Graceland - Paul Simon

After buying Paul Simon's last album "Surprise", I realized that I had forgotten how much I loved his music and decided I had to update my old vinyl collection on CD. We stated out with "Still Crazy After All These Years", which was my husband's first choice. But I'm so glad I insisted on buying "Graceland" next, and here's why. First of all, "Graceland" marked a special turn in Simon's musical style, by bringing African sounds into his music. While this may sound strange for little Jewish guy who started out singing folk music and dabbled in classic American rock with a touch of pop on the side. However, the ...  Read the complete review

When first released in 1986 the Graceland album was very controversial. Paul Simon had eschewed the trend of boycotting South Africa for his own policy of positive engagement with the country and its musicians. This was a time when Nelson Mandela was still a prisoner on Roben Island and trade sanctions existed banning products being supplied to or bought from South Africa. Fortunately common sense won through and Simon had a huge world-wide hit with Graceland. This was deservedly so as the album was the first commercially successful fusion of western pop music with traditional 'world' music. The market trend for music from obscure countries began here and ...  Read the complete review

Released in 1986, Graceland is perhaps Paul Simon's best known offering. Famous for the worldwide hit 'You can call me Al', it contains 10 other superb tracks. This is the album that first brought the sounds of African a capella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo to a wider audience - you know the recent Heinz Beanz adverts? That's them. The accordion intro to track 1 - 'The Boy in the Bubble' - sets up the general ambience of the entire album. Powerful drumbeats are added before the bouncy rhythm takes over and the voice enters. Paul Simon's voice is instantly recognisable, the lyrics are clear and well-written. Track 2 - ...  Read the complete review

Paul Simon’s 1986 album, ‘Graceland,’ released on the 13th September, marked a tuning point in music history. It was the moment that signified a shift in the way we listen to music, or at least, it changed our listening limitations. We opened our ears up to world music and for the first time, we heard African musicians like the South African vocal group, Ladysmith Black Mombazo. Paul Simon’s ear for collaborating South African sounds gave us arrangements within tracks that were never before heard in our singles or album charts. Up until then, viewers of Western music had been blinkered from the rest of the world. Steeped in swarms of new romantics, there ...  Read the complete review

Graceland is an album released by Paul Simon in 1986. This is one of my favourite albums as it is so different from most albums of that time or from even now. I had first heard of Paul Simon when he was part of the duo Simon and Garfunkel. I'm not really old enough to have known them from when they first came out but my dad really liked their music and always made me listen to their songs. Paul Simon was the songwriting genius of the two apparently and wrote most of the music. In 2006, Time magazine called him one of the 100 "people who shape our world." According to an article I read, the album Graceland it was a hit in the UK topping ...  Read the complete review