Track Listing

1. Bookends Theme
2. Save the Life of My Child
3. America
4. Overs
5. Voices of Old People
6. Old Friends
7. Bookends Theme
8. Fakin' It
9. Punky's Dilemma
10. Mrs. Robinson [From the Motion Picture "The Graduate]
11. Hazy Shade of Winter
12. At the Zoo
13. You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies [*]
14. Old Friends [#][*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #397457 in Music
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Import

Customer Reviews

A classic sixties folk-rock album
The first half of this mainly mellow album (originally one side of a vinyl album) is based around life experiences from childhood to old age. Beginning and ending with the bookends theme, the outstanding song in this half is the reflective America. Save the life of my child, Overs and Old friends are all great songs though I'm not too keen on Voices of old people.

The second half of the album has no obvious theme but is stronger overall, containing Mrs Robinson (the biggest hit here), Hazy shade of winter (revived in the eighties to good effect by the Bangles), Faking it (a minor American hit), Punky's dilemma (an excellent philosophical song) and At the zoo (a great song with which to close the original album). Some say that Mrs Robinson (which originally appeared in the soundtrack of The Graduate) doesn't really blend in with the rest of the album. Maybe not, but I'm glad it's here.

Two bonus tracks are nothing to get excited about, but the re-mastering gives a far superior sound quality. There are also some informative liner notes.

If you only want the famous songs, you can find them on any number of hits compilations - some double CD's, some single CD's. However, if you wish to explore further, this album should be a high priority.

The Shorter, More Talented One of the Two Comes Good
It was at this point that, despite the occasional subsequent backsliding, Paul Simon metamorphosed from winsome New York folkie to thoughtful and inspired songwriter. The shift rendered Art Garfunkel pretty much redundant, as this album makes clear - though it was to be a little while before the Mekontralto had sense enough to slink away.

The music here teeters, like a spoon on a finger, between picked-acoustic reflection and percusso-electric experimentation. "Save The Life of My Child" is the opener, all urban hoot'n'crash, ironic and delicate and unresolved.

Lack of resolution is a recurring theme. "Mrs Robinson", of course, is all about potential unfulfilled and disenchantment admitted. The bouncy and slightly surreal "Punky's Dilemma", the energetic but nihilistic pair of "Hazy Shade of Winter" and "Fakin' It", or the cinematically contemplative "Old Friends" - they all address situations that can't be neatly tied up and put away. The most explicit example of this - and the best song on the album - is "Overs". Simon's talent has always been the identification of major emotional issues through minor domestic detail. 'No good times; no bad times; there's no times at all - just the New York Times, sitting on the windowsill, near the flowers.'

And Simon's weakness has always been inconsistency. This album, like Gracelands, is an infrequent example of the boy on an unfaltering roll. Despite the slightly fey reputation and the dodgy turtlenecks, Paul Simon at his best is as good a lyricist and songsmith as the medium has yet produced.