Month: January 2026

A year after releasing his first solo live album, Paul Simon put out the massively successful Still Crazy After All These Years record. The album would see him reunite with old partner Art Garfunkel on the piano driven single, “My Little Town”, sung from the point of view of someone who hates their hometown. The duo would sing the song and other classics on the second episode of Saturday Night Live.

Exploring other sounds, Simon touches on R+B on the social critique, “Have A Good Time”.  While ignoring the news of the day, the protagonist says that “I’ve been loving and loving and loving/I’m exhausted from loving so well”. After their collaboration on the live album, the gospel track “Gone at Last” is sung with the Jessy Dixon Singers and Phoebe Snow. Simon then closes the album with the religious overtones of “Silent Eyes” where we will stand before God “and speak what was done”.

The album is mostly remembered from a couple of songs, the first being the title track. The enduring song about running into an old flame on the street only went to #40 in the US. More commercially successful is the often referenced #1 single, “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover”.  Written after his divorce from his first wife, Peggy Harper, the song memorably sings of how to leave a relationship in the chorus, starting with the classic lines “Slip out the back, Jack/Make a new plan, Stan”. The drum patter of Steve Gadd and all star back-up singers Patti Austin, Valerie Simpson and Phoebe Snow make it all the more special. The song helped propel the album to top ten status around the world and won Simon two Grammys including Album of the Year. A great example of easy going yet sophisticated 70s songwriting.

9/10

Just under a year after releasing his third solo album, There Goes that Rhymin’ Simon, Paul Simon put out his first solo live concert – Paul Simon in Concert: Live Rhymin.  The album is a mixture of his solo singles and hits from the Simon & Garfunkel archive. The first few songs he tackles with just his acoustic guitar including the jaunty “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard” and a solid take at “Homeward Bound”. For the next few songs he performs with South American group Urubamba, most pleasingly on “El Condor Pasa (If I Could)”.

For the next batch of songs Simon brings out the Jessy Dixon Singers (Group). This ensemble works well on his solo material including some nifty bass playing on “Mother And Child Reunion” and a rollicking version of “Loves Me Like A Rock”.  On the other hand “The Sound of Silence” sounds more like a Christmas carol and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” isn’t a patch on Garfunkel’s classic vocals. It’s the starkness of young men singing the originals that help make them memorable rather than the gospel embellishments found here. The concert album with performances recorded at the University of Notre Dame and Carnegie Hall in New York has a few good moments but overall feels a bit underwhelming with better versions found elsewhere.

7/10