Sounds Of Silence

I'm not going into a detailed description of the history of the making of this LP but Columbia rushed it out so that they could get an LP on the shelves to support their first huge hit "The Sounds Of Silence". And it shows. Two tracks, "We've Got A Groovy Thing Goin' " and "Somewhere They Can't Find Me" were recorded much earlier in May 1965, and have poppy arrangements unlike the rest of the tunes which are much more folk oriented. The title track was recorded back in 1964 and was buried on their first LP which quickly hit the delete bins until its resurrection. The rest of this record, including overdubs of drums and electric guitar to "The Sounds Of Silence", was hastily recorded in December 1965. Because of a lack of new material, most of these tunes were re-recorded from Paul Simon's first solo LP recorded in Britain in (I think) mid 1965. This record has some fine moments and could have been a lot better had more time had been taken to produce it. It deals with many human emotions and activities including alienation on "I Am A Rock" and "Leaves That Are Green" and suicide on "A Most Peculiar Man" and "Richard Cory". The obvious theme of the latter song is that no matter how much money and power one may have, they still might not be a happy camper. A good lesson for those of us who think that winning the lottery will bring us instant happiness. "I Am A Rock" is a different recording (the vocal at least) than the later 45 version. They must have re-recorded it for the single which was superior to the version here. Simon & Garfunkel scaled much higher ground with their subsequent releases but despite its flaws this album shows them in the learning process and without the polish of their later material.

(This re-mastered copy is far better than my original CD in that it has informative liner notes and four bonus tracks, only one of which actually was from the December 1965 sessions.)

Why is this their best album? 1. Consistency of style. All the songs have similar instrumentation and the instruments sound the same from song to song. This unites the songs. 2. Quality of the songs. Four of S+G's best songs (Kathy's Song, The Sound of Silence, I Am a Rock and April Come She Will) are here. 3. A calm but impelled energy permeates the record. 4. The album is a well-structured collection of thoughtful and concise songs.

This song attracted me to `SIMON AND GARFUNKEL' songs and English songs altogether...It touched off my heart the spell of heavenly `guitar chords'....and made me a guitarist and singer....!!!By singing this beautiful creation of theirs I always get an untold happiness in my small world...!!!