Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge over Troubled Water
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Artist: Simon & GarfunkelBrand: SIMON & GARFUNKEL
Edition: Music CD
Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2001-08-21
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Bridge Over Troubled Water
- El Condor Pasa (If I Could)
- Cecilia
- Keep The Customer Satisfied
- So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright
- The Boxer
- Baby Driver
- The Only Living Boy In New York
- Why Don't You Write Me
- Bye Bye Love
- Song For The Asking
- Feuilles-O
- Bridge Over Troubled Water
Free Music Notes for Bridge over Troubled Water
Free Music Review: A "Real" Five-Star Recording!
Hit: 5 Stars
Why would I call this review a "real" five-star recording? Well, I think we all know the Amazon.com Customer Review drill here, do we not? For the benefit of those who might not be familiar with it, allow me to present a step-by-step description. Step 1: A starry-eyed, mega-fan of a group or artist gives everything that group or artist does five stars regardless of the recordings' actual quality. Step 2: A real music fan (who might or might not be a fan of the group or artist in question) gives the recording a good listen or two, then sits down and writes a thoughtful, accurate review of it giving it the one to three stars that it actually deserves. Step 3: The same starry-eyed, mega-fan who freely gives the five-star ace claims that the accurate review was "not helpfull" to him or her. This is quite frustrating, isn't it? I mean honestly folks, it's a one-question survey, it shouldn't be so hard to understand! The fact that you don't agree with a review should not mean that it was not "helpfull".
Anyway, with all that said (and thank you for bearing with me), Simon & Garfunkel's 1970 swan song is a true five-star recording. Which, as far as I'm concerned, was new territory for S & G. The duo's 1960's albums were true to the 1960's format for LP's: a few obvious hit singles and the rest filler. Thank God for the Beach Boy's Pet Sounds and the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper, which created the "LP as an art-form". With the exception of the duo's first folkie recording, Wednesday Morning, 3 AM (which I would give a solid four stars), Bridge Over Troubled Water was the first of S & G's albums not to follow that lame 1960's format and their only five-star acing.
As mentioned several times by many reviewers, the album spawned four top 40 singles. The most popular of those was the title track. Now I have heard criticisms of this song ranging from it being "melodramatic" or "sappy" to it becoming a musical cliche. I just do not see or hear it that way at all. All I can see and hear is a heavenly lead vocal (by Art), masterful song writing (by Paul) and a flawless gospel piano accompaniment (by Larry Knechtel), which combined, creates a true masterpiece. El Condor Pasa which was a Paul Simon reworking of a South American folk song and Cecilia with its Caribbean rhythms offer a preview of Paul's "world music" solo career with stunning results. The Boxer is the favorite of so many or so many good reasons. The song cleverly uses the beating a boxer usually receives in the ring as a metaphor to the rough life experienced by a young man who relocates to New York, the big city of dreams. The triumphant ending still sends a shiver up my spine after all these years. The live version of this tune found on The Concert in Central Park includes a verse left off of this album's original version. Though the verse does not add much to the song, the audiences' reaction to it makes it worth that album's price of admission alone. Powerful stuff indeed.
For me, this album's real charms are the strong non-singles that more than hold their own against their four more popular counter-parts mentioned above. Baby Driver and (moreover) Keep The Customer Satisfied are the album's cool horn-driven rockers. With So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright and (moreover) The Only Living Boy in New York, Paul Simon offers a few mellow introspective looks at his inevitable parting of ways with his more charismatic partner. Why Don't You Write Me is a preview of what Simon would perfect a few years later with his solo hit Mother and Child Reunion. The ill advised cover of the Everly Brothers Bye Bye Love complete with what sounds like a phony live backing track does not throw things off too much. S & G started out as an Everly Brothers-influenced duo as teenagers in the late 1950's, so this cover can be seen as a bridge to those more innocent times. Song For The Asking ends this great effort (in its original format) on a short but sweet note.
Though Paul Simon and (to a lesser extent) Art Garfunkel enjoyed solo success, neither of their collective solo albums topped the greatness of this effort (grant it, some might argue with me sighting Simon's 1986 album Graceland). Though I was only four years old at the time of this LP's release, I was fortunate enough to have a mom who literally played her copy to death. I bought my own vinyl copy many years ago, and this was one of my very first CD purchases. Obviously this recording has had a huge impact on my life. Fortunately I was lucky enough to personally thank Art Garfunkel for this great music a few days ago after his fine performance here in Buffalo. Though I will probably never get to meet Paul Simon, I would like to thank him as well here on Amazon.com fpr.
Bridge over Troubled Water Poster
Bridge Over Troubled Water is the most enduring album in the beloved duo's catalog, boasting some of their finest vocal performances as well as some of Simon's most accomplished songwriting. It spawned no less than four hit singles: "The Boxer," "Cecilia," "El Condor Pasa" and the iconic title track, which became an instant standard and which remains one of the most-covered songs in pop history. The album also features such beloved Simon and Garfunkel classics as "Keep the Customer Satisfied," "Baby Driver," "The Only Living Boy in New York" and "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright."Capturing the contemplative mood of the end of a tumultuous decade, Bridge Over Troubled Water quickly became one of the most popular albums of its time, appealing to counterculture audiences as well as mainstream listeners. The album spent two-and-a-half months at the top of the charts, selling more than five million copies at the time of its original release; it has since sold over 25 million copies worldwide. It also won six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and in 2003 was ranked at #51 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Now, four decades after its original release, Bridge Over Troubled Water is once again available in its original LP format utilizing Sundazed's exacting quality standards. Mastered from the original analog tapes, the album is pressed on high-quality, high-definition vinyl, with meticulously reproduced complete original cover art. It's the perfect way to re-experience this timeless classic.
No one can say Simon & Garfunkel went out with a whimper. The popular duo's 1970 swan song produced four hit singles and won six Grammy awards, including Record, Album, and Song of the Year. An involving mix of sweeping epics ("The Boxer," the title track) and breezy throwaways (a live cover of the Everly Brothers' "Bye Bye Love," the rock & roll trifle "Baby Driver"), Bridge was one of the most popular albums of its era. What's particularly striking about this collection is how brightly lesser-acclaimed songs like "So Long Frank Lloyd Wright" and the gorgeous "The Only Living Boy in New York" shine. (The 2001 reissue adds a pair of demos to the original work, including the traditional "Feuilles-O.")--Steven Stolder
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