ver the past maintained and commer exception 0 Garfunkel ( of), his care spinning. Si

anthologize

1964-1993, now seems as good a time as any to er’s work.

Simon’s Simon and Garfunkel w sugariness, and is now mainly value Definitive Simon and Garfunkel (5) albums; Definitive, which includes a then some, is preferable. Only a few match up to Simon’s solo work, nota’ ‘*Mrs. Robinson,’’ ‘‘El Condora Pa experimentation with exotic instrum Over Troubled Waters,’’ with its ov much of the time S & G were too sil (Feelin’ Groovy),’’ ‘‘I am a Rock’’) epics like ‘‘America’’ and ‘‘The Bo: like ‘‘Bridge.’’ Simon’s singing was point; his r&b roots had yet to be he.

The experimentation of ‘‘El Con stage for Simon’s 1972 self-titled so tropical sounds to songs like ‘‘Me Schoolyard,’’ ‘‘Mother and Child R album is his sparest, least cute and s' natural production than S & G’s som overdubbed wall of sound. There Go other hand, with its strong gospel, bl is intensely American. Simon’s prop trifles became apparent here with so. “‘Was a Sunny Day”’ or very nearly Crazy After All These Years (5). Des: classics due to the strength of Simon memorable singles: “‘Kodachrome,’ Lover’’ and ‘‘Loves Me Like a Rock Still Crazy are highly crafted but nev: towering highs easily carry you thro

One-Trick Pony (3), the soundtra mellow and bland, but it did have *‘ the Evening’’ and ‘‘Ace in the Hole.’’ A slight improvement wa s Hearts and Bones (4), though it remains Simon’s least commercially successful effort, probably only because it lacks a hit single to hook it. Simon experi-

ia. Nonetheless, The its tial

weight filler. 980 film, was

Simon in [hree

Easy Steps The legendary songwriter releases a new boxed set by Kirby Fenguson

"Everly Brothers-

~ early solo material.

asn’t since the late days of Simon tely detailed and the delicate title the album has an eighties-style, , Hearts and Bones, unlike Still thout the extremes of distinctly

d Simon to the top of the charts use of his use of South African

was off-limits to Western perform- consistent ever but rather overrated: ns are a source of endless aggrava- and artificiality to it, belying the songs are phenomenal. Simon’s thm of the Saints (4) jettisons the ling Brazilian percussion. Nowhere Graceland, the melodies do

| Simon might have amalgamated two He does have a tendency to degener- t Pony, and while the rhythms are

ert melodicism, Simon’s real Obvious Child,’’ ‘‘Proof’’ and essibility, though.

w album every four or five years,

s are fairly frequent. The latest is -1993 (5), which covers the

mon and Garfunkel single right up

hronological order, Disc One starts k by Simon, ‘‘Leaves That Are mon and Garfunkel stuff. Only

our essentials are here. The demo of io version seem all the more

a Tom and Jerry single, the very girl,’’ recorded by Simon and

ictly a curio. The rest of the disc is

nscendent.°

Garfunkel at the age «

73 to ’82. The live version of ‘‘Still th its impassioned sax solo, may ongs could be more fetchingly

like ‘Have a Good Time,”’ proaches What it Yearns’’ lead into ‘ays,”’ “‘Slip Slidin’ Away”’ and ‘‘Late

Disc Two covers from Crazy After All These Ye actually surpass the origina ordered: bland, rather dat **Jonah’’ and ‘* How th the melodic overloa in the Evening.”’ Evidently $i ide in his recent music: Disc Three trictly bums, plus an understated, plaintive

ver: ilence’’ and the lone new song,

ack, more of a groove than a song. ‘might’ve helped it flow a little better. material is segregated when perhaps oyant Graceland tracks with the more i ones might have produced something greater

on with a box is always, ‘‘Is all the good stuff utput is quite small so it would be hard to miss; k Pony and Hearts and Bones, the bulk of the her five solo albums is covered. Certainly a big Trick Pony’s ‘‘Ace in the Hole.’’ The gospel Over Troubled Waters’’ from Live Rhymin’ might dition too, though there are already two versions might have ‘‘Stranded in a Limousine,”’ a track reatest Hits Etc. which is unavailable on CD. The fawning but informative.

1964-1993 is pricey, up around a hundred bucks, but if ing the entire Simon catalogue, doing it in this one