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jefferson street
Oct-07-2004, 19:43 GMT
IP:
USA - United Staates America

its good to be back. our wedding was incredible and the honeymoon was amazing (we went to hawaii). thanks again for congratulating us!

okay, here is the album that so many of you have been waiting for, im sure. Graceland. pauls most successful solo record.

personally, this album is one of my least favorites. there are some really great songs, but the production really distracts me and seems to get in the way. Boy in the Bubble, Graceland and You Can Call Me Al are all songs that i extremely Love (especially Grace and Al), but the rest of the album is just a little too out there for me. it seems like there is an aweful lot of high end in the mix and that makes the production sound really thin and weak to me.

i am looking forward to hearing why people love this album so much, ive never understood it. i also dont know too much about the background of this album accept for that it was done in africa using african artists.

thanks again.


Track Listing for Graceland:

The Boy In The Bubble
Graceland
I Know What I Know
Gumboots
Diamonds on the Soles of here Shoes
You can call me Al
Under African Skies
Homeless
Crazy Love, Vol. II
That Was Your Mother
All Around The World or the Myth of my Fingerprints

Thomas
Oct-07-2004, 20:44 GMT
IP:
Netherlands

Well, I think it´s a great album, but that´s not the most interesting thing to say about this album. The thing is that my least favourite Paul Simon song is on it; That Was Your Mother. I thinl it´s a weak song (my opinion). Anyone else has this opinion too?

Matthew
Oct-07-2004, 21:11 GMT
IP:
United Kingdom

Quite simply the best album of all time. I sat, as a 2 year Old, in the back of my parent´s car singing these songs instead of nursery rhymes.

Now, 18 years later, I am still singing these songs as if they were written today.

The Boy In The Bubble is my favourite song, ever. Don´t ask me why but even when I have seen PS live, the accordion opening and drums and the build up make this such a special song before you even consider the lyrics!

Søren
Oct-07-2004, 21:22 GMT
IP:
Denmark

Well, this is not my favourite Simon album either, Jefferson. For some reason this and ROTS are the Simon albums I most rarely put on.
That being said, I still say I Love it!
"Bubble" and "Al" are exceptional songs, and I have always liked the more curious ones like "I Know What I Know" and "Crazy Love...". To top it all is of course the title track. "Graceland" is one of my all time favourite Simon songs, and I will not hessitate to put in the "Best Songs Ever Written" top 5!

I do certainly NOT agree that "That Was Your Mother" is a weak song, Thomas. I like it a lot, and the live performance of it on the YTO DVD is spectacular! If anything from this album should be considered "weak" I would say "Homeless" and "Gumboots" (but hey, that´s only compared to the masterpieces mentioned above - relative to the crap that was 99% percent of the music made in the 80´s (and at all other times for that matter) those songs are pure genious!).

Well, I have not participated much in this run through of Pauls albums. However, after writing this "little" message, I have come to think of my rating of the albums. Since it is actually impossible to actually compare all these great albums (the jewel of my cd-collection) I have chosen to completely base it on how often I take the cd out and play it.

So here it is: My airplay chart of Paul Simons solo albums after S&G:

1. Hearts And Bones
2. TGRS
3. Paul Simon
4. OTP
5. Capeman
6. Still Crazy...
7. YTO
8. Graceland
9. ROTS

Well, if anybody made it till here, I´m impressed! :) - and would of course welcome any comments.

Lekornee
Oct-07-2004, 23:34 GMT
IP:
USA - United Staates America

I´m glad you had a great wedding and honeymoon!

Yay! This is a great album. Even though I don´t know if I would call it my "favorite" (some of them are so close it´s hard to tell what´s a favorite or not, and I tend to like individual songs more than the culmination in an album) but I rarely tire of the majority of the songs.

Boy in the Bubble has a cool tempo and rhythm thing going and some of the lyrics are nice, but, while I agree somewhat with the message, I don´t agree with the way it´s being conveyed.

Graceland is gorgeous. Not as beautifully profound in music or lyrics as some of Paul´s other songs, but still very emotionally provocative.

At first I didn´t like I Know What I Know because the chorus had a weird same-frequency thing going with the English and Zulu (I believe) lyrics, but it´s actually kind of cool. Not a song to be taken seriously but fun.

Gumboots is another interesting song. Not one I would play over and over again but the lyrics are cool. It´s very experimental. Maybe not for African artists but definitely for American artists.

Diamonds is a good song. I like the lyrics and the music. I like how it combines African and American styles.

You Can Call Me Al has really great lyrics and a very interesting and fun tempo. I like the message in it but again it´s not a song I could play over and over.

Under African Skies is a good song with a nice message.

Homeless - I understand it. Sort of. It seems a little demeaning to the African singers and their society even though I know it´s probably meant to poke at American society. This is probably my least favorite track on the album simply because it´s just too long and goes on forever.

Crazy Love, Vol. II is my favorite song on the album. I realize it´s probably an odd choice for a favorite, but I LOVE this song. I like its arc and I like the rhythm and tempo. This song is pretty ´80s sounding to me, actually. I just think it´s a good story and the instrumental use is good too.

That Was Your Mother is cute but it´s definitely not a very profound or relevent song. Oh well, it´s fun, but it´s definitely not a favorite of mine.

All Around The World has a good message, I just don´t really like the rhythm that much. I totally get what he´s talking about in the song. There may have been a less ambiguous way of saying it but I think it´s saying we´re really all the same so why do we fight and shun people from our society and stuff like that.

This is a great album overall! I can´t pinpoint exactly why but I just think all the songs stand out from each other and they all have interesting messages, and they don´t clash with each other either. As usual Paul is mostly singing about relationships and Love but he finds interesting and different ways of doing so in each song.

BingFrisby
Oct-08-2004, 17:54 GMT
IP:
United Kingdom

I have still not completely got into the "Graceland" album......but then it´s still early doors!!18 years is too soon to have an opinion...

Turkey
Oct-08-2004, 18:46 GMT
IP:
United Kingdom

fantasitc, but u knew i was going to say that anyway..........

Travis
Oct-12-2004, 23:23 GMT
IP:
USA - United Staates America

This album is towards the bottom of my list of favorite Paul Simon solo albums I still really enjoy listening to it. I think that Gumboots is an awesome song an very under rated. I think Homeless is a little weak but still enjoyable and few songs in the 80´s are better than Graceland.

Scaaty
Oct-13-2004, 20:00 GMT
IP:
Ireland

Congrats on wedding, hope the missus enjoyed dancing with her dad to Father and daughter.
when Graceland came I thought it was amazing - so did everyone else so nothing special there!! Then I went to the concert and it was amazing LBM were fantastic esp for DOTSOHS. After this concert I became a total certified PS looney. I went to the Graceland concert with a couple of people who kept moaning when are they going to sing S&G songs. After that I went to PS concerts on my own. I was married for 13 years before I allowed my husband to come to a PS concert with me!!
while i Love You Can Call Me Al for dancing the African based songs are my favourite particularly Under African Skies & Homeless. I have since got a some LBM albums. Crazy love Song is also a favourite. TWYM & Over the mountain are very interesting songs.
While I still like Graceland its dropped down my list more from over exposure than anything else.

Elin
Oct-14-2004, 09:06 GMT
IP:
Sweden

I´m beginning to feel slightly overexposed to this album, so I think I shall put it away for a while, but it has, and still does, top my list.
Gumboots is horribly under-rated, yes; I´ll admit that I Love it. Homeless and Under African Skies, along with Diamonds are songs I never tire of hearing, while the others have become a little worn out. I Know What I Know is just golden.. ^^

Marco
Oct-14-2004, 17:50 GMT
IP:
Italy

The Teacher is a great song but I don´t like it.I don´t know why.It doens´t sound good in my ears.

Turkey
Oct-14-2004, 18:08 GMT
IP:
United Kingdom

GREAT

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