Closing out my Paul Simon Weekends is another song from the excellent So Beautiful Or So What. ‘Love and Blessings’ is the album’s penultimate track and one that crept up on me, going initially unnoticed before emerging as one of my favorites.
I was working in the yard one day, listening to the album on headphones, when a line toward the end of this song struck me: “Maple trees just a little but duller than the memory of the year before.”
I have reached my 18th and final installment of Paul Simon Weekends — four and a half months of what I consider some of the finest songwriting ever committed to tape.
It’s fitting that Simon goes out on a high note, with his latest album, So Beautiful Or So What, receiving some of the best reviews of his career. “Best since Graceland” is the popular refrain for those discussing this album, and I tend to agree, though it’s easier and less controversial to say “best since Rhythm of the Saints.”
Top Ten Songs of 2011 – #1
As much as I’d like to throw out a wild card and not echo the sentiments of countless music critics the world over, I can’t see not putting Adele’s ‘Rolling in the Deep’ at the top of this list.
I first heard this song performed live on David Letterman nearly a year ago and I knew, when she reached the first chorus, that it would be a monster hit.
Top Ten Songs of 2011 – #2
Brad Paisley’s This is Country Music is a typical Brad Paisley album. That means it features his patented blend of wry humor and heart-on-sleeve sentimentality, set to the sounds of a peerless backing band, led by Paisley’s own lead guitar heroics.
After discovering Paisley through his previous (and still career best) album, American Saturday Night, I snapped up everything in his discography and discovered that he’s one of the most consistent artists working today. You know what you’re gonna get from Brad Paisley, and it’s exactly what you want.
Top Ten Songs of 2011 – #3
As my series of Paul Simon Weekends comes close to wrapping up, I hope I’ve made a strong case for his spot atop my list of favorite songwriters. For 50 years he has led listeners on a musical journey as sublime as it is ambitious.
I hope his latest album, So Beautiful Or So What, is not his last, but if that turns out to be the case, it would be a fitting end to his career. It’s a beautiful work, one of his finest, and it touches gracefully on themes or mortality and the afterlife.
