Name: The Paul Simon Song Book
Brand: Paul Simon

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

19075835141

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "19075835141"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Discs

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2018-06-08

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Sony

Tax rate GB

UPC / Barcode

90758351414

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "90758351414"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Paul Simon

Genre GB

Classic

Label GB

Sony Music

The first album to use this title is one of the most mysterious in <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/paul-simon-mn0000031685">Paul Simon</a>'s output and almost belongs more with <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/simon-garfunkel-mn0000038936">Simon &amp; Garfunkel</a>'s discography, given its 1965 recording date. Following the failure of <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/simon-garfunkel-mn0000038936">Simon &amp; Garfunkel</a>'s first, all-acoustic folk revival-style album, <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/album/wednesday-morning-3-am-mw0000191731">Wednesday Morning, 3 AM</a>, <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/simon-mn0000031685">Simon</a>headed off to England to see about pursuing music over there. While he was in London, he found himself in demand as a visiting American "folksinger" (though <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/simon-mn0000031685">Simon</a>'s credentials in this area were rather limited), began building up a following in the coffeehouses, and was eventually pegged for a performing spot on the BBC. Suddenly, there were requests for <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/paul-simon-mn0000031685">Paul Simon</a> recordings, of which there were none -- as a result of his being signed to Columbia Records in America, however, he was brought into the London studios of British CBS and recorded this album with only his acoustic guitar for backup. The resulting album is spare, almost minimalist, as <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/simon-mn0000031685">Simon</a> runs through raw and unaffected versions of songs that he was known for in London, including "The Sounds of Silence," "The Sun Is Burning," "I Am a Rock," "A Simple Desultory Philippic" (in its earliest form, and far nastier than the version later done by <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/simon-garfunkel-mn0000038936">Simon &amp; Garfunkel</a>), and "Kathy's Song." The notes are very, very strange, but a bigger problem is the production by <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/reginald-warburton-mn0001824303">Reginald Warburton</a> and Stanley West, which isn't terribly sympathetic; the sound isn't very natural, being very close and booming, but the album is a fascinating artifact of <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/simon-mn0000031685">Simon</a>'s work during the interregnum in <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/simon-garfunkel-mn0000038936">Simon &amp; Garfunkel</a>'s career. And there is one fascinating number here, "The Side of a Hill," which eventually resurfaced as the countermelody song in the <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/simon-garfunkel-mn0000038936">Simon &amp; Garfunkel</a> version of "Scarborough Fair" (a song curious by its absence here, considering that <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/simon-mn0000031685">Simon</a> was doing it in his coffeehouse appearances) two years later. 

The Paul Simon Song Book

Music GB