Simon & Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence

One suspects that Paul Simon cringes a bit when he listens to Simon & Garfunkel's 1966 breakthrough release. Lines from "I Am a Rock" ("For a rock feels no pain / And an island never cries") and the title track ("Fools, said I, you do not know / Silence like a cancer grows") are the essence of sophomoric poetry. And who but a couple of self-serious young men would sequence the suicide odes "Richard Cory" and "A Most Peculiar Man" back to back? That said, every callow couplet found here is counterbalanced by words that are disarmingly guileless. The unabashed romanticism of "Kathy's Song" is truly poignant; it ranks with "For Emily" and "The Only Living Boy in New York" among the duo's most resplendent performances. "April Come She Will" has a similar innocent appeal, while the title track, despite its overwrought moments and Tom Wilson's tacked-on production, is a folk-rock landmark. It's not hard to find fault with The Sounds of Silence, but it's easier still to bask in its inchoate splendor. (The 2001 reissue adds the bonus track "The Blues Run the Game" plus three unreleased 1970 demos.) --Steven Stolder Amazon.com

Beautiful

Nobody writes stuff this good anymore, except maybe Nick Worrall. Simply beautiful in every way possible. July 10, 2008

GREAT Album, Great Re-release

This is one of the all-time best albums, and one of my all-time favorites (there IS a difference!). This re-release is excellent for the inclusion of a couple of extra tracks. Great stuff. May 3, 2008

Richard Cory

ts it, if it doesnt work, thats as good as it gets.I rated it in stars, I entered a title for the review, and I typed a review. So whats this OOPS???? I hate when this happens. July 18, 2007

The Pinnacle of Folk Pop/Rock

This album lacked the self-aggrandazing bombast of 'Bridge Over Trouble Water' (which I hold was a little too comfortable with its brilliance, although with a touch more humility than the Beatles Sgt. Pepper), but more importantly, I don't see it as a rawer sketch of Bridge Over Troubled Water of the work Simon and Garfunkel produced in between, but I believe this IS their definitive statement, their magnum opus. What I like most is Simon's atatention to melody and music AS well as the lyrics. It did not revel in its own lyrical cleverness like Dylan, yet the lyric messages were poignant and well developed and despite the simplicity never lacked thematic depth. So redolent of the times, this was a coherently brilliantly album that shoots through the mush of drab 'folk rock' clones like a flashlight in the dark. May 9, 2007

Perfect!

This is an absolutely perfect CD. You cant help but envision scenes from the "Graduate" while listening to it! January 15, 2007

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