Customer Reviews

The Paul Simon Album: Broadway Sings The Best Of Paul Simon

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Don't get me wrong - I adore Broadway musicals, and the performers on this CD are not untalented. I also think Paul Simon is one of the musical geniuses of the late 20th/early 21st century. But his songs are subtle, occasionally abstruse, and witty in a sly, understated way. Asking Broadway-style singers to tackle his repertoire is akin to asking a knuckleball pitcher to paint the outside corner of the plate - one requires an entirely different discipline than the other. The stock in trade of the Broadway performer is immediate, in-your-face emotion... something for which Simon's songs are ill-suited. The beauty of a Paul Simon song is how its seeming impassivity quietly works its way into your psyche, until you suddenly realize that he's uncovered a subliminal truth. There's something deeply human and breathtakingly honest couched in all those clever words and images - but it's the kind of thing that's revealed only with a delicate touch, as opposed to a sledgehammer. A Broadway-style approach doesn't reveal those elusive truths so much as beat the stuffing out of them.

As much as I appreciate the desire to pay homage to Paul Simon's many musical gifts, this was an idea that never should've made it out of the production booth.

One could not say this is a bad CD, but the only bright spot was "The Sounds of Silence".

In the light of the failure of Simon's "Caveman", this seems to be pouring salt in the wound. None of the singers, particularly Lauren Kennedy, seemed to know what they were doing with this music. The choice of the singers was poor as far as style, and many of them were mediocre singers at best.

How Bruce Kimmel and a bunch of fantastic singers that I normally love could produce such a rotten album is beyond me. The problem really lies in the horrible arrangements and orchestrations of each song; they seem to have been done in cliched, heavy-handed, pop-Broadway style without regard for what this delicate material really requires--or, for that matter, what GOOD Broadway-style arrangements require. Some entity named Lan88 is the culprit, but Bruce Kimmel should have known better.

This CD is what I expected it to be. If anyone was expecting the same song as the original style, then I can see why they were disapointed. I enjoy the CD. Broadway performers were certainly going to put their own touches on the songs, which they did. So if you like Broadway voices and Paul Simon songs, then go ahead and buy this CD. Jane Krakowski and Jason Raize do especially good versions of their respective songs.

Maybe it'll grow on me; but the anticipation of hearing these classic Paul Simon songs performed by Broadway singers was a severe disappointment. So often "cross-overs" don't work and this seems to be one of these cases - even great singers and interpreters of songs like Amanda McBroom don't seem to be able to add anything new. Maybe the songs just aren't as good as we had believed and these new productions simply reveal their shortcomings. I hope I'm wrong and that over time I'll grow to enjoy the album - I doubt it though.