Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme [Extra tracks, Original recording remastered]

Simon & Garfunkel | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 21, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00005NKKX
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,058 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

When a retrofit of electric guitars transformed "Sounds of Silence" into Simon & Garfunkel's folk-rock entrée, the partners and their label hastily followed with a like-titled album mixing Paul Simon's acoustic folk songs with plugged-in bids for radio play. By contrast, this successor, released less than a year later, more coherently and convincingly reveals Simon's broadening horizons as a writer and the duo's nascent studio perfectionism. The title song remains a haunting signature piece, relying on acoustic guitar and harpsichord to carry its contrapuntal marriage of English ballad and antiwar plaint; such acoustic delicacy prevails throughout and has proven more durable than by-the-numbers wattage. The first great S&G album, the set includes "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)," "Homeward Bound," "Dangling Conversation," and Art Garfunkel's luminous solo piece, "For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her." (The 2001 reissue adds a pair of unreleased demos to the original work.) --Sam Sutherland

Product Description

No Description Available.
Genre: Popular Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 21-AUG-2001

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic & Essential Simon & Garfunkel Original Works! August 5, 2000

By Barron Laycock HALL OF FAME

Format:Audio CD

I was given this album my first Christmas out of undergraduate school in 1969 by a very special friend, and literally wore the album out before replacing it a few years later. Finally I went to the CD format in the 80s and still love listening to this treasure trove of wonderfully written, masterfully arranged, and brilliantly executed songs by two of the best folk singers to come out of the fabled sixties. Everything here is original, and is produced with a simple and straightforward artistic style that belies its genius. This duo has a way of evoking an atmosphere with a timeless quality in their songs, and that is especially true here with "Scarborough Fair/Canticle", "The 59th Street Bridge Song", and "The Dangling Conversation". Paul Simon writes with a singular sensivity and poignancy here about the alienation and futility of much of contemporary urban life, and in such breath-taking efforts as "7 O'clock News/Silent Night", this is evoked with such beauty and artfulness that one is simply moved by the genius involved here. Quite simply put, this is one of the best albums ever produced, and one that is essential for anyone calling himself a folkie. I highly recommend it, and know that for anyone who is experiencing it for the first time, a special pleasure awaits you. Enjoy!

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Simon & Garfunkle put together their first great album January 18, 2004

By Lawrance M. Bernabo HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

"Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme" was the first big breakthrough album for Simon & Garfunkel as artists. Although their first two albums certainly showed promise, there was a big difference with this 1966 album. The difference was that this time Simon & Garfunkel, along with engineer Roy Halee, had total control in the making of the album. Given that their other 1966 album, "The Sounds of Silence," had been thrown together in less than a month to take advantage of the hot single, this makes a big difference. Just compare the horrible overdubbing of "The Songs of Silence" single with basically anything on this album, but especially with the opening track, "Scarborough Fair/Canticle."

This was an album that would appeal to college students, with the literary rock of "Dangling Conversation," the caustic commentary of "A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)," and the simple juxtaposition of the duo singing "Silent Night" to a piano accompaniment juxtaposed against the headlines from the Nightly News (including the death of Lenny Bruce and the escalation of the war in Vietnam) on the album's final track, "7 O'Clock News/Silent Night." College students would also appreciate the sentiments of "Homeward Bound," the attack on television as "The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine," one of the decade's great feel-good songs, "59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)," and the drama of "Poem on the Underground Wall."

But as much as I like the opening track and "Homeward Bound," the song that puts this over the top is the simply beautiful "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her." There was a time in high school when that was my favorite song, and I did not even know a girl named Emily. Along with "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "All I Know," "Emily" is one of the songs that truly showcase's Garfunkle's soaring vocals, not to mention Simon's poetic sensibilities. As good as this 1966 album was, Simon & Garfunkle's next album, "Bookends," was even better, and the one after that was the best of all. But then discovered the magic formula here.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sony/Legacy does great job of preserving a classic. August 26, 2001

By David Kenner

Format:Audio CD

This newly remastered and expanded edition of PSR&T is definitely overdue and most welcome. As was evident with the S&G releases of the past couple of years, "Old Friends" and "The Best of", the original master tapes are utilized in the digital transfer for this compact disc. In fact, a few tunes ("Cloudy", The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine", "A Simple Desultory Phillipic" and "Poem On The Underground Wall") run several seconds longer than the original LP versions we've always been used to. And the sound quality is breathtaking! "Patterns", "Pleasure Machine" and "Phillipic" just jump out of the speakers. They're so clean and crisp and bright that it's almost startling! It's a great package too with all of the original artwork and liner notes reproduced, new photos and liner notes, and complete printed lyrics. It's the most exciting reissue I've heard this year.