Paul Simon, "Hearts & Bones" - C/D?

Hmm, I think Satie was using them in similar ways as Debussy, though, Debussy's methods of revelling in certain chords (especially without regard to their supposed "function" in the scheme of the work) were certainly the greatest support their distinctive sound could have asked for. You will find major chords with major sevenths quite far back (e.g., Bach and earlier), but generally only used as suspension elements (i.e., momentary tension to resolve soon after, rather than legit tonality).

-- dleone, Monday, June 10, 2002 7:00 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Link

Ha, thanks. But I have perhaps only the vaguest grasp on what "legit tonality" means as opposed to some other use, unless someone is there to walk me through it and point to the relevant passages. Hence my saying that I should probably take a stab at some proper music lessons at some point...

trivia: this was the Simon and Garfunkle come back album, but Simon stripped him off it after they were done for some reason.

He told Rolling Stone that he stripped the Garfunkel vocal tracks because these songs were "too personal." Kind of a nasty move after touring and bringing the guy in to the studio and all.

wow. ouch

I've never read any serious bios of these guys (do any good ones exist? Yeah, I'm too lazy to google...)

What was the whole beef between them, anyhow?

beats me, they seem to come together and then break apart pretty regularly. anyway it was probably a good idea for this NOT to be the S&G comeback album, simply because, good as it is, it's not as good as any of their other albums, and would have gotten pretty panned (as it is, the album didn't get very many good reviews at the time...it seems to be much better regarded these days).

i know garfunkle said somewhere that Simon called him up and said, "oh btw I'm taking you off the album" and then invited him to his wedding the next month. What a weirdo.

Hmm, yeah, I guess I'm just confused as to which guy is the bigger ass. It seems like the scale would fall towards PS, but who knows?

Regardless, I think that Hearts and Bones is better than One Trick Pony, if only on the basis of the song "Think Too Much". I only mention that because of some other thread here which re-revisioned OTP ahead of Heats and Bones.

or "Hearts", even...

Sometimes I wish this place had a "preview" function.

Simon seems to have been the obvious alpha in the relationship and wrote most of the material and so he comes across as the biggest ass when you read up on them, but I'm not so sure that's really the case. I get the feeling that they kind of wound up famous by accident (due to the remix of sounds of silence being a hit, after they'd already basically broken up and simon moved to england), and then tried it out as best they could for a few years, and then it stopped working. That they do anything together these days seems like it's either for money or for yucks, but not because they're the greatest working duo ever.

huh - I had never even heard of this album. v interesting

the magritte song is amazing, one of my favorite simon songs ever (w/ or w/o garfunkle)

Funny, because that song is one that especially bugs me. The title alone seems overly-strained in the singer-songwriter-ly way of trying to tell a story. I would rather listen to Paul Simon singing, whether in character, or out-of, about smoking himself a "J" and blowing the crowd away, etc.

smoking himself a "J" and blowing the crowd away

lolz I laugh every time I hear that song/think about this line now

But third-person storytelling in songs tends to rub me in the wrong way as a rule. "He's a real nowhere man"...stfu...the examples are legion.

I much prefer first-person to self-indulgence than shoddily created characters within the context of a two minute pop song.

xpost

Yeah, it's hard to beat.

Also, it's been remarked elsewhere on this board, but the cheesy accompanying guitar line is almost gilding the lily in a sense.

Great song, though.

The entire thing could be taken as a weed equivalent to the Randy Newman joke about "A Horse with No Name"'s acid conceits, but it's fundamental genius can't be denied, as far as I'm concerned...

For that matter, the America song is pretty great, as well.

I much prefer first-person to self-indulgence than shoddily created characters within the context of a two minute pop song.

typo.

Sign me up for "Rolling Controversial Opinions on ILM" thread, I guess...

Agh, I wish this board had a preview function. The text that you type in the box is in such a graceless typeface, compared to the end result. And this damn small box, it's boxing me in.

I'm a big picture kind of guy.

"When Numbers Get Serious."

Think Too Much (a) + (b) are both great songs. Playing these on repeat today.

so is "Song About the Moon"

hey did you know paul simon has a new record coming out? i didn't until yesterday: So Beautiful Or So What.

title track on this just kills me it is so perfect

jesus, the doo wop sections of rene and georgette -- so great.

Did a search for the video to "René and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War" but cannot find it anywhere on the net. Pity, that vid is awesome but hardly ever shown anywhere. Possibly some copyright issue as it contains a lot of René Margritte artwork.

title track on this just kills me it is so perfect

― plax (ico), Thursday, December 30, 2010 8:53 AM (2 months ago) Bookmark

otm.

i only ever knew the song, but just got the album and it's killing me in general

This is the best Simon gets in his solo career to really hitting the goosebump buttons for me - - I have way more love for Graceland from a lifetime of joys with it, and all of the other solo albums through Saints are great listens, but this is the one I think that consistently makes me feel the most things. Some damned good songwriting here, god, "Think Too Much."

title track on this just kills me it is so perfect

― plax (ico), Thursday, December 30, 2010 8:53 AM (2 months ago) Bookmark

cannot be said enough

One and one-half wandering jews
Free to wander wherever they choose
Are travelling together
In the sangre de cristo
The blood of christ mountains
Of new mexico
On the last leg of the journey
They started a long time ago
The arc of a love affair
Rainbows in the high desert air

They don't write them like that anymore.
Been obsessed with this album since i was about 12. Way better than Graceland. There's a good interview with him in Uncut mag this month, just came out this week over here in the UK. Real detailed stuff. He mentions Randy Newman as a favourite fellow songwriter. No surprises there i guess.

THE SMARTEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD
HAVE GATHERED IN LOS ANGELES
TO ANALYZE OUR LOVE AFFAIR
AND POSSIBLY UNSCRAMBLE US

i need to get this

god damn

still dont have this

By coincidence I picked this up dirt cheap in my local secondhand shop last week (before reading this thread). Will put it on tonight. Apart from Graceland, the pretty great 'Negotiations and Love Songs' comp is my only exposure to solo PS.

One thing that annoys me is that the great video for "Rene and Georgette Magritte with their Dog After the War" seems to be more or less wiped out. And whenever it briefly pops up, like in MTV's video archives or somebody posting it on Youtube, it disappears almost as soon as it got there. Back when I used to watch MTV's Greatest Hits and similar programs in the 90s, they also never ever played it. In fact I've never ever seen it on TV at all except for once on Norwegian TV back when it was new. A pity because it is such a great video.

Anyone know what's the deal? Is it Paul Simon himself who, for some reason, is not pleased with it and doesn't want it to have any attention, or is it some Magritte-family-related copyright issue as the video does indeed contain a lot of Magritte paintings?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCNKz1VTSh0

Uploaded by krakenek on Sep 11, 2006

Yeah. There it is. Sound quality suggests it is an old recording though.

never seen this. was it a single in the US?

I thought I remembered the video showing on Saturday Night Live once either when Simon was host or musical guest, but I guess it was "The New Show" instead.

the new show is the only time I ever saw that, it's weird that I remember that pretty vividly.

I saw it on HBO's Video Jukebox back in the day.

Not sure how long this will stay online, but this is the "Train in the Distance" demo included as a bonus track in the catalog re-release:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsArOakcLHw

Really lovely, thanks for posting.

she cooks a meal or twooooooooo

good lord this album is terrible

For an album to be terrible, more than half the songs have to be terrible.

This is not one of those albums. "Allergies" and "Cars are Cars" are the only throwaways.

yeah this album is great, come on now. "train in the distance" "magritte" "think too much" "johnny ace" ... what's not to like?

i feel like "cars are cars" leads with its dumb tautology so that it lowers your expectations and then it manages to slip in some moving stuff? like, it's essentially making the same argument as "i am a rock" does, but more lightheartedly.

i also think paul simon has feelings about cars.

it is not the most carefully crafted of his songs, sure.

I had never connected the dots that he was playing Johnny Ace when that guy ran onstage at the Concert for Central Park (that track doesn't appear on the album iirc), that's pretty freaky.

"Cars are Cars" is very stupid, but yeah the "I once had a car that was more like a home" section is brilliant and should have been saved for a better song. Other than that I think "Allergies" and "When Numbers Get Serious" are very weak, and "Song About the Moon" is acceptable as the same kind of laid-back unimportant album track that had populated much of the last two records. So that's a lot of the record, since there's only ten tracks on this thing, but "Rene and Georgette," "Hearts and Bones," "Johnny Ace" and the quiet "Think Too Much" are all excellent, with the first of those among Simon's very best songs. I also think the Rodgers "Think Too Much" is fun and catchy, enough that you can imagine what Simon or the label were hoping to get out of this collaboration. One of my favorite stanzas on the record:

I had a childhood that was mercifully brief
I grew up in a state of disbelief
Started to think too much when I was twelve
Goin' on thirteen
Me and the girls from St. Augustine
Up in the mezzanine, thinkin' about god, yeah

i slightly prefer the quiet "think too much" but the other "think too much" is great, and the part you quoted always makes me think of plax (hi plax, if you're around!)

Paul Simon being very Paul Simon-y in this Cinemax Album Flash special on Hearts & Bones from '84:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59ELMdiXGkI&t=547s

or: https://youtu.be/59ELMdiXGkI

The title track and the quiet "Think Too Much" always destroy me, I can't sing along to them because I get a lump in my throat. I guess I have been listening to this album as long as Tusk, but nowhere near as often.

I just discovered this album. Wtf why is it so underrated? Is it the ugly album cover? This is actually really good.

I mean it could be that “cars are cars” is a low point from everything I’ve heard of him so far. But there’s some of the best I’ve heard of him in here too.

The title track and "Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War" are two of my favorite Paul Simon songs, but Simon's done a pretty good job of including them on his endless compilations, so I imagine most fans know those songs.

you take two bodies and you twirl them into one
their hearts and their bones
and they won't come undone

One of the best divorce lyrics of all time. So good. I have to admit I have never listened to this as an album, but should, because I love the three songs from it that end up on compilations.

I have never heard Paul Simon comps. I’m familiar with the popular singles and three albums: s/t, graceland, and rhythm of the saints… just rediscovering the rest. Oddly enough it’s the non-singles and some of the deep cuts the ones that make me the most interested in his music. Songs like Thelma and Peace Like a River are two of my favorite of his. Title track from this one is very impressive as are both versions of “think too much”.

He is one of those artists that his most popular singles do a disservice to the rest of his work imho.

Not that “you can call me al” or “me and julio” or “50 ways” are bad songs. They are great, but they feel like they don’t really represent this other side of him.

His comps can feel very redundant, even when they expand to fit a new format (one vinyl disc to one full CD to two full CD's, etc.) But they also highlight how much his solo records (at least before Graceland) cohere really well with each other every time you mix them together.

His first three studio albums, Graceland, Rhythm of the Saints and his last two studio albums of all-new songs wound up being my favorites. Hearts and Bones is on the cusp - good songs but something about they way they were produced feels a little thrown together to me, like they needed a few more passes to make all the elements gel within each track.

like more Art, less technique

xp Peace Like a River is all-time.

Yeah, these days the eponymous debut gets overlooked. I spent time with it in January after several years -- what a charming, friendly, smart collection!

xxp that's about right. Clearly more ambitious, but they don't quite nail the execution.

i should spend some time with this one this week, it's been ages. most recently have had really nice evenings with Still Crazy and Rhymin' Simon. i feel like almost all his albums besides Graceland are in some sense "underrated." H&B has some of his most affecting songs for sure. i think only "Allergies" and "When Numbers Get Serious" don't work for me at all.

I'm tempted to say the title track and "Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War" are better than any song he's written since, and the original album versions are beautiful recordings despite my reservations elsewhere. Graceland's a much better album, but it's a triumph that owes a lot more to the contributions of new and guest collaborators, etc.

Xxpost love Peace Like A River and Armistice Day off the solo debut. Had H&B on vinyl way back when. Never bought the CD so it’s been ages since I’ve heard it.

The solo-acoustic “Train in the Distance” is one of my favorites of any of his songs.

I can see that. I always liked parts of that song, but it feels underdeveloped on the studio recording. I vaguely recall some strings popping up at the end - they felt kind of thrown in there and drove home how rough the album sounds, like they were still workshopping ideas rather than figuring out what they really wanted to do and taking the usual care to execute those ideas.