Tag Archives: So Beautiful Or So What

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Song of the Day #1,277: ‘Love and Hard Times’ – Paul Simon

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.

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Song of the Day #1,132: ‘The Afterlife’ – Paul Simon

I’ve already posted my review of Paul Simon’s So Beautiful Or So What. The album jumped right to #1 on my list of the year’s albums and has remained there ever since.

Revisiting it four months later, I wouldn’t change a word of that review. In fact, this album has grown even richer over time. A couple of tracks that I hadn’t fully grasped during my first listens have settled in and become familiar.

Musically and lyrically, this is one of Simon’s most assured works and an amazing achievement this late in his storied career.

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Paul Simon – So Beautiful Or So What

I’ve reviewed two albums in the past week by artists on the other side of 50, ancient by rock-and-roll standards. One was Lucinda Williams’ Blessed and the other was R.E.M.’s Collapse Into Now. Both represent the best work those performers have released in years.

And now I have the privilege of reviewing the latest release of another elder statesman, Paul Simon, who is less than a year away from his 70th birthday. To mark the occasion, his new album So Beautiful Or So What is receiving some of the best reviews of his career.

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