JohnC
May-25-2006, 21:18 GMT
IP:
United Kingdom
 | Paul Simon, Surprise
Drumīnībass, sonic soundscapes - thatīs not what Neil Spencer expected from the stalwart. Surprise! Brian Eno was involved
Sunday May 21, 2006
The Observer
You can get an idea of how Paul Simonīs tenth solo album might have sounded without Brian Enoīs input by listening to the closing īFather and Daughterī. Written for 2002īs The Wild Thornberrys Movie, with a rippling African guitar reminiscent of Graceland, itīs a paean to fatherhood thatīs straightforward, pretty, polite.
The rest of Surprise is often melodic, but rarely polite and never straightforward. How much Eno, the arch-catalyst, is responsible for the elliptical quality of its songs is anyoneīs guess - he is credited for īsonic landscapeī rather than as producer - but the provocative, liberating influence the domed one has previously brought to bear on Bowie, Talking Heads and U2 (among others) is all over Surprise
Heaven knows Simon needed provocation. Since the peak of 1990īs Rhythm Of The Saints he has been ploughing barren ground. The debacle of his cherished 1997 Broadway musical The Capeman - critically mauled and commercially busted - seemed to leave him spent, and was little redeemed by 2000īs mild-mannered Youīre The One. Surprise, then, lives up to its title, setting Simonīs familiar, unassuming vocals, still note-perfect and without a rough edge in earshot, to inventive backings that shift between ambient electronica, hip-thrusting rock and shimmering, multi-tracked guitars, all sometimes in the course of a single song. Ever thought youīd hear rhyminī Simon with a drumīnībass backdrop? Here he comes, promising that if he īever gets back to the 20th centuryī, heīll īpay off some debts, open the book of my vanishing memory with its catalogue of regretsī. Here he is registering to vote, īfeeling like a foolī, to a Bo Diddley beat, and speculating whether īthe heart can be filled to the brimī to a sinuous synth setting straight from Eno numbers like īDeep Blue Dayī.
Itīs a bravura performance on both menīs part. Simon has dug deep into his resources for a set of songs that are self-searching and droll, reflecting on mortality, religious faith and human compassion. Families and children - Simon has five by three wives - provide a central strand. Thereīs a couple adopting a brood of kitchen lackeys on īBeautifulī, kids laughing īwithout a whisper of careī and mothers asking for help on īWartime Prayersī, clearly inspired by 9/11, with īpeople longing for the voice of God hear lunatics and liarsī. Simon offers no easy answers to the questions sprayed out in his memorable lines, alternating dreamy idylls with grumpy dissatisfaction while Enoīs production ebbs and flows like a digitalised Greek chorus. A thrilling return to form.
Download: īWartime Prayersī
|