CD: Simon & Garfunkel The Collection

Back in 1967 I was about to buy my first record, my first vinyl album, and it was going to be one of two. One of the choices was Simon & Garfunkel's 'Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme' which, like my other choice, I'd heard at the college in Lancashire I'd started attending the previous year. Money being tight, I wanted to make the right choice. In the end I chose the other one and, several weeks later, bought my second choice. It seems as if this choice has dictated my musical taste for the rest of my life because the first album I bought was John Mayall, Eric Clapton Bluesbreakers, the seminal, electric guitar dominated, piece of British Blues. And ever since, I've always preferred the rawer end of the musical spectrum, though there has always been a place for the tasteful side.

Just look at my two latest purchases: Neil Young Archives vol.1 (see previous entry) and this one. The period both cover is almost identical. Spooky.

The Collection, however, is simply a remastered collection of their five studio albums with a number of additional bonus tracks, some 'new' songs, some alternative versions; though there is the bonus of a live DVD of the 1981 reunion concert. And it cost me a staggering £8.95. No, I didn't miss a 0 after the 8 or put the decimal point in the wrong place. It cost a tenth of the going UK rate for Young's Archives and was an impulse buy when I saw it in a shop in Newcastle yesterday. (Turns out even Amazon is selling it for £4.00 more. Sweet.)

Yes, but is it any good?

Well, of course it is, though it's decades since I last heard any of it and as such I find I have a different perspective on it. The first three albums in particular are a young man's music, full of romance, cynicism, disillusionment, hope, and social awareness with a wistfulness of touch and an almost unknowing naivety. They are the story of Paul Simon discovering his voice and learning about music and that it's possible to utilize rock instrumentation in the service of folk without abandoning, as Dylan did around the same time, the folk elements.

This, by today's standards, is low key music, beautifully played and gorgeously quietly sung so that you have to strain to hear the exquisite harmonies. I'd forgotten just how wonderful Art Garfunkel's voice was.

Songs I haven't heard for years come back vividly, surprising me with their delicacy and brevity and how appropriate that is, like a glass of chilled fresh lemonade on a blisteringly hot summer's day. This is music that was part of my youth but nearly forgotten in the sonic assault of the countless loud heavy and blues guitar solos I've listened to since. But it isn't a part of today. No matter how beautiful it can be it brings back a part of my past, of times long gone, suffused with nostalgia.

But that's okay too.