One of rock and folk music’s iconic singer/songwriters, Paul Simon has released a delicious concoction of blues, gospel and bluegrass inspired tunes on his latest album ‘So Beautiful or So What‘ (Hear Music). This is his first album since the wonderful but under-appreciated ‘Surprise‘ in 2006, and his twelfth solo recording.
It’s almost hard to fathom that Paul Simon will turn seventy years old this year; his voice sounds every bit as good as it did thirty years ago. The music here sounds fresh and contemporary, but unmistakably Simonesque. Once referred to as ‘the Apostle of Angst’, Simon’s music has often been considerably brighter and more optimistic than his musical peer, Bob Dylan, who is also pushing seventy, and who shares Simon’s penchant for deliberately obscure lyrics.
In ‘So Beautiful Or So What’, co-produced by Phil Ramone, Simon seems on an evangelical mission. Many of the tracks sound like 1930’s Bible Belt staples re-imagined for the 21st century. They are designed to shake all the sinners from the trees, brush them off, and show them the light — or at least share their angst.
The opening tune, ‘Getting Ready for Christmas Day‘, was inspired by a 1941 sermon by the Rev. J.M. Gates (which is sampled on the track). The music and tone are uplifting, but the lyrics make the yearning for Christmas Day sound like a call to Judgement Day. Simon sings of the working man and having a nephew in Iraq who “With the luck of a beginner he’ll be eating turkey dinner / On some mountain top in Pakistan.” Gates’ voice invokes the song title several times with fervour, but warns that “the undertaker, he’s getting ready for your body. Not only that, the jailer, he’s getting ready for you.” Christmas is a cause for celebration, but also uncertainty. As Gates intones: “I may be layin’ in some lonesome grave, getting ready, for Christmas Day.”
‘The Afterlife‘ is more whimsical, but no less serious. The storyteller wakes up dead and waits to be ushered into heaven. Not so fast. “You got to fill out a form first / And then you wait in the line,” he is told. These are the rules for everyone, even Buddha and Moses. “Well, it seems like our fate / To suffer and wait for the knowledge we seek.” After climbing the “ladder of time,” he hears a voice. “Lord, is it Be Bop a Lula? Or ooh Papa Doo?” Can heaven be as simple as this?
‘Dazzling Blue‘ contains a warm guitar lead that Simon weaves like a web around the Indian and African-influenced percussion. “Truth or lie, the silence is revealing,” begins the song about accidents and destiny and giving in to the flow of life.
Simon’s graceful harmonies are showcased on ‘Love and Hard Times‘ and ‘Questions for the Angels‘. These songs have the quiet intensity of the 1983 masterpiece ‘Hearts and Bones‘.
‘Love and Blessings‘ is brimming with Simon’s vibrant abstract imagery. “If the summer kept a secret / It was heaven’s lack of rain.” The song features a sample from 1938 by the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet, the famed African-American gospel group.
‘So Beautiful or So What‘, the concluding track, has an unrelenting energy that resonates. “Ain’t it strange the way we’re ignorant / How we seek out bad advice,” Simon muses as he infuses images of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination into his gripping lament. The seeming insignificance of being is explored. “I’m just a raindrop in a bucket / A coin dropped in a slot.” In summation, “You know life is what you make of it / So beautiful or so what.” It’s all a matter of perspective and attitude.
This album’s style and texture may draw comparisons to ‘Graceland‘ and ‘The Rhythm of the Saints‘ for the diversity of the instruments employed. Special mention must go to Steve Shehan, applying in various inspired measures the angklung, crotale, djembe, glass harp and talking drum, among other Eastern influenced percussion. Stand-out guitar playing by Vincent Nguini and Jim Oblon is also worthy of applause.
At 38:15, ‘So Beautiful or So What’ is compact, concentrated, and as flavourful as a delicious gumbo that you can’t get enough of. Impressive, lyrically sublime, and as fragile as glass in some instances, Paul Simon’s new music is, as always, cause for rejoice.
(Donald Gavron)
