paul simon

25 Years of Paul Simon’s Graceland

Graceland sounds fresh today and is finding new fans among listeners born in the years after its release. A re-mastered version will be available in late October and it was just announced that Simon is planning on touring the record in 2012, while reuniting with the musicians who played with him 25 years ago, including South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Read More

Paul Simon Welcomes David Byrne to Stage @ Joyous Webster Hall Performance

Paul Simon @ Webster Hall, June 6

Queens native Paul Simon played his first hometown “club gig” in quite some time last night at Manhattan’s Webster Hall and by the time his two hour-plus set was through, he had given the intimate crowd a taste of each period of his illustrious career as well as a guest spot from David Byrne that will be remembered as a highlight of 2011 for many in attendance.


Simon has never been one to just play the hits, but the soon-to-be 70-year-old performer also knows his crowd and doesn’t shy away from mixing in plenty of material from Graceland, his debut album and a few choice Simon & Garfunkel nuggets. Paul’s eight-piece band showed off their talent from the get go with an energetic take on Boy In The Bubble that would’ve got the crowd on the jammed-packed floor moving if it wasn’t “butts to nuts” down there. Webster Hall was packed to the gills for this Brooklyn Vegan-sponsored show.

Last month Simon released So Beautiful or So What, his first studio album since 2006 and in my mind his best effort since 1990’s Rhythm of the Saints. Paul offered just a handful of tunes from So Beautiful or So What scattered amongst the rest of the set in a way that never allowed a lull to develop. The playful Rewrite allowed Simon’s band of utility players to work their multi-instrumentalist magic on the many details found within the song. Nearly every member of the group filled multiple roles giving Simon so much flexibility in his live arrangements.

READ ON for more from last night’s Paul Simon show…

Read More

Paul Simon: D.A.R. Constitution Hall, Washington DC 5/25/11

Just days before masses of people descended on the District of Columbia for Memorial Day, Paul Simon paid a visit to D.A.R. Constitution Hall, one of the city’s most patriotic venues.  Whatever political subject may have been on the 69-year-old legend’s mind, he kept banter to a bare minimum, quipping only that he recalled “playing here with Artie in the 60’s.

Read More

The B List: 10 Amazing Parent/Child Songs

In honor of the period we’ll call “Parent’s Month” that falls between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, this week’s B List looks at ten amazing songs written from the perspective of a parent to their child along with a few from the opposite perspective. I’ll include a lyrical gut punch from each.


1. Beautiful Boy – John Lennon

For one of the tracks on John Lennon’s “comeback” album from 1980, Double Fantasy, the former Beatle wrote this song about his son Sean. I struggle to make it through this song sometimes thinking about how much love John had for his son and what a terrible tragedy it was when Lennon was gunned down later that year robbing the five-year-old boy of his father.

“Close your eyes, have no fear, the monster’s gone. He’s on the run and your daddy’s here”

2. Father and Daughter – Paul Simon

Originally released in 2002 as part of the soundtrack for the Wild Thornberrys flick, Paul Simon penned this ode to fatherhood which also appeared – in a different form – on his 2006 LP Surprise. Paul takes the POV of a father whose love for his daughter can never be measured.

“As long as one and one is two / There could never be a father / Who loved his daughter more than I love you”

READ ON for eight more amazing parent/child songs…

Read More

Video: Paul Simon – Boy In The Bubble

Mixing intimate venues with larger theaters, Paul Simon’s tour in support of So Beautiful or So What has gotten off to a good start according to the mostly glowing reviews

Read More

Cover Wars March Madness: Sweet 16

Cover Wars March Madness rolls on. We’ve had our play-in round and our first full round of 32 covers and we’re left with our Sweet 16. We are in our third year of this tournament and we have just now done the obvious, we have generated an actual bracket so you can visualize how this is all going to go down. Have a look and be sure to vote in all eight matchups.

Matchup #1

Ramble On (Led Zeppelin)

Phish debuted this cover at Alpine Valley in the Summer of 1998. As most Phish fans know, there has been one other performance ever and it was the following week at Vernon Downs where the band paired Ramble On with their own Slave To The Traffic Light to close the first set. There are some killer Ramble On Teases in the Slave jam. Source: 8-1-1998

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/phramble.mp3]

UPDATE: The text in all the descriptions for Cover Wars March Madness are taken from the original editions which at times – are out of date. As one of our readers pointed out in the previous round – Phish has since performed one more partial performance of Ramble On, and yes – it was pretty terrible.

VS.

Wilco – Thirteen (Big Star)

Wilco recorded this cover for the 2006 Big Star covers record Big Star Small World. Though never played live by Wilco, the song has made at least 11 appearances at Jeff Tweedy solo shows.

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/wilco13.mp3]

READ ON to vote on the remaining seven matchups in the Sweet 16.

Read More

View posts by year

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter