Art Garfunkel, one half of one of the most important folk/rock duos in Rock history in Simon and Garfunkel, has enjoyed quite a lifetime of creating special music. His is the iconic voice of one of the world’s most beloved song, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, which, coincidentally opens this 2CD/34-track retrospective of Art Garfunkel’s storied career, which includes his solo efforts. Unfortunately for fans, Simon & Garfunkel as a recording duo was quite short-lived. But their output was, and still is, powerfully enmeshed in the fabric of our musical souls.
The material found here are hand-picked by Art signifying what he believes to be his best representative works. On this set, there are more than a few Simon & Garfunkel treats that include the aforementioned gem, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, as well as “For Emilly, Wherever I May Find Her”, “Scarborough Fair/Canticle”, “Kathy’s Song”, “The Sound of Silence”, “So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright”, “My Little Town”, and “April Come She Will”.
The rest of the hand-picked compilation represents tracks from Art Garfunkel’s solo career, including important songs like “All I Know”, “(What A) Wonderful World”, “Breakaway”, “Disney Girls”, and more classic Garfunkel beauties that make up his ten solo works dating from the underrepresented Angel Clare (1973) through his standards-laden Some Enchanted Evening (2007). But Watermark (1978), and Breakaway (1978) demand the most time with seven songs between them. In addition to the various album represented songs, there are two previously unreleased tracks here (“Long Way Home”, “Lena”).
Let me say at this point that that the Vic Anesini mastering of these songs sound unbelievable. It’s magnificent to hear how great these tracks sound but the beautiful replay of the Simon and Garfunkel tracks including the revealing playback of “The Sounds of Silence” is truly enough to warrant pickup of The Singer. But to have so many great Garfunkel songs in one place makes The Singer a wonderful world unto itself.
The booklet is a rich addition with 28 pages of photos, poetic track commentary, a two-page write-up of Art Garfunkel by Victor Bockris, and complete credits and listing of each song.
With a career as rich as Art Garfunkel’s, it’s no surprise to see this collection of tunes based on the artist’s preferences in reviewing his past musical history. This reasonably priced 2CD, 34-track Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings production does quite an admirable job of it. And for this, we fans are grateful.
Release Date: August 28, 2012
–Matt Rowe
This would have been more rewarding as an SA-CD or DVD-Audio release.