Simon & Garfunkel

Vinyl Discography:

Biography:

As a high school student, Paul Simon performed with his classmate Art Garfunkel under the name Tom & Jerry. In 1957, they even made it into the Top 50 with Hey Schoolgirl, only to find out shortly afterwards that the music world was tough: within a year, the duo was forgotten. After this failure, Paul went to university, where he came into contact with the folk of Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. He wrote a new repertoire in that style and even performed a few times with his old buddy. But in the fancy restaurant where they performed, no one had any ears for their new, critical songs. When the recently graduated Simon was given the opportunity to go to Europe, he grabbed it with both hands. So he was very surprised when he found an invitation for an audition at CBS upon his return.

A few months later, in October 1964, Simon & Garfunkel's debut Wednesday Morning 3 AM was in the shops. A decent folk record like many others that were released in those months. The record flopped and Simon left for London again, where he had friends who arranged performances for him and even a contract for a solo record. In the meantime, CBS was doing well with Dylan's new album, on which he had a guitar band backing him. An active label manager went through the catalogue and came across The Sound Of Silence, from the flopped Simon & Garfunkel album. He had an accompaniment played under it and released the record. While Simon was still wandering around Europe, the song rose to number one in the American charts. When he heard the new version for the first time, his stomach turned. But he eventually got used to it and agreed to have a number of songs from his acoustic solo record and the old S&G album also provided with accompaniment for an album that would of course be called The Sound Of Silence.

The successful act Simon & Garfunkel was born. With their sweet voices and melodious songs, the duo reached a large audience: people who liked pop music but found beat music too hard and folk too political. They scored big hits with Homeward Bound, I Am A Rock, Scarborough Fair and Mrs. Robinson. The artistic suit also started to fit better. The albums Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme and Bookends were fine records, with various album tracks that took on a life of their own, such as The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy), For Emily Whenever I Find Her and A Hazy Shade Of Winter. The success resulted in one of the most successful albums in pop music, Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970). Within no time, the title track was number 1 all over the world. After that, it was as if the jackpot had been paid: The Boxer, Cecilia and El Condor Pasa also became big hits and the album, of which every track still sounds like a classic, sold no less than 38 million copies.

The rift between Simon & Garfunkel, however, proved impossible to heal. Paul Simon: 'It was mainly the touring that I started to dislike more and more. We had a special type of groupies: girls who didn't want to sleep with us, but wanted to read us their poems. I wasn't the type to just drag a girl like that into my bedroom. But I didn't feel like listening to all those poems either.' Rumors about possible reunions of Simon & Garfunkel were rife. In 1975, the worst of the cold seemed to be gone when they recorded the single My Little Town together. In 1981, they performed together for the first time again, in Central Park in New York. The event attracted half a million visitors and a tour followed. The live album The Concert In Central Park became as classic as the studio albums and is rightly included in this overview box. The six discs in The Collection are identical to the 2001 reissues, provided with a number of bonus tracks and remastered. They have toured together since then. They wisely have not planned a new studio album. The oeuvre of Simon & Garfunkel is finished.