Paul Simon - Graceland
|
List Price: Our Price: $12.95 You Save: $6.03 (32%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.39 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Graceland
Free Music Review: Masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
This seamless blend of African pop and American folk styles is one of the most exquisite musical achievements of the 20th century. The melodies are divine, the vocals inspired, and each and every one of the compositions is a masterpiece. There is sadness and joy in the music, but above all it is a celebration of life.
The best loved songs include The Boy In The Bubble, Graceland, Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes and Under African Skies, but the rest hold great charm too. The most rootsy African sounds surface on I Know What I Know with the robust and soulful vocal infusions of The Gaza Sisters.
Paul Simon has always successfully integrated exotic sounds in his music to create great beauty: Andean flutes on El Condor Pasa, Caribbean rhythms on Me And Julio Down By The School Yard and Mother & Child Reunion, and Latin/South American sounds on The Rhythm of the Saints, but Graceland is his towering achievement as a solo artist, a truly exceptional album with a power and beauty that transcends all musical boundaries.
Free Music Review: No weasel words allowed.
Hit: 5 Stars
I've read most of the reviews and while I'm delighted this album is almost universally rated at (or above) 5 stars, I'm disappointed to read "one of the best," "possibly one of the best," "best album of the '80s," etc. in the descriptions. C'mon folks. How can you hedge your accolades that way for this disc? Somewhere there must be an album that is "THE best" with no wiggle room. Can't you commit to that? I can. Graceland is THE BEST. Period. (Just so you know, Sgt. Pepper is #2)
I love the reviewer who tells you to listen to the record and if you don't like it get someone to slap you. That's it. That encapsulates how good this album is. Or the two or three who call it their "desert island" CD. That says it all. And I am absolutely of the same opinion as those who proclaim, "there are no bad cuts--listen to it from beginning to end." I said that about this album 20 years ago and after listening to it again last night (all the way through) can confirm the truth of that statement.
I just watched the PBS special of Paul Simon's Gershwin Award. Of his entire body of work that was being celebrated, guess which album was best represented? By an incredible margin. They performed almost every song. That tells you all you need to know.
Get this album. Steal it, if you have to. I only ask that you play it once. I'll never have to ask you again.
Free Music Review: A masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
So much has been put into this album -- so much thought, melodies, harmonies and rhythms, instrumentation, fusion of different cultures, creativity, lyrics, ideas, atmosphere, complex and rich overlay of sounds. I marvel at the fact that someone could create this album.
Free Music Review: Twenty stars
Hit: 5 Stars
Anyone who rates this album less than five stars should be slapped right in the face. I don't care what kind of music you listen to - rock, pop, polka, whatever - you will love this album. If you don't, have someone slap you in the face.Free Music Review: World Music Perfected
Hit: 5 Stars
Paul Simon's "Graceland" was stored away for awhile in my big book of CD's, but I pulled it out recently and added it to the smaller book of favorites in my car. More than halfway thru a trip from Louisiana to Tennessee, we listened to it, and I rediscovered what a perfect record it is. From the attention-grabbing opening accordion chords of "Boy in the Bubble" to the enigmatic closer "The Myth of Fingerprints" Simon fuses American (pop, rock, country and zydeco) with the music of Africa (particularly South Africa) to create an unmatched listening experience. The title track makes you think about the nature of love; "I Know What I Know" and "Gumboots" merge South African music and rhythms with American lyrics; "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" again takes an African beat, but the story could take place anywhere; "Homeless" and "Under African Skies" move the whole scene to Africa. I don't know instruments well enough to list the seemingly countless assortment that Simon included. This review doesn't do justice to "Graceland", a great CD.