JohnC
Jun-03-2006, 09:16 GMT
IP:
United Kingdom
 | Paul Simon
Surprise
Warners, £12.99
The jagged, feedback-laden opening guitar line feels like a statement of intent. Paul Simon may have made his name with the softest of folk-rock, but there´s a terseness to his first album in six years that suggests the 64-year-Old singer-songwriter has no intention of slipping politely into late middle age. Yet if Brian Eno´s stylish production gives the proceedings an urgent, contemporary feel, Simon´s bemusement at our war-torn, post-September 11 world feels a touch predictable - the would-be swagger of the intriguingly titled but inconsequential How Can You Live In The Northeast translating into a slightly sad grumpy-old-mannishness.
Yet there are moments of the old metaphysical wonder alongside the crustiness of the near-pensioner. Simon´s deceptively mild voice has barely changed in four decades, and if there´s nothing here that could be described as a truly great song, there are exquisite melodic transitions and delicate, painterly observations of family life that strive for a quasi-religious grace and just about achieve it. Despite its moments of musical bombast, Surprise is an understated, intimate work that more than confirms Simon´s claims to greatness. Mark Hudson
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