"The Paul Simon Song Book" by PAUL SIMON – August 1965 UK-only Debut Solo Album (after Simon & Garfunkel) on CBS Records in Mono - Inside "The Complete Albums Collection" (October 2013 UK Sony/Legacy 14-Album/15-CD Clamshell Box Set with Mini LP Repro Slvs and Vic Anesini/Bob Irwin Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

UK-only Debut Solo Album "The Paul Simon Song Book" 

from 1965 on CBS Records in Mono

Remastered Inside "The Complete Albums Collection" Box Set from 2013 

 

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B007EG9CPM&asins=B007EG9CPM&linkId=d010be818ab6f110c87c15de970aea52&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

 

"... A Simple Desultory Philippic..."

 

In April 2015 Paul Simon had a fourth number one album in an incredible and at times choppy career – albeit with a 2CD compilation "The Ultimate Collection" that combined both Simon and Garfunkel with his Solo material for the first time (hit the coveted top spot in the UK). Still life in and fond memories for his beautiful music in all its forms. 

 

Which got in mind of this superb Box Set and his humble 1965 English beginnings for his solo career - "The Paul Simon Song Book". Classy presentation, gorgeous remastered Audio and even Previously Unreleased stuff for those who haven't bought the previous reissues - "The Complete Albums Collection" containing "The Paul Simon Song Book" has also even turned up on sale of late with a price tag that will entice (under twenty quid). 

 

Frankly what's not to love? The man's day job as intelligent generational spokesman seems in tact. Flowers never bend with the rainfall; here are the early patterns...

 

UK released October 2013 – "The Complete Albums Collection" by PAUL SIMON on Sony/Legacy 88691912922 (Barcode 886919129229) is a 14-album/15CD Clamshell Box Set with Mini LP Repro Card Sleeves and Vic Anesini Remasters. Disc 1 represents his debut album as follows:

 

CD1 "The Paul Simon Song Book" (38:48 minutes):

1. I Am A Rock [Side 1]

2. Leaves That Are Green

3. A Church Is Burning

4. April Come She Will

5. The Sound Of Silence

6. A Most Peculiar Man

7. He Was My Brother [Side 2]

8. Kathy’s Song

9. The Side Of A Hill

10. A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara’d Into Submission)

11. Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall

12. Patterns

 

BONUS TRACKS:

13. I Am A Rock – Alternate Version

14. A Church Is Burning – Alternate Version

Tracks 1 to 12 are his debut album "The Paul Simon Song Book" – released August 1965 in the UK on CBS Records BPG 62979 (Mono) and CBS SBPG 62979 (Stereo) – the album was recorded in London in June and July 1965. 

 

"The Paul Simon Song Book" was un-issued (at Simon's request) in the USA until the "Collected Works" 5LP Box Set in 1981. First official CD appearance in the USA came in 2004 – that CD using the MONO Mix as does this one. Tracks 13 and 14 are Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks that came with the 2004 CD reissue - Vic Anesini/Bob Irwin Remasters.

 

The 62-page colour booklet is beautifully laid out – full track-by-track annotation (musicians, producers, studios etc) for every album. In-between the pages of info are period black and white photos – guitar on his back for “The Paul Simon Song Book” LP, the straw hat face shot for the “Paul Simon” LP and a live photo of Simon on stage with Ladysmith Black Mambazo before the credits for “Graceland”. As fans will already know many of the early albums were remastered in the 2000s by Ted Jensen and Vic Anesini – two names high on the list of those looking for quality audiophile.

 

Produced by STEVE BERKOWITZ and BILL INGLOT, the whole box is listed as being mastering by VIC ANESINI at Sony Music Studios with input from two other giants in the field - GREG CALBI and DAN HERSCH. There are also a couple of pages at the beginning by journalist ASHLEY KAHN on Simon's long and prestigious career. A nice touch is that each CD is a picture disc (usually using the front cover artwork) and 37 Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks accompany the albums (two for the debut).

 

Recorded in June and July 1965 with only 6 and 12-string guitars, the rarely heard debut album "The Paul Simon Song Book" is a straight up Folk record (all songs written by Simon, "He Was My Brother" credited to Paul Kane which is PS under a pseudonym). The Simon & Garfunkel debut LP "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M." had arrived October 1964 in the USA but not England and their second platter "Sounds Of Silence" would not show Stateside until January 1966.

 

So what you have here is the solo album in-between and technically the first official album-length issue of Paul Simon material for fans in Blighty. The duplicated S&G tracks are - "The Sound Of Silence", "Leaves That Are Green", "Kathy's Song", "A Most Peculiar Man", "I Am A Rock", and "April Come She Will" – all of which would then get US debuts in re-worked form on the second Simon & Garfunkel album "Sounds Of Silence" issued in January 1966.

 

These solo acoustic versions of classics like "I Am A Rock" and "The Sound Of Silence" are all the more beautiful for their stripped down nature though some will save the addition of Garfunkel's vocals on the S&G takes makes them better. The remaster is seriously tasteful – the ever so slight echo on his vocals for "A Church Is Burning" like he's inside a chapel. While the impossibly pretty "April Comes She Will" sounds like some Traditional Folk song that's come from decades prior (already a classic). His wit is fabulous for "A Simple Desultory Philippic" and "...the man ain't got no culture!" lyrics always make me smile.

 

Like the Simon & Garfunkel debut album that preceded it "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M." in late 1964, Paul Simon's summer 1965 acoustic debut is something of a forgotten and abandoned luncheonette – always ignored in favour of the undoubtedly better material to come. 

 

But both have been a blast to listen to again – the simple beauty – the melodies you've forgotten or simply never heard.

 

Split the night and in the naked silence, check out "The Paul Simon Song Book" once more. Like its S&G predecessor with its blurb on the rear cover that promised newcomers exciting new sounds in the Folk Tradition - "The Paul Simon Song Book" is too lovely to leave in an underused box set...