Paul Simon's second studio album Paul Simon was released in 1972. (Little slightly-unrelated history lesson: His first studio album, The Paul Simon Songbook, was only released in the UK in 1965 after Simon & Garfunkel's 1964 debut failed to have any commercial success. However, Tom Wilson, the famed music producer who helped Dylan go electric on Bringing It All Back Home and "Like a Rolling Stone," overdubbed a folk-rock backing to "The Sound of Silence" and it went to number one in the US in 1966. Simon and Garfunkel were not aware that Wilson had done this but, once it charted, the duo reunited and began to record together again. Most of songs on Simon's solo debut were rerecorded and released by Simon & Garfunkel.) The 1972 release was Simon's first album after Simon & Garfunkel broke up. Many of the lyrics were directly inspired by the difficulties he faced in his first marriage. It was a commercial and critical success and has since gone on to be considered one of the greatest albums of all time as well as one of his best solo releases.
There are a number reasons why leaving Garfunkel has liberated Simon--he can explore different genres and his melodies and the songwriter is no longer restrained by harmonies--but perhaps the most important one is that he's mostly writing in the first person, leading to incredibly beautiful, moving, and personal lyrics like "Duncan," "Run that Body Down," and "Paranoid Blues." And "Peace Like a River"! I can't remember the last time lyrics and music has wed so well on an album. The choice of session musicians is no less impressive than Simon's nimble singing and nothing gets me dancing my dorm quite like "Hobo's Blues" with Grappelli's violin. Inspirational couplet: "Couple in the next room are bound to win a prize/They've been going at it all night long." A [Later: A+]
