Monday, November 2, 2009

Simon & Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence

Simon & Garfunkel – Sounds of Silence
Columbia, 1966
Acquired: Love Garden, Used, 2004
Price: $5

This was no doubt purchased in high school on a day trip to Lawrence. My friend Nick and I thought this record was amazing, and was part of our rotation for Drawing class (that is, if we got there first and thus, got to pick the music). The Lynyrd Skynyrd guys thought we were pussies, no doubt, and now I can kind of see why they thought that. But with actual justifiable reasons. This is music for pussies. I like Paul Simon's solo records a LOT more, and for some reason I own three Simon & Garfunkel records. Don't get me wrong, I do like them, but this is some sissy shit, and I feel bad for all the kids who thought this was poetry. This record is alright though. It's got a nice folk rock lilt to it and it's fairly harmless. “Sounds of Silence” still manages to be epic and I remember spending a LOT of time with this record the summer before college. I'd listen to Side A over and over again because Side B is mostly shit. “Richard Cory” is their attempt to grow some balls and they fail, because the song is boring, and “A Most Peculiar Man” is just a weird song about an old guy who offs himself. “I Am a Rock” is a jam, natch, but it's at the very end of the record so I never listened to it that much. So is “Somewhere they Can't Find Me,” which I always forget about. It's got a jangly little groove to it and I really love the little guitar riffage on the chorus. And “April Comes She Will,” I guess, it's got a serenity to it the rest of the songs lack, it's pretty, and sounds like it should be in a Wes Anderson movie. The promo pictures Paul & Art have of themselves on the back of the record are amazing. They look like a couple of beatniks, but it looks like they're actively trying to look like beatniks. Paul has a scarf and a cigarette, Art has a turtleneck and a cigarette, and they're both wearing all black. They look like a couple of goofballs. This came out in 1966 and is famous for having Bob Dylan's backing band overdub the title track. And you know what Dylan was doing when these two beatniks were doing their precious little folk record? “Like a Rolling Stone.” It's not a bad record though, but it is a weak one.

Finding an appropriately awful fanvid for this was tough, because there are so many. But I think of all of the ones I viewed, this was the one that needed to be on the internet the least. It's not a fanvid, and I will potentially look like an asshole for poking fun at this poor girl, but I mean, she's not even playing the guitar part correctly! I just hate these, I guess, and especially when the people recording the songs don't know the songs at all! She is clearly reading the lyrics off her macbook and following along on the iPod.



Ok ok, this one warrants posting too:

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