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

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.