Review Summary: More than just early recordings of Simon & Garfunkel classics.
In reply to the demand of ‘name your favourite Paul Simon album’, a popular response may be ‘Graceland’ or ‘Still Crazy After All These Years’, such are considered ‘the Paul Simon Classics’. However if one were to give the response, ‘the Paul Simon Songbook’, the demander may give one a curious look. Being Simon’s first album, many may consider this as essentially a collection of early demos which would later be reworked into hits for Simon & Garfunkel. Therefore the Paul Simon Songbook is not an obvious choice for a Paul Simon favourite.
The album is very much the sound of a one man band, with all songs written solely by Simon, with only one microphone purely for both voice and guitar. Whilst some may hear such simplicity and rawness and interpret it as bland, empty or perhaps unfinished, surely what we are hearing are the very personal workings of a man, captured in an intimate setting; a quality which gets erased in the later versions recorded with Garfunkel (that is of course not to say that the songs lose their charm completely.) The foot tapping on the Simon & Garfunkel classic, Sounds of Silence almost becomes akin to a baby squeezing your finger. The moments before were touching enough but suddenly a more personal dimension has just been created. Closing your eyes, it is as if Simon is playing in the same room, a sensation which is also present on Joni Mitchell’s, Blue.
With each track we’re offered consoling, insightful and profound verses, ranging from the delicacy of the passing of time, the comfort within loneliness to the tragic, forgotten consequences of war. But this is by no means an album of preachy, gloominess. This is an album which also acts as a commentary to Simon’s life during the mid 1960’s. The album cover, picturing Simon and his British Girlfriend Kathy Chitty, provides an insight into the muse behind Kathy’s Song, containing the line ‘I gaze beyond the rain drenched street to England where my heart lies’, making the album almost like a little musical diary. There are also subtle yet heartbreaking fragments of emotion embedded within the songs, which naturally comes with the raw production of the album. For example, in the final lines of He Was My Brother, there is a quality to Simon’s voice which you just don’t hear on other versions of the track. We get a sense of the grief of Simon’s loss and the reality of life’s injustice.
These serve as examples of how Simon is not simply a beautiful songwriter but an artist who can singlehandedly move and captivate a listener without any gimmicks or fancy production; all qualities which are specific to this album. This is the reason why this will remain my favourite Paul Simon album, despite being an unconventional choice.
