Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK
spacer

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

Sun-Sentinel MARCH 28, 2006 - by Staff & Wires

PAUL SIMON RETURNS WITH A NEW ALBUM

When Paul Simon decided it was time for a new album, there was an immediate problem: He wasn't exactly sure what to say - or how to say it.

It might be that it gets more difficult as you get older, Simon mused about the writing process. It might also be that it was just a period of time that required me to rethink a lot of my musical and lyrical premises, and think, 'What could I say that I wouldn't feel was just unnecessary, irrelevant, stupid?'

It took three years to figure it all out, and the answer was Paul Simon has a Surprise - the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's first album since You're The One in 2000.

It's a long time between music, but here's a quick demonstration of Simon's song-writing brilliance and staying power: Paul Simon has a Surprise comes twenty years after Graceland, his Grammy-winning collaboration with South African musicians - and that came twenty years after Sounds Of Silence, where Simon worked with life-long friend Art Garfunkel.

On the new album, due in stores May 9, the sixty-four-year-old Simon brings aboard an unlikely new collaborator: Brian Eno, the avant-garde artist best known for his musical work with Robert Fripp, Talking Heads, David Bowie and U2.

It's not as strange as it (or the resulting album) sounds.

We're both 'sounds' people, Simon explained. We're both about soundscapes. I thought he would bring an element that I hadn't ever encountered before, electronics, into a guitar record. Theoretically, it seemed to be a good idea. And when we actually did it, you could tell right away it was a good idea. Simon was a fan of Eno's eclectic work, and they met at a London dinner party. They decided to throw it together, see what the mix of sounds were, see what we produced, Simon recalled.

The results are evident from the opening track, How Can You Live In The Northeast?, where Simon's song-writing meets Eno's wall of sounds to almost hypnotic effect. Outrageous is the hilarious tale of a middle-aged man doing nine hundred sit-ups a day while painting my hair the colour of mud.

And there's the autobiographical Sure Don't Feel Like Love, with its lyric about a man who remembers how once in August 1993 I was wrong / And I could be wrong again.

That's pretty much me, Simon confessed with a soft chuckle. You think of it. It's hilariously arrogant.

Simon handles most of the guitar duties, and he's joined on various songs by guests Herbie Hancock and Bill Frisell. The album also features his Oscar-nominated song Father And Daughter from The Wild Thornberrys.

Simon will play the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on May 7 in the flood-ravaged city that remains close to his heart. His Children's Health Fund, a charity co-founded by Simon in 1987, has been working in the Gulf area to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans is a place that I have a lot of affection for, said Simon. I have a lot of friends who live there. It makes me look forward to going to New Orleans even more than I normally would just to play and hang out.


ALBUMS | BIOGRAPHY | BOOKS | INSTALLATIONS | INTERVIEWS | LYRICS | MULTIMEDIA


Amazon