Collections differ

It does not strike many as a sensation that Paul Simon has again released a collection. Songwriter is not his first attempt to draw some mid-term conclusions regarding his achievements and to select out of a great many songs those hits which would most please and captivate the audience. In 2007, the artist delivered a very good compilation called The Essential Paul Simon, which might be quite enough to form a very thorough picture of what he performed at different stages of his music life. However, the trick is that the newly crafted double CD Songwriter, by status and appearance resembling this collection, as a matter of fact, is not an opponent to it and can hardly be classified as a best-of selection. The main advantage of this release is that Paul Simon personally chose all the tracks and he did it regardless of ratings and popularity.

History of song-writing search

After having a look at the Songwriter track-listing, Paul Simon’s faithful supporters will effortlessly discover the absence of a lot of material which bears the hit label. Tunes like Love Me Like A Rock, Me And Julio Down By The School Yard, or, for instance, 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, seemingly destined to appear on any of Simon’s collection, are not included into this one. Songwriter is opened with a couple of live performances. By the way, both The Boxer, and The Sound Of Silence do not belong to Paul’s solo activity, but are dug out of his Simon And Garfunkel epoch. These are not his best or most famous efforts, but they definitely stand for the music that gave Simon the ticket to the music world. And right from the start it gets clear that the chronological approach is applied here to mirror the musician’s s song-writing journey during which he repeatedly has gone deep into experimental depths. Objectiveness and consistency became the key factors for Simon while compiling Songwriter. The revolutionary album called Graceland (1986) is moderately presented here by three songs (Graceland, Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes, and The Boy In The Bubble), and its main hit You Can Call Me Al was ignored.

Songwriter will be interesting for all kinds of audience

A collection of 32 tracks, Songwriter is a lot like an encyclopedic labor. It apparently divides Paul Simon’s music activity in two big stages. These are the period before Graceland, marked with distinct melodies and relatively simple structures, and the period after Graceland, a long exploration of music styles with particular interest in folk traditions. There are no doubts Songwriter is going to be especially interesting for those who know a good deal about Paul Simon’s music. These people have a great opportunity offered by Paul himself to make another trip through his creative life right from the very beginning. At the same time, the live versions of some songs presented here are assigned to show that Paul Simon is not thinking about retirement yet. For those who are not so well familiar with his art, Songwriter might seem a little bit too difficult, but even these listeners will appreciate the power and scale of this outstanding musician’s talent as early as after the first listening.

Alex Bartholomew
11.01.2012