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

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?

It's a question I often repeat
Where do allergies go when it's after a show
And they want to get something to eat?

really? you ask yourself this question a lot? so many weak slapped together "observational" lyrics that don't add up to anything, his usually reliable storehouse of memorable melodies and hooks almost entirely absent, a bunch of arrangements that feel like tentative stabs towards some shakily defined goal - no wonder he ended up borrowing/collaborating so much on the next record, it's like he forgot how to write.

xp

"Allergies" and "Cars are Cars" are the only throwaways.

agree these are the worst, they're embarrassing

listening to them makes me feel bad for Paul Simon, in a "oh come on man, don't do THAT, oh no you are doing it anyway please stop"

way

I'd also add the Chic version of "Think Too Much" to tylerw's list. The album's second tier Simon, but it's the best kind of crisis album: an artist at a crossroads, anxious about the next step.

I'd add both of them

oh wait, he already had one. how did you know which was excluded?

after the mega-flop of the One Trick Pony film/album you can just imagine the label's reaction when they hear H+B track 1 side 1 for the first time. no wonder PS says they didn't give a shit what he did next and let him go off and do whatever the heck he wanted.

weird how the massive Central Park gig happened in between One Trick.. and this! like at that point there was nothing to be done to halt the slide.

also this is fascinating if you haven't seen it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nap6bNPU4qU

weird how the massive Central Park gig happened in between One Trick
hearts and bones was originally conceived as a simon and garfunkel reunion album right? i'm sure the record company would've been fine w/ anything that had S&G on the cover.

One Trick Pony is not a great album but I love that movie

mmhm yeah until they had a row and he 'removed his vocals note by note'(WIKI). the demos with Art were on YouTube but.. not now it seems.

wau @ that interview!

ha yeah. innit.

xp still haven't seen One Trick but this looks.. weird/great. Lou Reed is a pretty good actor!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDRjsKcFC9g

that's towards the end. It got put out on DVD as part of MGM's cheapier archive reissue series, def worth hunting down imo

i kind of like "cars are cars." the melody on the "i once had a car that was more like a home" parts is pretty. i guess those are the verses.

this album is good. it has "hearts and bones" and "train in the distance" and "song about the moon" and BOTH "think too much"s and "rene and georges magritte"! an embarrassment of riches.

engine in the FRONT
jack in the BACK

i don't know it always sounds like simon's singing to his kids on those parts. it's goofy, but i like it.

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.