Published on May 29, 1998
In 1981, the reunion that many thought would never happen,
actually did. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel reunited for one night,
in front of a large audience in New York’s Central Park, performing
many of their old favorites and some selections from their solo
careers.
Ah, but reunions, even one-shot deals, are fickle things; one
doesn’t know what the passage of time will do to the music you know
and love. In the case of
The Concert In Central Park, the two-record set from this
show, much is lost in the translation from studio efforts of over a
decade past to such a large setting.
Sometimes, the case is a slight shift in the original
arrangement of a song (“Mrs. Robinson”). Other times, it’s the lack
of instrumentation that one remembers on the track (“Bridge Over
Troubled Water”). And while I might not have been alive when these
songs were in their prime, I did grow up listening to them, and
found these live versions to pale next to their studio brethren.
I’m sorry, but the rich arrangment of “Bridge Over Troubled
Waters”, a song that can still bring me to tears, is sorely missed
here.
Another problem I have with
The Concert In Central Park is that it often does not seem
like a true collaborative effort by Simon and Garfunkel, instead
turning into the Paul Simon show. No less than eight of the
nineteen songs on this set are Simon solo pieces… uh, last time I
checked the spine of the record jacket, it didn’t say Paul Simon
only! Garfunkel does get one or two pieces from his solo
career in there as well – a number that’s a little easier to
handle.
And the sad fact of the matter is that Simon’s solo pieces, for
the most part, don’t translate well to this particular live band.
The groove of “Late In The Evening” is totally lost, while “Slip
Slidin’ Away” lacks some of the fanciful touches that made the song
a hit.
As for the actual Simon and Garfunkel material here, it’s not
until the last portion of the album that the whole concept starts
to jell – and by that time, it’s almost time to go home. Sure, some
early numbers like “America” and “Scarborough Fair” capture the
magic as well, but those are few and far between.
“The Sounds Of Silence,” the final song on the album, is the
example of how this show should have gone. The magic was clearly
there for those few minutes that the song was played – and then
were lost as the house lights went up.
Truth be told,
The Concert In Central Park was not well thought up – and
this is a complaint more about the actual event than the album. Had
the focus of the music become less self-centered (read, less of a
Paul Simon show-off… what’s the matter, Paul, couldn’t wait ten
years for your own live show?) and more focused on the music that
helped reshape American folk in the text of rock music, this would
have been a killer album. Think about it: where’s “I Am A Rock”?
“El Condor Pasa”?
Prior to
The Concert In Central Park‘s release, there was no official
live release from Simon and Garfunkel. Now, there is no
definitive live release from this duo. One can only hope
that someone will discover a long-lost performance that will blow
this effort away.