#Bookends album full#

This blend of pop culture influences and traditional Simon & Garfunkel stylings works remarkably well on Bookends, given that they managed to squeeze it all in under half an hour, and it still managed to be coherent. Aside from вЂњAmericaвЂќ, there are evergreen numbers like the impossibly mature вЂњOld FriendsвЂќ and вЂњBookends ThemeвЂќ, and the stunning closing trio of вЂњMrs RobinsonвЂќ, вЂњA Hazy Shade of WinterвЂќ and вЂњAt the ZooвЂќ, two slices of intelligent pop, and a playful closer.

#Bookends album full#

Actually, Bookends is chock full of career highlights. 1967 had seen landmark releases from The Beatles, Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd, so what music fans expected an album to be had significantly shifted.Д«ookends therefore had to all but completely reinvent Simon & Garfunkel, yet not alienate their existing fanbase, hence the ear-catching sound effects on вЂњSave the Life of my ChildвЂќ, the beautifully executed segue into вЂњAmericaвЂќ, one of the duoвЂ™s most enduring pop songs and the distinctly psychedelic pop of вЂњFakinвЂ™ ItвЂќ. The soundtrack to The Graduate had lifted their already high profile, but beyond that, the wider musical landscape had undergone some radical alterations thanks to the rise of counter culture. In truth, a lot had happened in the eighteen months since Simon & GarfunkelвЂ™s previous studio album had been released. Hang on, werenвЂ™t these the guys who were singing about Scarborough Fair on their last studio album? Oh hang on, there was that вЂњA Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamaraвЂ™d Into Submission)вЂќ number, on that last album wasnвЂ™t there? Yet there are the heavy electronic sounds that open up вЂњSave the Life of my ChildвЂќ, a pop rocker backed up with some sort of floating gospel choir that is fighting for space with Paul SimonвЂ™s rattled acoustic guitar, handclaps and groaning electronics. For those that purchased Bookends when it was first released in 1968, it might have come as something of a surprise that a folk-pop duo would have taken on board some of the psychedelic influences of some of their rowdier contemporaries.