The first album to use this title is one of the most mysterious in
Paul Simon
's output and almost belongs more with
Simon & Garfunkel
's discography, given its 1965 recording date. Following the failure of
's first, all-acoustic
folk revival
-style album,
Wednesday Morning, 3 AM
,
Simon
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
'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
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
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
), and
"Kathy's Song."
The notes are very, very strange, but a bigger problem is the production by
Reginald Warburton
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
's work during the interregnum in
's career. And there is one fascinating number here,
"The Side of a Hill,"
which eventually resurfaced as the countermelody song in the
version of
"Scarborough Fair"
(a song curious by its absence here, considering that
was doing it in his coffeehouse appearances) two years later. ~ Bruce Eder