| | Headline | Simon´s Hits |
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| Author | Comment | michael
Aug-23-2006, 18:00 GMT
IP:
USA - United Staates America
 | Simon has said in recent interviews that he doesn´t have any desire to write hits anymore, implying he still could if he wanted too.
I wander if he decided to sit down and write ten songs that all had catchy hooks and were meant to be hits if they would be.
He could call the album "Hits" (as a joke). I wander if it would work, or is he is Old news in that arena? What do you guys think? | | | | Klausi
Aug-23-2006, 20:48 GMT
IP:
Germany
 | His hits, even in the sixties, were not the usual hit stuff. The fact that the lyrics were saying something was not so important.
But the music was different too, and that is what counts.
I think that all his hits except I Am A Rock, Cecilia, El Condor Pasa and Kodachrome were very unusual.
I also guess that songs like Slip slidin` away won`t have any chance today.
To answer the question: I think he is aware of what is popular today as he always was and he could write hits.
But he doesn`t want to, it would be a shame.
It is not only the question of simplicity, I liked Oh happy day by Edwin Hawkins, My sweet Lord by George Harrison or Don`t worry, be happy by Bobby Mc. Ferrin. These are miles ahead of what you hear now in the charts.
| | | | Bodo
Aug-23-2006, 21:06 GMT
IP:
Austria
 | As Paul said, today the music buisness is only about looks, and not about music.
Do you think that people really decide for their own what becomes a hit? Usually not today.
You have to look young, look cool and produce videoclips, and make advertisement 80% of your time - that is it what makes a hit today.
Tell me about the last hit Bruce Springsteen or Mark Knopfler had... today not the music itself makes a hit, the industry decides what will become a hit
And the music industry is still wondering why sales drop. I have an easy answer - no need for me to buy todays music. | | | | matthewsemple
Aug-23-2006, 21:17 GMT
IP:
United Kingdom
 | I agree in part, but here in the UK Father & Daughter was a Top 40 Hit (got to no.31) and Surprise entered the album chart at number 4 and stayed there for two weeks.
Paul is probably the only artist of his generation to enjoy such success in 2006. | | | | Klausi
Aug-24-2006, 13:36 GMT
IP:
Germany
| Bodo, the situation you describe is not new. It was the same in the late fifties or with the disco-boom (Bee Gees) of the late seventies.
Sales also drop because of illegal copies.
When somebody had told an insider 30 years ago that concerts are more important to make money for the stars than records, he would have laughed. In those times, concerts were to support record sales.
The regular price of a CD today is almost the same as 40 years ago for an LP.
But 40 years ago you could see Simon and Garfunkel live for the price of an album.
I paid 20 euros in 1987 to see Paul Simon for the first time.
(As much as I paid for Surprise. But I admit, I bought it in the expensive Netherlands because I couldn`t wait.) | | | | Bodo
Aug-24-2006, 13:47 GMT
IP:
Austria
| I can not agree on the last sentence Matthew - Paul is in the same league as Neil Young, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Leonard Cohen... these are his album sales, and beeing for 2,3 weeks in the charts is not much, that is IMO only the request by pre-orders of ´long-time-fans´ and shops which fill their market with 1 or 2 copies.
The situation in the UK is a little bit better for him, although I would say if you ask any person on the street 99% will not know about a song like Father and daughter or an album named Surprise (position 31 is nothing... really) | | | | Bodo
Aug-24-2006, 14:20 GMT
IP:
Austria
| I agree Klausi, every time had his 1-hit wonder aera (although I would not count the Bee Gees into that), but today the charts are flooded with that IMO. And the market is also flooded with compilations, Platinum 1-2-3-4, CDs - Bravo CD 56-57-58, Radio XY compilations, and then with some idiotic funny songs by comedians like Stefan Raab. That is what they sell mainly today.
And they teached the young children not to buy a full album, they teach them to buy a ´Bravo Charts compilation´ of the greatest hits from the last month. That started somewhen in the 80´s, and today no one feels the need to buy a full album of 1 artist, because there is only 1 good song on it (+ a DJ mix, radio mix, real mix, fun-on-the-beach mix...whatever.. worth nothing)
I can not say that I would buy any disc from the top 40´s today. (except some real artists who reach them for 1-2 weeks)
About illegal copies? 20 years back my father just recorded the charts every saturday onto a tape. Interestingly no one was moaning around about that...but years ago you could not burn your own LP :-)
Today the internet has made it easier to get everything you want, thats the real problem. But when there is a street musician somewhere I like, or a musician in a bar - and he offers a CD, then I am going to buy it immediately, without thinking that maybe I could get it somewhere on the internet. So the problem is also that the CD (the real thing in your hands) is not available in your hometown or around your neighbourhood because the small record shops all had to close, and there are only big media markets in the shopping cities. Today if I want to have an album of a not so well advertised artist I either have to drive to the Netherlands (like you, ok a joke) no I have to drive with my car to the next big shopping center, order it there, and drive again to the shopping center in 2 weeks - or I have to order it on the internet and also wait for 1 week. 2nd way - I download it on the internet for free and have it in a few hours. (ok, that was the situation about 2-3 years ago, now you have stores like i-tunes...but I would say that they are WAY too expensive, and you also can not hold anything in your hand...that is the real problem. If I am in a shop, hold the latest Prince CD in my hand - then our brain say´s GET IT NOW, TAKE IT.
On the internet it is just a link, with a buy button..and you say :"I can do that later too" - and then you forget about it.
The CD price today is okay, although I remember in the starting time (I know it started somewhen in 1984, but the real success of the CD was around 1989,1990 when everyone had a player), in that time a CD has cost 219 Schillings, and a LP 149 Schillings, a cassette 179 Schillings. These are nearly the same prices for a CD than today. But my generation still asks: "Why did the CD finally cost around 30% more than a LP? ... they mant much more money just because of the new technology". - "Maybe it is fair that they loose some money now"
(and in reality - isn´t it better the artist earns some more money directly when touring, as the record companies earn a lot of money on selling records?)
I wrote too much now. | | | | Klausi
Aug-24-2006, 18:10 GMT
IP:
Germany
| No Bodo, you are COMPLETELY right. -
Another fact is, that the importance of rock music as medium for the youth dropped.
Probably because of all the other events offered to young people.
When we were 15 and older, the main thing discussed was music.
And I still think that the period of the great songwriters like PS, Joni MItchell, L. Cohen, Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Joan Armatrading, Nick Drake and many many others is over. Music reached a high point then, though when thinking of the age of the creators it should have been gone as Rock`n Roll. | | | | Bodo
Aug-24-2006, 18:31 GMT
IP:
Austria
| Thats a good point too Klausi - that the importance of rock music as medium for the youth dropped.
In fact today people buy also much more DVD´s(movies) or computer games. While back in the 70´s you only had the music charts, today you also have PC games, Playstation Games, and DVD charts. And young people spend much more time on playing a game than listening to music.
By that way - isn´t it interesting that the computer games industry never was moaning around about low sales because of illegal copies? I have never heard that they started suing their customers. While computer games are copied since they exist - till today - the industry is growing and growing. They found new ways to make the customer feel the need of having the full package in their hands. You get a lot of books, mousepads and extras with most games.
Why not selling a CD with VIP concert tickets (or the ability to buy these VIP tickets)..., or autogramm cards... | | | | matthewsemple
Aug-30-2006, 15:00 GMT
IP:
United Kingdom
| these are his album sales, and beeing for 2,3 weeks in the charts is not much, that is IMO only the request by pre-orders of ´long-time-fans´ and shops which fill their market with 1 or 2 copies.
In the UK the album was at number 4 for two weeks and remained in the charts for at least two months. It was still listed at the lower end of the chart at my local supermarket when I went shopping this weekend. Here in the UK most record sales are now in supermarkets.
I agree though that if you stopped the average person they would not have heard of the album. However 14 million people listen to Radio 2 and Father & daughter received extensive airplay - I reckon quite a lot of people would recognise that song even if they did not know who was singing. | | | | Bodo
Aug-30-2006, 15:04 GMT
IP:
Austria
| - and my own sad experience: I get emails from people asking me what song is played on the website.... (from fans, who visit this site!)
Thats why I placed these amazon buy links now on the main page...
I think that describes the situation very good - although, it is different in the UK (I wonder how many Brian Eno fans ordered the album in the first weeks?) | | | | matthewsemple
Aug-30-2006, 15:14 GMT
IP:
United Kingdom
| That is sad - do fans on this website not rush out and buy the record as soon as it is released? I have owned my copy of F&D since 2003 when it was first released.
Good idea to have the online shop, though. Get the fans to actually buy the records!
I don´t think it can be put down to Brian Eno fans here in the UK. His name is only in small print on the back cover of Surprise. Graceland and Rhythm Of The Saints both reached number 1 in the UK album charts and You Can Call Me Al, The Boy In The Bubble and The Obvious Child were all Top 30 hits. | | | | Bodo
Aug-30-2006, 15:18 GMT
IP:
Austria
| I think the real fans do buy it in the first time.. but non regular visitors from countries like..well any other country than the UK, they do not know that Paul Simon even released a CD. And if they do not go trough all the older news on this site they also do not find that out... and finally sometimes ask me what wonderful song is played on this site *g* :- | | | | matthewsemple
Aug-30-2006, 19:44 GMT
IP:
United Kingdom
| I see - sounds good - I am glad you are spreading the word.
Yesterday on ´Coronation Street´ - which is a long-running UK soap, one of the characters mentioned Paul Simon writing Homeward Bound at Widnes Station.
Today in the Daily Mail, there is a list of best ever albums as voted by listeners of BBC Radio 2 - Bridge Over Troubled Water came 7th and Graceland was 23rd.
Not a day/week goes past without me seeing a newspaper/magazine article with a variation on a Paul Simon song as the title - usually 50 Ways to do this or that, Still Something After All These Years or some reference to Bridge Over Troubled Waters (sic), Sounds Of Silence or Homeward Bound.
His music and songs have been completely absorbed into the culture/language which is possibly because we are an English speaking country. | | | | Lara
Sep-01-2006, 17:41 GMT
IP:
Italy
 | matthewsemple, what a envy for your life in UK.
Completely different here in Italy. Not a word about Surprise and generally about PS.
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