
Uncut (8/01, p.92) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...A worthy record..."