Paul Simon is a storytelling poetic genius (even if he’s a bit of a showoff). Here we’re treated to a truly poetic treatment of life’s polarities, with images straining to burst through the bonds of beautifully unyielding metric structure. What I'm saying is I don't like the zoo, but I really like this album.Įxhibit A in the art of album making, “Bookends” is a prototype of the ‘concept album’. The only thing I ever want to see at the zoo is the exit sign. Somehow the closing song 'At The Zoo' works for me. This is the album when Paul really took perfectionistic control of things, as if to leave no doubt as to who was Tom and who was Jerry. Both camps are wrong, but the popularity of those covers helps underscore how Paul Simon is one of our greatest songwriters.

Others offer a similar opinion about the Lemonheads cover of 'Mrs. There are some folks who suggest the Bangles cover of 'A Hazy Shade of Winter' is better than the original. The loud Moog/Clockwork Orange sound at the start of 'Save The Life Of My Child' suggests maybe Frances McDormand was on to something. The final rating comes down to your desire to be transformed into a Kellogg's Corn Flake, or your feelings on poor Artie being tasked with going out and recording voices of old folks just to get a song writing credit. There are four solid classics on this album that alone could warrant a 5. Second Simon and Garfunkel album I've had from the list so far.

Paul is trying a little too hard for a look that a young David Schwimmer would perfect some 30 years later, and Artie was likely just caught in a moment scratching the back of his head, or maybe he was trying harder to hear out of his left ear. The album has continued to receive critical acclaim and is debated by critics as to whether it or Bridge Over Troubled Water is Simon & Garfunkel's best album.įrances McDormand used the album cover as a visual aid for young William Miller to suggest all rock stars were on dope, something obvious by simply looking at their eyes. Bookends was considered a breakthrough for the duo, placing them on the same level as artists such as Aretha Franklin, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and The Rolling Stones at the forefront of the cultural movement in the 1960s. The album sold well in the US and in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number one. Initial sales for Bookends were substantial in the US, and the album produced the number-one single 'Mrs. The album was recorded gradually over the period of a year, with production speeding up around the later months of 1967. Much of the material was crafted alongside producer John Simon (no relation), who joined the recording when Paul Simon suffered from writer's block. Simon's lyrics concern youth, disillusionment, relationships, old age, and mortality. Side two largely consists of previously-released singles and of unused material for The Graduate soundtrack. Side one of the album marks successive stages in life, the theme serving as bookends to the life cycle. The duo had risen to fame two years prior with the albums Sounds of Silence and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme and the soundtrack album for the 1967 film The Graduate.īookends is a concept album that explores a life journey from childhood to old age. Produced by Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel and Roy Halee, the album was released on April 3, 1968, in the United States by Columbia Records. Bookends is the fourth studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel.

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