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.
Right in the middle of Britpop renaissance of 2025 was the live return of the Gallagher brothers in a reformed Oasis line-up. Thrillingly for longtime fans, 3/5ths of the original band were included with Bonehead joining on guitar – a thrill to see one of the main members joining in on the fun. Drummer Joey Waronker was included along with Gem Archer and Andy Bell to round out the main band.
Sticking to Oasis’ heyday, the group ran through the highlights of the 1994-97 era. With their most elaborate stage show ever, the band played the exact same set every night including the second night of the Toronto shows which we saw. The devotion, intensity, love, and excitement was in the air as the Adidas wearing crowd sang along to every lyric including all the B-sides. Doing the Poznan to “Cigarettes and Alcohol”, the Noel sung “Half The World Away”, a reminder of who is the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” and closing with “Champagne Supernova” – The hype was real, this was a remarkable live comeback.
It had been 24 years since we got an actual album from Jarvis Cocker with his old mates in Pulp. Sadly, More is the first album since the passing of bassist Steve Mackey. Still, he would be proud of what the band produced with several highlights including the upbeat “Spike Island” and the mature, “Farmers Market”. They’ve done many tours throughout the years, here’s hoping that it doesn’t take as long to release another album.
Author Peter Ames Carlin has written several music biographies on musicians such as Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney. In late 2024 he published a book on alternative rock heroes R.E.M. called The Name Of This Band Is R.E.M. Carlin writes about each member’s early childhoods, their days in Athens, signing with IRS Records, then right through their ascendency to rock superstars (then back down again). Thankfully there is little in the way of salacious gossip but doesn’t shy away from a few incidents of controversary. A really good read about one of America’s greatest bands.
Sadly, the British trio Saint Etienne announced their retirement in 2025, bowing out with two new albums. In our musical journey, we reached way back to the deluxe edition of their 1993 debut, Foxbase Alpha that was released in 2016. It’s an eclectic mix of 60s pop, indie rock and club beats. Original tracks like “People Get Ready” stand alongside magnificent covers including Neil Young’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” and the spellbinding take on Field Mice’s, “Kiss And Make Up”. The extra disc of rarities almost eclipses the actual album.
One distinct memory of high school was having a substitute math teacher quote Paul Simon’s 1973 single, “Kodachrome” with the line, “When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school”. I’m not sure if the teacher was disgruntled or trying to be edgy but I may have been one of the few in the class that knew the lyric but not much of the rest of the song. While reviewing the album it appears on, “Kodachrome” really sunk into my conscious and remained there for months. Singing about the joys of owning a Nikon camera that captures the green of summer and makes everyday seem sunny swirled in my head, now making it one of my favourite Paul Simon songs.
I’ve owned The Supremes’ greatest hits album Gold for years now. Listening to the hits, especially the unbeatable one-two punch of “You Keep Me Hanging On” and “You Can’t Hurry Love”. This was the year I finally did a deeper dive into the singles released with and without Diana Ross. With a staggering twelve #1 hits, it felt like barely scratching the surface to do a review. Still, it was a exciting to find other tracks to listen to like the excellent “Stone Love” and dancefloor filler “Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart”.
Honestly, I bought Thompson Twins’ deluxe edition of Into The Gap on a whim. It was a favourite tape from the early 80s that I had never bought on CD. After seeing it advertised many times, I took the plunge into the three disc version released in 2024. Filled with several top ten UK hits including “Doctor Doctor”, “You Take Me Up” and worldwide hit “Hold Me Now”, the original record plays like a greatest hits. Adding in countless versions of all the songs on the album, it was a fun listen to a great album from an era where songs were reworked constantly for the dancefloor.
Dean Wareham made his name with his bands Galaxie 500 and Luna. He’s mostly been on the periphery of my music listening – always around but rarely front and centre. That changed immediately with the release of his sixth solo album, That’s The Price Of Loving Me that came out in the spring. The album has appeared in a few critics top albums of 2025 but for others got lost in the mix. The sun dappled record was often dreamy and hypnotic, bookended by two excellent songs including the closer – “The Cloud Is Coming”.
North Carolina band Wednesday made waves in 2023 with their album, Rat Saw God and continued that momentum with this year’s critically acclaimed, Bleeds. One of the highlights of the album was the lap steel guitar sounds of “Elderberry Wine”. The track sees singer Karly Hartzman lovingly stretch to hit the high note in the chorus before later harmonizing with guitarist MJ Lenderman. A memorable sing-a-along single from a really good album.
Wet Leg exploded onto the scene in 2023 with several singles including the enduring, “Chaise Lounge”. They would have been forgiven for hitting a sophomore slump after the initial clutch of songs but leaders Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers were having none of that. Adding their touring band into the official line-up, the now five piece band came back with the excellent moisturizer. Love was the main focus of the album, including on the track “CPR” but the band was just as feisty as ever on the threatening “Catch These Fists”.
With a more serious tone, “American Tune” has a great Simon vocal on a song that was written soon after Nixon was elected. It’s a tough world politically at times “but it’s alright”. Paul Simon’s third solo album, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon opens with the classic lyric – “When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school”. Further into that #2 hit, “Kodachrome”, Simon sings of the joys and beauty of taking pictures.
Like that first song, the 1973 album is mostly an easy-going affair with subtle beats and acoustic guitars, a bit of piano. Horns add some flair to “Take Me To The Mardi Gras”, that sits in contrast to the very New York song “One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor” about cramped apartment living, the kind of sound Billy Joel would later ride to the top of the charts.
With a more serious tone, “American Tune” has a great Simon vocal on a song that was written soon after Nixon was elected. It’s a tough world politically at times “but it’s alright” he tells us. The infectious “Loves Me Like A Rock” closes out the album with the repeated lines of “she love me, love me, love me, love me”. There Goes Rhymin’ Simon went top 5 in most major markets around the world and is a further showcase of Simon’s songwriting that captures the thoughts and feelings of being a young man in the early 70s.
At the age of 81, Paul Simon released his fifteenth studio album – the meditative Seven Psalms. Seven songs appear as one musical suite with a running time of 33 minutes. Bells chiming to open “The Lord” is one of the few sounds to be heard other than acoustic guitar, as Simon sings “Tears and flowers dry over time”. He casts his heaven bound doubts on “Your Forgiveness” where he is “hoping the gates won’t be closed”.
“My Professional Opinion” sounds more like a typical Paul Simon song. A bit more jaunty and upbeat with some funny observations that he “heard two cows in conversation/one called the other one a name”. Like the end of many tracks here, Simon then reverts back to the lyrics/tune of “The Lord”. Wife Edie Brickell appears on two tracks, sounding angelic on the final track “Wait” where she sings that “heaven is beautiful/it’s almost like home”.
Seven Psalms was named as Uncut’s second best album of the year, an amazing feat for the octogerian. The album has also received near universal acclaim in its reviews. It is an album that is not designed to have on the background while running errands but for quiet contemplation. A fine album that listeners a lot younger than 80 can return to from time to time.
Nearly two years to the day that the last Simon & Garfunkel album was released, the mega selling Bridge Over Troubled Water, Paul Simon returned with his second solo album. The self titled album is based on acoustic singer-songwriter tracks but here Simon adds reggae touches and a couple blues based songs. The first two singles have pop elements with a nice flow.
“Mother and Child Reunion” starts off the album on a track that reached the US #4 on the singles charts. Here Simon adds an island flair with some reggae flourishes on a track based on his pet dog dying. Similarly, the enduring second single “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” is a pop track about a woman who calls the police as “what the mama saw, it was against the law” but the crime is never revealed.
“Everything Put Together Falls Apart” seems to reference drugs and the toll they can take. Later, the deep guitar sound of “Peace Like a River” sounds like CCR while he sings about what it would be like to live under martial law. “Duncan” is six verses of a story of a boy born to a fisherman before moving away, flutes between the verses add a nice touch.
A couple of songs refer to Simon’s then rocky marriage to his first wife, Peggy Harper. “Run That Body Down” sees Simon sing about going to see his therapist while on “Congratulations” he sings that “love will bring you down”. Paul Simon’s first album since the dissolution of his highly successful duo is an eclectic record but rooted in acoustic sounds. He leaves behind some of the bombast and skyscraper singing of the Garfunkel years, instead goes for breadth with various flourishes added to his sound. A very good early 70s album.
The Light Appears 