Still Crazy After All These Years

Artist: Paul Simon
Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 075992559126
EAN: 0075992559126
ASIN: B000002LBY

Release Date: 1990-10-25

Still Crazy After All These Years

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Tracks:

Still Crazy After All These Years
My Little Town - Art Garfunkel
I Do It For Your Love
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover
Night Game
Gone At Last - Phoebe Snow/Jessy Dixon Singers
Some Folks' Lives Roll Easy
Have A Good Time
You're Kind
Silent Eyes

Similar Items:

There Goes Rhymin' Simon
Hearts and Bones
You're The One
The Rhythm of the Saints
Graceland

Amazon.com essential recording

Paul Simon's third solo album unifies the varied threads running through its predecessors--confessional ballads, wily story songs, agnostic spirituals and snapshots of modern life, circa 1975, are extensions of the models on his self-titled debut and--<I>There Goes Rhymin' Simon</I>. Here, Simon and producer Phil Ramone establish a more cohesive, explicitly urban setting that burnishes the artist's acoustic folk accents to spotlight his sophistication as an inventive composer and, as always, deft wordsmith. Included is his last great collaboration with Art Garfunkel, the bittersweet "My Little Town," a pop gospel romp with Phoebe Snow on "Gone at Last," and the sly adulterer's solution of "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover" (arguably the antithesis of Willie Dixon's classic "29 Ways"), along with the tender "I Do It for Your Love" and the woozy, dissolute "Have a Good Time." Best of all, of course, is the brilliant title song, shifting from anecdotal verse to soaring bridge and colored by keening strings and Phil Woods's knowing tenor-sax solo. Simon was crazy, like a fox. <I>--Sam Sutherland</I>

Customer Reviews:

Two and a half stars.......2006-06-28

Though there are some great songs here, this album finds Paul Simon beginning to run out of creative energy. It's all getting to sound by-the-book and it doesn't always sound like he's happy to be making music. There are two great songs - 50 Ways and My Little Town; and the title track, while subdued and downcast feeling, has a spooky, dreamy atmosphere and heartfelt vocal. Have A Good Time *might* sound better if he had someone else sing it, i.e. a female. To hear him wail away in a whiny falsetto for the WHOLE SONG is only slightly less grating than Prince's 'Kiss'. No wonder Art Garfunkel did all the falsetto stuff on the S&G albums. The rest of it is not bad, but suffers from blandness. No real catchy hooks or anything to make you remember the music. As far as the musicianship goes, it's top-notch throughout the album.

Still successful after all those years!.......2005-03-30

Yes,Paul Simon is still successful,by himself,after all those years since his musical partnership with Art Garfunkel dissolved. Don't worry,their friendship never was severed. Hits from this album include the title track,50 WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR LOVER,HAVE A GOOD TIME and MY LITTLE TOWN with Garfunkel. All but the latter appeared on NEGOTIATIONS AND LOVE SONGS 1971-1986,released in 1988. MLT also appeared on Garfunkel's 1975 album,BREAKAWAY. Also,MLT was reportedly the first Simon & Garfunkel recording since they recorded their BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER album in 1969. I guess the reason MLT didn't appear on N&LS was because it was Simon's album. The other songs are good.

THE LITTLE BROTHER IN A BIG FAMILY.......2004-07-21

STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS is regarded by many as Paul Simon?s last great album. Afterward he released two snoozers before he embarked on his ?world music? phase. As such this CD contains three of Simon?s great songs: ?Still Crazy?, ?50 Ways To Leave Your Lover? and ?Gone At Last?. He also includes the last duet ?My Little Town? he recorded with Art Garfunkel (at that point). On this basis alone STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS is regarded as a classic. Released in October 1975, millions snapped it up?myself included.

Listening to this CD after all this time, I am struck at how somber and depressed the atmosphere is in these songs. I tend to imagine Simon himself was going for a wistful and humorous attitude; still this is not a happy record. The songs cover one?s spirit much like a wet blanket. But to object to this CD on this basis: is it fair?

Indeed, a brief survey of the Paul Simon songbook reveals a singer/songwriter often in moments of clarity in which life and relationships are pretty much futile affairs prone to collapse. Naturally, there are important exceptions to this?most notably ?54th Street Bridge Song?, ?Loves Me Like A Rock? and ?Bridge Of Troubled Water?. Simon also has recorded his fair share of just plain goofy songs such as ?Cecilia?, At The Zoo? and ?Baby Driver? (I mean ?goofy? in the most positive sense). Still, in most of Simon?s songs there is more than just a touch of sadness. Consider both the words and the tone of the music in just this brief sample:

?The Sound Of Silence?
?Richard Cory?
?I Am A Rock?
?Scarborough Fair/Canticle?
?Dangling Conversation?
?America?
?Fakin; It?
?The Boxer?
?The Only Living Boy In New York?
?Mother And Child Reunion?
?Run That Body Down?
?American Tune?
?Take Me To The Mardi Gras?

So to complain that STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS is a bit of a downer in many ways is to state Simon?s standard operating mode.

It is said that while recording this album, Simon?s first marriage was falling apart. I can?t confirm this piece of ?common knowledge? but it makes sense and explains a lot about the overall tone of this album. What one can say is that Simon had a way of making a song beautiful as well as sad. Both ?Still Crazy After All These Years? and ?50 Ways To Leave Your Lover? carry an undertone of depression lightly. But ?My Little Town? is so bitter and bleak that I always found it crushingly oppressive. The rest of the album carries the face of irony, which covers forlorn hopes, and a sense of one having been dealt a bad hand of cards. Even such tunes as ?I Do It For Your Love? and ?Have A Good Time? betray a fair measure of sarcasm and disappointment beneath the surface of warmth and intimacy.

In my opinion, STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS is not as brilliant as THERE GOES RHYMIN' SIMON and not quite as interesting as PAUL SIMON (his first solo album). The lesser songs are not as memorable and their verbal images are not as vivid. Frankly, PAUL SIMON IN CONCERT: LIVE RHYMIN' [LIVE] is far more absorbing and satisfying. So by all means, purchase this CD. But I would get Simon?s first three solo CDs and all the Simon and Garfunkel CDs first. In the context of these other albums, STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS stands like the little brother in the family photograph: not as tall; but you can definitely see the family resemblance.

good stuff.......2003-12-04

not as good as his self-titled solo debut, but still quite good. some very well written songs like 50 ways to leave your lover and night game and you're kind.

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