Customer Reviews

Sounds of Silence

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Simon and Garfunkel's first "folk rock" album from early 1966 is an essential purchase. This does not mean that the duo didn't improve considerably during the rest of the sixties. Still, the moody excitement is here, starting with the classic hit rocked-up version of "Sounds of Silence" and the catchy "I Am a Rock." Simon's guitar playing is excellent throughout, as are Garfunkel's evocative tenor harmonies. True, some of the lyrics on this album seem immature and self-conscious compared to Simon's later work; often they are depressing and lonely. But darnit, these are some *good songs* - "Kathy's Song" and "April Come She Will" remain achingly poignant after all these years, and the hurried tempo and bright harpsichord of "Leaves That Are Green" drive home its message of youth and loss memorably. "Blues Run the Game" is a superb lost classic that had been added as a bonus track. (You will also find this track on the box set "Old Friends.") The other bonus tracks on this CD version are from a later time (1970), and mostly consist of sloppy run-throughs of folk standards. They are none too memorable, but the album itself is.

This album is absolutely beautiful. I don't understand how anyone can't see that. Between the poetic lyrics and the flowing melodies, this is a work of musical masterpiece. I highly recommend finding a copy on vinyl- it just makes it all the more enjoyable.

When "Sounds of Silence" came out as a single in late 1965, I was already becoming a thirteen year old devotee of folk-rock--the Byrds, the newly gone electric Dylan. It somehow took hold of my adolescent brain. The lyrics seemed intelligent and poetic, and the Beatles themselves had taken a few cues from Dylan and had started penning "meaningful" lyrics.

Into this mix came two sensitive NYC boys with "funny" names. I remember thinking that like most duos of the era--Peter and Gordon, Chad and Jeremy, Sonny and Cher--that "Simon" and "Garfunkel" were their FIRST names. Oh, well, what do you really know when you're thirteen? I also thought that "Sounds of Silence" must surely be a masterpiece. And when my college aged brother used to stick his head in my room when I was playing it and say, "What a stupid song! 'Sounds of silence'! That doesn't mean anything." Sigh! If only I had the vocabulary then to say, "It's an oxymoron, you moron." (He was no dummy actually, he probably knew that and was just trying to get my goat.)

A few years later, I was past Simon and Garfunkel and into more avant-gardesy kind of stuff like the Velvet Underground. I started to believe that "poetic" songs like "Sounds of Silence" were pretty darn pretentious and sophomoric, after all. Sort of like the poetry my friends and I were all writing at the time (yes, we knew it was bad, but we weren't commiting it to vinyl either).

Of course, Paul Simon was all of 21 or 22 (maybe younger) when he penned these songs. I should have been more generous. I mean, look at that cover shot--just a couple of kids! Besides, melodically, the songs all held up. And despite its pretentions, "Silence" still holds a spell over me that almost no other Simon composition does to this day. Something about that misterioso inserted bassline, the "neon lights" and "people talking without speaking"--very science-fiction, even if it wasn't meant to be.

The song "Sounds of Silence" was probably about as Dylanesque as Paul Simon ever got lyrically. The imagery of an "I Am a Rock" or "Homeward Bound" (not included here) never got so deliciously contorted, the conceits behind those songs much more obvious. "Blessed" tries for a folk rock toughness a la Dylan circa '65 and does an OK job of it, but already Simon's strong suit was turning out to be narrative songs ("Most Peculiar Man") and richly textured love songs like "Kathy's Song." All in all, much more straightforward stuff than the title song.

Listening to it now, some 38 years later, it seems pretty clear that Paul Simon was off to a darn good start. Now the question arises, am I turning out to be enough of a fan to take in their reunion concert at those outrageous prices I've been hearing about. Landsakes...

Next to a greatest hits album, this has to be the best offering Simon and Garfunkel ever gave the world of music? Forty years old and it still stands strong!

I love great harmonies (Don and Phil of The Everly Brothers, John and Paul of The Beatles, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, Teresa and Mark of The Echoes, etc.) but S&G take the cake here!

Like Dylan's "Freewheeling" album, Simon and Garfunkel's second album beats its predecessor effortlessly for the beauty and strength of the original material. The instrumentation is perfect and the songs are songs for all times--not just the 1960's!

My favorite release by my favorite New York group.

If you are going to criticize Simon for bad poetry at least do so in good prose. Inchoate splendor? Resplendent performances? Be careful with your tools: they are precision instruments, not butcher's cutlery.

"Silence like a cancer grows" is an excellent line. It's good because it is FITTINGLY archaic. The evocation of the Romantic spirit had a powerful effect on an entire generation, and it is still relevant in today's environment of increasing censorship and belated pseudo-sophistication--so aptly embodied by our oh-so worldly music critic.

This is as well-written and poignant as any debut album can be. You young whippersnappers wouldn't know great music if it gave you a colostomy.

What's it been now...35 years? Well, something like that. Yet this music still stirs and still intrigues new generations. Of particular interest is the fact that the majority of these songs are not considered to be among their "greatest" works. But look what happens: we hear those great songs on the radio and listen to our CDs so much that we're tired of them. That's when it's time to seek out the other songs, the lesser-known, but still great, ones. Songs like "A Most Peculiar Man," "Richard Cory," "Roving Gambler," and "Barbriallen."
P.S. Check out the classic poem "Richard Cory" by Edward Arlington Robinson and other versions of the "Barbriallen" story, such as "Jimmy Grove and Barbara Allen" by the New Christy Minstrels.

Sound of Silence is Simon & Garfunkle's 2nd album, but the first of four great ones! Sound of Silence, the albums title track, is contained here in its original format (Paul Simon remixed this track for the Mrs. Robinson Soundtrack) and is possibly one the duos best songs. The album it self lacks the strong song writing that would shine through on the next three albums, but it is filled with plenty of gems. The Leaves that are Green (also the original mix), Kathy's Song and April She Will Come are all worth buying this album.

This album is a superb example of the musical and lyrical genius of Paul Simon. Each song provides a mesmerizing and deeply personal insight into the mind of a brooding man weighed down with angst. The lyrics on "Sounds of Silence" are some of the best ever written; the song's image of a population entranced and enslaved into silence and conformity by television is amazingly prescient, especially given that it was written 35 years ago. (In this same vein check out "Electric Eye" by Judas Priest!) The album contains two exquisite ballads that any guitar player should have in his repertoire. OK, so a few of the songs are "charmingly" indicative of the era (Groovy thing). But the overall range of topics is broad and socially insightful and incisive. Great music for anyone with an opinion on society, inner angst, dreams, or any combination thereof.

Simon and Garfunkel's first "folk rock" album from early 1966 is an essential purchase. This does not mean that the duo didn't improve considerably during the rest of the sixties. Still, the moody excitement is here, starting with the classic hit rocked-up version of "Sounds of Silence" and the catchy "I Am a Rock." Simon's guitar playing is excellent throughout, as are Garfunkel's evocative tenor harmonies. True, some of the lyrics on this album seem immature and self-conscious compared to Simon's later work; often they are depressing and lonely. But darnit, these are some *good songs* - "Kathy's Song" and "April Come She Will" remain achingly poignant after all these years, and the hurried tempo and bright harpsichord of "Leaves That Are Green" drive home its message of youth and loss memorably. "Blues Run the Game" is a superb lost classic that had been added as a bonus track. (You will also find this track on the box set "Old Friends.") The other bonus tracks on this CD version are from a later time (1970), and mostly consist of sloppy run-throughs of folk standards. They are none too memorable, but the album itself is.