Paul Simon could fill an entire concert with just his solo work from the 70s, let alone another with renditions from his time part of the duo with Art Garfunkel. This doesn’t even get into his work from Graceland onwards. now we get Paul Simon: Live In New York City, recorded at a very intimate venue, Webster Hall. How intimate? His band (admittedly large) barely fits on the stage – nobody has any room to move. Of the 8 additional musician on the stage, only 2 aren’t multi-instrumentalists. Even the drummer picks up a guitar at one point.
Why would Paul Simon choose to do a concert in a venue that holds only a few thousand people with a stage barely large enough to contain his band? The result is this live album and concert video – smaller venues are easier to control the sound for live recordings, especially when there is a lot going on musically.
And there is a lot going on here. Besides the drummer there are two percussionists, a horn section and more. While Paul Simon has never been a strong singer, he does write to his strengths, and at 70 years old, he still sounds as good as he pretty much ever has (actually better than a few years ago). Of course his band sounds tight with nary a note out of place.
The set list, as evidenced by a shot at the beginning runs like this:
Boy In The Bubble
Dazzling Blue
50 Ways
So Beautiful Or So What
Vietnam/Mother & Child Reunion
Zydeco
Hearts & Bones
Mystery Train/Wheels
Slip Slidin
Rewrite
Peace Like A River
Obvious Child
Only Living Boy
Afterlife
Diamonds
Gumboots
——-
S.O.S.
Kodachrome/Gone At Last
Here Comes The Sun
Crazy Love
——
Still Crazy
Late In The Evening
(25 songs)
Here’s the set list as it is presented on the DVD and companion CDs
The Obvious Child
Dazzling Blue
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover
So Beautiful Or So What
Mother And Child Reunion
That Was Your Mother
Hearts And Bones
Crazy Love Vol II
Slip Slidin’ Away
Rewrite
The Boy In The Bubble
The Only Living Boy In New York
The Afterlife
Diamonds On The Soles Of her Shoes
Gumboots
——-
The Sound Of Silence
Kodachrome
Gone At Last
Late In The Evening
Still Crazy After All These Years
(20 songs)
Setting aside the issues of rearranging the concert order for the DVD (a practice I simply will never understand or condone) let’s look at what is left out (Zydeco proves to be That Was Your Mother):
Vietnam (unknown)
Mystery Train/Wheels (cover songs)
Peace Like A River (gospel song)
Here Comes The Sun (cover)
I can understand why the cover songs were left off the final product (licensing fees I assume), but why does Paul Simon feel the need to pad out his set with this many covers? Was the harmonica on Simon’s microphone stand used for one of the songs that didn’t make it to the DVD?
A few of the songs get some subtle reworkings. Slip Slidin’ Away gets a slower tempo (that makes the song even better) and The Boy In The Bubble retains the zydeco feel while incorporating more rocking tones. Interestingly, the only Simon & Garfunkel songs in the set are The Only Living Boy In New York and The Sound Of Silence (which takes on an interesting conversational tone in his rendition). And the intro to Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes almost takes on a Doo-Wop feel.
Many of the songs come from his most recent release, naturally. The thing is, the songs from So Beautiful Or So What fit in very naturally with all of his older material. The other two albums that are featured heavily in the set are Graceland (5 songs) and Still Crazy After All These Years (3 songs if you count Slip Slidin’ Away released as a single only at this time). This isn’t a full career retrospective, but an interesting concert by a master songwriter.
I really like the fact this release comes as both a DVD and CD with the same content in both formats. It’s disappointing the full concert, as performed, isn’t presented, but fans of Paul Simon will do well to check this out. It is almost lamentable the songs that aren’t included (Father And Daughter, Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard, Something So Right, You’re The One, etc.) but as with anything of this nature there will be no way to appease all the fans – unless the concert is 3 hours, and even then there are bound to be exclusions. The bottom line is this may not be the definitive live performance, but it is still a very worthy addition to any Paul Simon’s fan collection.
A note about the packaging. This 2CD/1DVD combo pack comes in a trifold cardboard case. The discs are housed in pockets that you need to physically grab and slide in and out. eventually they will get scratched this way.