Paul Simon - Stranger to Stranger

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A fine album from Paul Simon

I'm pleased to say that this is a very good album; it's varied, unexpected in places and contains some very good tracks.

Paul Simon has always been a very fine musician who has developed and experimented throughout his career.  He once, for example, set himself the challenge of using every note of the chromatic scale in a single song: the result was Still Crazy After All These Years, which is a magnificently beautiful song and a true classic.  Not all his challenges have been met so successfully and I'm not sure that there's anything of quite that stature here, but this is a fine album nonetheless.

Simon incorporates all sorts of styles including rap, jazz and many others.  Several tracks are very rhythm-driven (like Wristband and The Werewolf), but beautiful melodies are still in evidence in the title track and Proof Of Love, which I think is a truly lovely song.  The album is very varied in instrumentation, feel and style and I'm delighted to see Simon still stretching the boundaries in his seventies – but this is still recognisably a Paul Simon album and collection of really good songs.  His voice is still in good shape and he's a real master at putting a song across.

Simon's lyrics have always been outstandingly good, and they are as sharp as ever here.  There is a good deal of rage against social injustice as well as profound expressions of personal emotion.  Take this, from the Werewolf, for example:

"The fact is most obits are mixed reviews
Life is a lottery, a lot of people lose
And the winners, the grinners with money-coloured eyes
Eat all the nuggets, then they order extra fries

…

Ignorance and arrogance, a national debate
Put the fight in Vegas, that's a billion dollar gate
Revenues, pay per views, it should be pretty healthy
The usual deductions, and it all goes to the wealthy…"

Strong stuff – and it's good to see that real social bite still remains in at least one veteran songwriter.

I've loved Paul Simon's music since Kathy's Song was among the first songs I learned to play and sing, almost half a century ago.  He hasn't always hit the spot with every album, but this is a really good one and I like it a lot.  I don't know whether everyone will agree – I have always thought Hearts and Bones was quite brilliant, but it wasn't one of Simon's biggest hit albums, for example – but I think there's real quality here, and I would recommend it warmly.

[By the way, the Deluxe Version contains "bonus material" which is actually well worth having, including a fine live rendition of Duncan and the excellent title track  from Dion's (also good) recent album New York Is My Home, which Dion and Simon sang together.  It's not always worth getting the Deluxe Version of albums, but I'd recommend this one.]