Simon & Garfunkel Album: “Old Friends”

Description :

Personnel includes: Paul Simon (vocals, guitar); Art Garfunkel (vocals). Producers includes: Roy Halee, Tom Wilson, Bob Johnston, Paul Simon, John Simon. Compilation producer: Bob Irwin. Recorded between 1964 and 1975. Includes liner notes by David Fricke and Bob Irwin. Digitally remastered by Vic Anesini. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were initially inspired by the Everly Brothers and under the name Tom And Jerry enjoyed a hit with 'Hey Schoolgirl'. The duo reunited in 1964 for Wednesday Morning 3AM, which included an acoustic reading of 'The Sound Of Silence'. Producer Tom Wilson made the presumptuous but prescient decision to overdub 'Sound Of Silence' with electric instrumentation and an album titled after the million-selling single was rush-released early in 1966. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme had a varied mood from the grandly serious 'For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her' to the bouncy '59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)'. The duo contributed Mrs. Robinson to the soundtrack of the 1968 film, The Graduate. That same year saw the release of Bookends, a superbly-crafted work. In 1969 the duo released the celebrated Bridge Over Troubled Water. One of the best-selling albums of all time, the work's title track became a standard with its lush, orchestral arrangement and contrasting tempo. While at the peak of their commercial success, the duo became irascible and their partnership abruptly ceased. Since then there have been sporadic reunions, most notably The Concert In Central Park.

Why frustrating? Well, let's see: this set has great sound quality, there are a number of interesting rarities and live cuts that were not previously released, and the inevitable booklet includes a mean set of liner notes by David Fricke. The problem is, anybody who's into S&G enough to appreciate that sound quality, those archive tracks, and those liner notes would probably prefer to hear the original albums in their entirety, rather than a truncated selection such as provided here.

What Columbia/Legacy should've done was make this a four-CD set. Then all of the original studio albums could have been included, as well as all of the archival stuff, and probably a few other things as well. The live tracks from the GREATEST HITS album, for instance. Or a couple of tracks from the 1981 reunion concert in Central Park. Or songs from the long-out-of-print PAUL SIMON SONGBOOK album. Or mono single mixes of some songs.

As it is, this isn't a particularly bad compilation. It just could've, and should've, been a little bit better.

I am not really one for compilations generally unless they are comprehensive like the "Message In a Box" compilation for The Police, but this one is just something else. Not only are pretty much all of the best songs by S&G included in the album (at least all my favourites are here so I am happy) there is a clutch of unreleased and previosuly unheard stuff like "Hey Schoolgirl" form their 'Tom and Jerry' days (although a later live version), the original cut of "Sound of Silence" without the drums and the electric guitars added on (which sounds ethereal).

On top of the superb selection of songs and the lovely packaging, there is the fact that the soudn quality is superlative. The songs have been taken off the original tapes and that gives the sound a clarity and vibrance which is sometimes missing form many S&G recordings floating around.

And oh yes it has "We Got a Groovy Thing Going Baby"!!

The material, culled from an almost-perfect career, is pretty well beyond debate now. To second-guess songs like The Boxer or A Most Peculiar Man, you have to be like one of those punk revisionists who occasionally whine about how they never thought Abbey Road or Sgt. Pepper was all that great an album. Any discussion on the Old Friends box set must center on whether or not Sony/Columbia did a good job conveying the scope of the duo's talent. The answer, of course, is yes. The unreleased and live tracks are a revelation and the rest are well-chosen. As for the ongoing debate as to whether to buy this or Collected Works, this one has the edge for sound and presentation, although Works has all the released material (except the obscure B-side, You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies). Any S&G fan worth his salt, however, knows the brutal truth: you have to shell out for both.

Obviously the sheer amount of music found on this collection, is much more than I could justly review here in this space. This is something you could have a nice long Sunday conversation about. How fitting. I will say that this is a wonderful collection, worthy of any praise it gets. All of the Classics are here, The Boxer, Mrs. Robinson, America, etc...as well as non-pushed studio treasures like "Cloudy", BEAUTIFUL! The sound quality is without a doubt the best their music has ever seen. Proof positive of that is the jump of quality from the their earlier greatest hits CD to the same songs found here.

The live tracks might seem a bit out of places but they are so well-handled you soon forget your listening to a live recording. The other out-takes and songs really give a nice broad stroke over a very fruitful career.

I really can't recommend this enough, a beautiful clutch of songs no-one should be without. Perfection.

please feel free to check out my other reviews

Owing to the fact that Simon&Garfunkel have contributed to its development, the music is advanced very much today. We see some rock bands today. I'm sure that any band is gonna be swept by another one within two or three years except a few of them R.E.M or U2. Whereas S&G were one of several great 60's musicians whose songs still affect our daily life with Beatles,Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. Old Friends album caused me remembered my good old days shared with my family,my chilhood friends and my lod lovers. What I need is good music. S&G have already gave it to me in this album. I have beautiful ballads that I've never known them such as Red Rubber Ball, Star Carol, Bleeker Street etc beside the familiar songs named The Boxer, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Mrs. Robinson . Don't forget! "Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you."