Paul Simon [Graceland]What can i say about Paul Simon that hasn't already been said?, the American will be 70 next year!, how time creeps up on people, he recorded Graceland in 1986, when he was a sprightly 45!.
This is a real turning point for Simon, and his best solo album, all those African rhythms were 'collected' [stolen some might say!] by him and melded into music and words, and then credited with 'words and music by Paul Simon', how much it's 'him' and how much he's just trawling the music library of the world, and picking ideas here and there, like a person would fill their plate at a buffet, well i don't know, but one thing's for sure, the final result is a great album.
I went out for a walk late in the evening, and i played this album on random, the songs that really hit me this time were 2, 5, 9 & 11, i was especially moved by track 2 'Graceland', regarded by Simon as the best song he's ever written, the magic of the song comes from the complex overlaying of different instruments into a heady mix, the percussive side of things are tremendous [Makhaya Mahlangu], a couple of slaps on what sounds like the tambourine, and then moments later a couple of hits on resonant woodblocks, and it's this teasing percussion that has these nice silences in between, like broken-field drumming, over this is played a guitar, constantly playing tremolo, and then in the background an off stage pedal steel guitar adds to mix intermittently, it's this cloth that Simon sews his vocals/words on,
The Mississippi delta was shining
like a national guitar
i am following the river
down the highway
through the cradle of the civil war...
The three verses create a mesmerising tease, and increase in intensity the longer you listen to it, his best song?, hmmn, certainly his best song as a soloist, i love listening to this.
Here's Paul Simon singing Graceland live in Zimbabwe on YouTube.
