07-09-2018, 20:15
PAUL SIMON - In the Blue Light
![[Image: 220px-In_The_Blue_Light_Cover.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6e/In_The_Blue_Light_Cover.jpg/220px-In_The_Blue_Light_Cover.jpg)
Tracklisting:
1. "One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor" - There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973)
2. "Love" - You're the One (2000)
3. "Can't Run But" - The Rhythm of the Saints (1990)
4. "How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns” - One-Trick Pony (1980)
5. "Pigs, Sheep and Wolves” - You're the One (2000)
6. "René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War” - Hearts and Bones (1983)
7. "The Teacher" - You're the One (2000)
8. "Darling Lorraine" - You're the One (2000)
9. "Some Folks' Lives Roll Easy” - Still Crazy After All These Years (1975)
10. "Questions for the Angels" - So Beautiful or So What (2011)
Sumptuous yet edgy is what springs to mind listening to this. Mr Simon has not lost his touch! The best way I can think of describing the album is that if Woody Allen was a musician – this might be what he’d sound like – just a LOT less annoying! J Seriously – although he goes off on a few tangents, there’s absolute control, I’d say.
Simon is soon to be seventy seven – good grief! You’d never guess that this was the voice of a man who is three years away from 80. He’s reworked some of his lesser known songs from over the course of his career and it is immediately evident that he has top class musos to aid him in his endeavours; Bill Frisell, Wynton Marsalis, Jack DeJohnette and Steve Gadd, and an accomplished chamber ensemble from New York – yMusic, as well as others (Bryce Dessner of The National being one). Fantastic sounds – beautifully arranged and produced reinventions. I’m far from a fan of everything he’s ever done - not that I’ve heard it all, admittedly (did not like Graceland, for example), but credit must be given where it’s due, and IMHO that’s definitely here. It’s music of a semi-jazz persuasion I would say, by virtue of it's conversational and somewhat offbeat nature, nobody gets excited and there are no big solo breaks (well – perhaps with the exception of that sax!).
Well worth a listen … funnily enough I think this makes a perfect companion to Madelaine Peyroux’s most recent release – a pigeon pair! It’s not rock, not jazz and is very easy on the ear which is why I’m putting it here, quickly, before my signal disappears
…
Tracklisting:
1. "One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor" - There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973)
2. "Love" - You're the One (2000)
3. "Can't Run But" - The Rhythm of the Saints (1990)
4. "How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns” - One-Trick Pony (1980)
5. "Pigs, Sheep and Wolves” - You're the One (2000)
6. "René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War” - Hearts and Bones (1983)
7. "The Teacher" - You're the One (2000)
8. "Darling Lorraine" - You're the One (2000)
9. "Some Folks' Lives Roll Easy” - Still Crazy After All These Years (1975)
10. "Questions for the Angels" - So Beautiful or So What (2011)
Sumptuous yet edgy is what springs to mind listening to this. Mr Simon has not lost his touch! The best way I can think of describing the album is that if Woody Allen was a musician – this might be what he’d sound like – just a LOT less annoying! J Seriously – although he goes off on a few tangents, there’s absolute control, I’d say.
Simon is soon to be seventy seven – good grief! You’d never guess that this was the voice of a man who is three years away from 80. He’s reworked some of his lesser known songs from over the course of his career and it is immediately evident that he has top class musos to aid him in his endeavours; Bill Frisell, Wynton Marsalis, Jack DeJohnette and Steve Gadd, and an accomplished chamber ensemble from New York – yMusic, as well as others (Bryce Dessner of The National being one). Fantastic sounds – beautifully arranged and produced reinventions. I’m far from a fan of everything he’s ever done - not that I’ve heard it all, admittedly (did not like Graceland, for example), but credit must be given where it’s due, and IMHO that’s definitely here. It’s music of a semi-jazz persuasion I would say, by virtue of it's conversational and somewhat offbeat nature, nobody gets excited and there are no big solo breaks (well – perhaps with the exception of that sax!).
Well worth a listen … funnily enough I think this makes a perfect companion to Madelaine Peyroux’s most recent release – a pigeon pair! It’s not rock, not jazz and is very easy on the ear which is why I’m putting it here, quickly, before my signal disappears
…
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson
