With Graceland, Paul Simon hit on the idea of combining his always perceptive songwriting with the little-heard mbaqanga music of South Africa, creating a fascinating hybrid that re-enchanted his old audience and earned him a new one. It is true that the South African angle (including its controversial aspect during the apartheid days) was a powerful marketing tool and that the catchy music succeeded in presenting listeners with that magical combination: something they'd never heard before that nevertheless sounded familiar. As eclectic as any record Simon had made, it also delved into zydeco and conjunto-flavored ock & roll while marking a surprising new lyrical approach (presaged on some songs on Hearts and Bones); for the most part, Simon abandoned a linear, narrative approach to his words, instead drawing highly poetic ("Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes"), abstract ("The Boy in the Bubble"), and satiric ("I Know What I Know") portraits of modern life, often charged by striking images and turns of phrase torn from the headlines or overheard in contemporary speech. An enormously successful record, Graceland became the standard against which subsequent musical experiments by major artists were measured.
I have not always been into music as much as I am right now. In fact, there was time when I would be happy just listening to Casey Kasem's Top 40 Countdown and would more than likely have known the lyrics to 90% of the songs on it. Then I grew up and learned that there is a lot more music out there than is found on the radio.Why is this bad you ask? Well, at least for me it has been years since...
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Who?Whether it's the music near-perfect folk he made with partner Art Garfunkel or the afropop-infused music he's made since turning solo, Paul Simon is destined to go down as one of the greatest songwriters to ever grace the United States.And I Care Because?- Ever heard of Vampire Weekend? Well, they might as well be a Paul Simon cover band, as the preppy gents steal most of the indie-afropop ...
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The song Graceland, which appeared on the "Graceland" album (duh) was a residual song left over from Paul's "Hearts and Bones" album dealing with his failed marriage and the emotional dross that follows.
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It’s no secret that many of our readers have had plenty of spirited discussions over the last few months, or maybe years, discussing what classic album Phish would cover at the next Halloween show. The concept of this live “Musical Costume” was launched by Phish on Halloween in 1994 when they performed The Beatles White Album in its entirety. Errr, except Good Night which was played over the
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I went into the basement yesterday to go through my vinyl collection and see what old Prog Rock I had hiding away.What I encountered was a history lesson of my own journey through musical time. Here's a partial list made up mostly of the trailblazers I consider to have laid the path that's resulted in today's Prog Rock best.Automatic ManThe BeatlesTony BanksPeter Banks (with Phil Collins, Steve...
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Reading the liner notes of Clive Davis's compilation from the late '80s, Homeland: A Collection of Black South African Music, I discovered something I didn't know about apartheid-era South Africa. Hence the name, many black Africans were sort of herded into reservations called "homelands." They were supposed to have been split up by tribe, but this was done poorly and a lot of people were estra...
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So I just got a new phone yesterday and of course I had to get one with an MP3 player so i got a Sync, which i'm loving. Anyway, I was listening to it earlier and i paused it and didn't get back to it until a few minutes ago when You Can Call Me Al came on. And it just reminded me how awesome Paul Simon is. and I'll never forget that video, chevy chase back when he was still awesome too. So ...
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Thanks to Kevin I was able to listen to Graceland in full for the first time today and I have to say I love it. The highlight for me was Homeless, I was so impressed with this a cappella track. These vocals are HUGE and completely blew me away. The vocals and just the music in general continued to impress me throughout the album and while i could probably write a decent review for this one, ...
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The music video for You Can Call Me Al has got to be one of the best music videos ever. It's simple and hilarious. No over-acting, no fancy special effects. It just has the great talents of Paul Simon and Chevy Chase shining through.
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Riffling through my boxes of CD's over the weeekend looking for some lesser awsome album from Sublime, I found my age old copy of Paul Simon's Graceland from 1986. Lets all just take a minute to remember how freakin fantastic this record is!! if you smoothtalkin, indie rockin kids have never treated yourself to a listen of this album, i suggest you quit foolin around and get busy!
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I was going to go with the "what albums would you have if you were stranded on a desert island" theme, but I thought it was a bit cliche. Besides, I'm far more prepared for zombies than being shipwrecked on a beach somewhere. I don't know how many albums I'll come up with - I'm not sure I've got 10 that would serve me on those cold nights when civilization has collapsed.My first album is Paul S...
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Back when I was a wee lad there were a number of concerts I saw, either on TV or video, which really fuelled my love for music and more specifically, that fuelled my love of drums and inspired me want to play music. Queen Live at Wembley Stadium or at Rock in Rio, Iron Maiden at Long Beach Arena (AKA Live after Death) are a few that spring to mind.Another that has stuck in the memory was Paul ...
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 "Graceland")
