Sounds of Silence

by

Simon & Garfunkel

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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.

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...