Essential Simon & Garfunkel [Original recording remastered]

Simon & Garfunkel | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 14, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000DD79B
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,587 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #66 in Music > Pop > Oldies > General
  • #75 in Music > Rock > Folk Rock

Editorial Reviews

Japanese Blu-Spec CD pressing of this classic album. The Blue Spec format takes Blu-ray disc technology to create CD's which are compatible with normal CD players but provides ultra high quality sound. Sony. 2009. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better Off With The Single Disc Collection, March 23, 2006

By 

Anthony Nasti "Tony" (Staten Island, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Simon & Garfunkel (Audio CD)

Simon & Garfunkel are one of my all time favorite groups. They rank right up there with Zeppelin, Dylan, The Beatles, The Who, the Stones, Queen and all my other favorite musicians.

I loved my very first S & G cd, "The Best Of Simon & Garfunkel". Since that collection had but a mere 20 songs and had a somewhat short running time of only 64 minutes, I felt I hadn't gottent the full extent of their work. I thought I'd get a far greater view with the two cd, 31 song "The Essential Simon & Garfunkel". Unfortunately, I was wrong. Why? Read on for the positives and the negatives.

Positives:
-You do get the most well known hits from the band. "The Sound Of Silence", "Homeward Bound", "I Am A Rock", "Scarbourough Fair/ Canticle", "Hazy Shade Of Winter", "The 59th Street Bridge (Feelin' Groovy)", "Mrs. Robinson", "The Boxer", "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and all the rest of the band's biggest hits are here.
-A few underrated gems are included as well, such as "Keep The Customer Satisfied", "So Long Frank Lloyd Wright" and "Baby Driver".
-Good sound quality.
-Affordable enough.
-Easy to locate.

Negatives:
-As many reviewers pointed out, several of the songs are different than the original versions, most notably "Homeward Bound", "The Sound Of Silence" and "I Am A Rock".
-Too many live versions! If they wanted to make a far more concise S & G collection that could've perhaps been definitive, they should've put the original versions.
-Neither disc fills up the eighty minute time limit. Stuff like "He Was My Brother", "7 O'Clock News/Silent Night", "Save The Life Of My Child", "Punky's Dilemma", not to mention the studio versions of the live tracks, could've easily been included.
-"Old Friends" and "Bookends" are separated. I've always preferred them together, like on "The Best Of Simon & Garfunkel".
-Sound quality is good, but the earlier "The Best Of Simon & Garfunkel" is better IMO.

Overall, this is a decent collection, but I feel that the single disc "The Best Of Simon & Garfunkel" is BY FAR a better bet. I hope to one day acquire the "Columbia Studio Recordings" boxed set, but until then, "The Best Of Simon & Garfunkel" is the best I can do. I prefer it to "The Essential Simon & Garfunkel", which I find pretty weak.

135 of 161 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Only if you already own their classics..., November 5, 2003

By 

Michael D. Kelley "Ex-Genius" (Leesburg, Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Essential Simon & Garfunkel (Audio CD)

This is one *weird* CD.

First of all, do not believe the other reviewers here who tell you that, for the most part, you get the original versions of the S&G songs. For the MOST part what you get are NOT the original versions of the songs. You get a lot of live versions but, what is worse, you get a whole lot (perhaps 80%) of "new" versions of the classic songs.

This isn't a bad thing if you already own the S&G classics -- but if you own them, why in the heck do you want this CD? Yes, the sound quality is superb, but the two CDs here by and large sound like some sort of S&G "cover" band: a very good cover band, but nowhere near the original music.

This is not the first time someone has put together a "collection" of what is supposedly their greatest hits, but it's the first time I've ever heard one with such odd reorchestrations. "Cecilia" is done at half speed, "Baby Driver" with such over orchestration it goes from being cute to pretentious, "The Only Living Boy In New York" goes from intimate to overblown. And so on.

Anyone who grew up with S&G (or anyone who wants the best) needs to own "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme". These two essential S&G CDs will give you both nearly every song in this "essential" collection, but give them to you in their pristine, S&G classic sound versions. Then if you want to hear new versions of these classics by all means go ahead and buy this collection. But don't buy it thinking you're getting the essentials -- this, as Robin Williams once said, is not essence, it's pee-pee-ca-ca.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Eternal Question, Answered Yes!!, October 18, 2003

By 

Michael Kerner "Michael Kerner" (Brooklyn, New York U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Essential Simon & Garfunkel (Audio CD)

When I heard the news about Simon & Garfunkel reuniting, I was just so overzealous and completely excited for the two of them. Largely, because the generation I grew up in, never gave any sanctions to the two of them reuniting and performing together. Still, they thought of Paul Simon solo, largely because of records like Graceland and Still Crazy After All These Years. Nevertheless, the duo reunited for some gigs, but not really as a full-forceful duo again. But, no that they are truly touring again, it is an absolute celebration of the duos unbelieveable legacy.

The Essential Simon & Garfunkel, is a double-album consisting of 32 tracks from their most legendary career, with songs that have been truly considered as American classics today. The music is still as unbelieveable and wonderful as it was still the 1960's all over again. There are just so many good songs here to this milestone, it is like watching on thin air. From classics like Bridge Over Troubled Water and Mrs. Robinson, to timeless songs from protest and problems that have undergone throughout our lives, like The Boxer and The Sound Of Silence. Still, there are just a few additonal songs that haven't appeared on many Simon & Garfunkel Greatest Hits records including Bleecker Street, The Dangling Conversation, and Song For The Asking. This is truly the first affordable Greatest Hits package to come out of Simon & Garfunkel's musical journey, since 1999.

Out of all the new acts to really come out, and the Britney Spears wannabes to try to really make it out in the open, none of them can stand that test of enjoyment and time like Simon & Garfunkel. If you have any of the previous Greatest Hits records by the duo, keep them, and add this to the pot as well. It is just a wonderful delight for a duo that has done the unthinkable today, to see Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel, reunite once more.