STACK NZ Jun #74

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By Graham Reid

PAUL SIMON

Terry Reid The Other Side Of The River

His recording career started over half a century ago and his new album Stranger to Stranger is his 13th studio outing under his own name. So – setting aside his work with Art Garfunkel and assuming you already have Graceland – where to start with Paul Simon?

British singer-guitarist Reid turned down frontman roles for Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple to pursue his own path through blues, rock, folk, Brazilian music and much more, which only lead to cult status. His most acclaimed album is River (1973)

There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973) He'd enjoyed a successful self-titled solo album (after the Simon and Garfunkel break-up) with the hits Mother and Child Reunion and Me and Julio , but here he confidently extended his interest in music beyond pop/folk/rock and scooped up influences from the Caribbean ( Take Me to the Mardi Gras ), doo-wop/gospel (the Dixie Hummingbirds on She Loves Me Like a Rock ) and classical music (Bach on the insightful American Tune ). St Judy's Comet is a lovely, self- referencing lullaby and the melody of Tenderness could have come from the '40s. Nice stuff. Still Crazy After All These Years (1975) Jammed with radio-friendly songs (the title track, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover and Gone At Last with Phoebe Snow), this was also typically reflective ( My Little Town , Night Game ) and political ( Silent Eyes is about Israel being in the crosshairs). The execution is impeccable (jazz musicians and Patti Austin) and Simon – again – had something to say about himself and our world. Surprise (1996) On this companion to its excellent predecessor You're The One , Simon again made the personal (family, self-doubt, disillusionment) into universal concerns. Yet he was also ambivalent, evocative and dryly witty. His comeback was complete after just two disappointing albums in the '90s ( Rhythm of the Saints and The Caveman ). Brain Eno provided sonic effects and the players included Bill Frisell, Herbie Hancock and Steve Gadd. At 64 he was still pushing himself. So Beautiful or So What (2011) By this point many perhaps felt they'd had enough Simon in their lives already. But they missed this slow-burner which sounds as current as newspaper headlines, woven through with stories and questions, and – as on Graceland – his astute lyrics and voice were just part of the world- music textures. Mortality might have been on his mind (he was 70) but he came alive on this release. Recommended.

where, especially on the second side, he explored ideas akin to the stretching jazz-folk of Tim Buckley and an almost weightless, dreamy ambience. It's an album to hear. This double vinyl/single CD pulls together alternate takes, short sketches and revisions of River songs and other previously unreleased material from those sessions, which includes guests like Gilberto Gil and the Ikettes on wide-ranging, often genre-defying songs. Reid branches off into funky country, Southern soul, Brasilia, stately acoustic folk and much more. River remains the starting point on Reid and this eavesdropping collection (we hear him stop and start songs) is here if you want more, albeit less focused.

MUSIC

Paul McCartney Pure McCartney

Prince Prince His 1978 debut For You

Available in double disc, 4CD or 4LP formats, here's a non- chronological, self-chosen overview of Macca's vast post- Beatles career. In the full version it includes songs from his first low-key solo album, through Wings and, pleasingly, to some by his experimental side-project Fireman with producer Youth, plus Hope for the Future (2014) for the Destiny video game. Crafted or corny pop, raw rock'n'roll, sooky ballads (and gems like My Valentine ), quiet folk, nods to electronica... Whatever you think of him, this is an impressively broad overview of one of the great songwriters of the past 60 years.

announced him, but this, a year later – now reissued on vinyl – established him with I Wanna Be Your Lover , Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad? and I Feel For You (the latter winning him a songwriter Grammy when Chaka Khan covered it). The album is mostly r'n'b funk, sometimes stripped back and given electro- pop flourishes ( Sexy Dancer with heavy breathing). There are Jacko-like ballads, but the pop- funk provided the platform for his breakthrough Dirty Mind the following year. The Prince (as we knew him) story begins here.

And also... His debut solo album The Paul Simon Songbook, recorded in London in 1965, contains seeds of genius ( I Am a Rock, The Sound of Silence, etc) and is worth attention. There are also many compilations (notably last year's Ultimate Collection which included some S&G songs) if you want to cheat, but Paul Simon's albums are best appreciated in their entirety.

For more interviews, reviews and overviews from Graham Reid visit www.elsewhere.co.nz

JUNE 2016

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