1967 Live From New York City [Live]

As a longtime S&G fan and owner of several live recordings from 1967 to 1969 (many of which are officially unreleased), I figured if this disk was blessed and sanctioned by the masters themselves, it must be about the best in the vault. Well, about 1/4th the way through it, I realized I'd apparently erred. Not to say it's a lousy performance: It just sounds very flat and lackadaisical compared with other S&G concert performances. Five songs from this show are available on the "Old Friends" boxed set--including "Red Rubber Ball," not on this cd for whatever reason)--and as it turns out those songs are played and sung with the most spirit and gusto of the bunch (particularly "A Church Is Burning," maybe the cream of the crop.) Yes, you'll get a few songs here that are difficult to find any other live versions of, but the only standouts of that group are "The Dangling Conversation" and "A Hazy Shade Of Winter," the latter being the duo's most recent hit at the time--so they likely weren't yet tired of singing it. Also, sometimes the key in which a song is played can make a difference: In the duo's performance at the legendary Monterey Pop Festival just five months after this concert, "Benedictus" and "For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her" were played and sung in a higher key than they are in this New York show--and I prefer the Monterey versions. I cannot, in good conscience, rate this cd lower than 3 stars--simply on the strength of the songs and the performers, but collectively, this is a pretty flat, going-through-the-motions performance. The 12-string guitar sounds OK, but when Paul is playing 6-string, the guitar and microphone sound like they're separated by a beach towel! If S&G and Sony were out to counter the bootleggers with this show, I'm afraid they came up a megabytes short. My alternative suggestion to those of you considering purchasing this cd is the following: First, get the "Old Friends" box if you don't already own it, for along with all the other excellent material contained therein (including two studio cuts "The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings" does not have), it boasts ten live cuts total--all very good! Then track down the seven tracks from S&G's set at the Monterey Festival which were allowed out of Lou Adler's vault for a great 1988 radio special and subsequently bootlegged. Finally, track down the widely bootlegged November 1969 performance at Miami (of Ohio) University. There's more out there, but those three sources will give you a sufficient serving of S&G performing live and on the very top of their individual' and collective game.

If you only ever own one Simon and Garfunkel CD, this is the one to have. The night captured on this disk is the best these two legends ever were, the best they could possibly be. Everything is perfect, the music is magical, the production is flawless.

If you have a special shelf where you keep ten or so CD's that are beyond everything else in recorded music, this disk will have a permanent home there.

Though a few of these tracks appeared on the 1997 Old Friends box set, it wasn't until 2002 that the bulk of this 1967 concert was made commercially available. Bootlegs of mid-60s S&G shows have circulated for years, but this is the first artist-and-label endorsed package, and it's about as fine a document of the era as one could hope for. The song selection includes the obvious hits, well-picked album tracks (e.g., "Leaves That Are Green") and a pair of obscurities ("A Church is Burning," from Simon's pre-S&G solo album, and a 1967 B-side, "You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies"). The range of material that the duo had racked up by this point in their career, from charged social statements ("The Sound of Silence") to angry, introspective observations ("I Am a Rock") and jangly-pop ("The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"), was (and remains) truly impressive.

Even more interesting is that the entire concert was recorded without additional accompaniment: Garfunkel sings and Simon sings and plays acoustic guitar. Their stripped-down (or, more accurately, not-built-up-and-electrified) arrangements of tunes from "The Sound of Silence" LP, as well as later songs like "A Hazy Shade of Winter," are both disconcerting and impressive. Simon's qualities as a guitar player were no secret by this point in his career (having been featured on the duo's albums), but his talent and feel as a live performer shows off an added dimension. The bent, plucked notes of "Blessed," the signature introductory lick of "Homeward Bound," and the instrumental run through Davey Graham's "Anji" are just some of the highlights.

This is a pitch-perfect document of folk-rock legends in their prime, capturing not only their artistry, but the freedom and intensity of the times itself. The recording and performance are both crisp and present - a must-have for all S&G fans.