‘Bookends’ by Simon & Garfunkel

By the time ‘Bookends’ was released, Simon and Garfunkel were well established and successful. Presumably, this success is what led them to experiment with their formula a little more than they had previously done. Some of ‘Bookends’ follows the classic Simon and Garfunkel formula, other parts are more surprising.

‘America’, ‘A Hazy Shade of Winter’ and ‘Mrs Robinson’ are traditional stuff – largely acoustic, sung in gorgeous harmony, and immediately catchy. Alongside these tracks, however, you get ‘Voices of Old People’, which is what the title suggests, ‘Old Friends’, which is sung over a simple swooping line of strings, and the remarkable ‘Save The Life Of My Child’ which is strangely a discordant track full of synthesizer, as though Simon and Garfunkel are deliberately subverting the very things that make them appealing.

Ultimately, it has to be said, the more experimental tracks aren’t as successful as the usual stuff – a shame, because it’s always interesting to hear musicians try new things. Having said that, it’s all pretty good, and the best tracks are very god indeed. It would be overshadowed by their next, and last album, but it’s well worth a listen.