Post by rick on Jun 18, 2012 3:15:30 GMT -5
The Huffington Post has a track-by-track review of Paul Simon's "Graceland" in honor of its 25th anniversary.
www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/paul-simons-graceland-tur_b_1603009.html
Michael Glitz says what we all know --
"UNDER AFRICAN SKIES
Again, if you listen to this album on headphones and really pay attention, certain details will jump out at you. Many, many tracks have thunderous percussion and drumming. But how unexpected is it to hear the massive thump that begins one of the quietest tracks on the album? That percussive sound (almost like thunder) is repeatedly more quietly throughout the song, a tune you probably remember mostly for its gently beautiful verses and the iconic lyric on the chorus, "These are the roots of rhythm and the roots of rhythm remain," as clear a calling card for the album one could ask for. Simon duets with Linda Ronstadt and her childhood memories provided the inspiration for the lyrics of the second verse. On tour, Simon sang the song with the great Miriam Makeba, but Ronstadt belongs on the album. She's one of pop's great voices and as a talent is one of the most musically adventurous in rock history. As a woman (I can't think of any other reason), she hasn't received her due for how bold and exploratory she's been throughout her career. But Ronstadt embraced country and folk and pop and rock and what would be known as Americana throughout her career, not to mention venturing successfully into operetta with Gilbert & Sullivan. When she recorded this song with Simon, Ronstadt was deep into her collaboration with arranger Nelson Riddle on classic standards, a genre she was first roundly mocked for singing but which proved hugely successful. By the time her third album of standards came out the same year as Graceland, even doubters would recognize she'd grown mightily in her chops as a torch singer. One year later, she was belting out Mariachi music and earning the respect of traditionalists.
You can take music you find and use it as a launching pad or find inspiration by respecting its origins. Neither path is wrong and Ronstadt -- who has received more Grammys in more genres than any other performer in history, I think -- is a genuine trailblazer. But again, there's that thunderous percussion, which reasserts itself throughout this song that encompasses perhaps the birth of Christianity and music itself and the desire to express yourself artistically, the constant need for rebirth that all artists must face and which Simon succeeded so completely at here. That unexpected thump, which seems so out of place in such a gorgeous, almost contemplative song. And then the coda, which lets all the rest of the music drop away while the percussion by Ralph MacDonald continues in its striking pattern, long after you imagine it would stop or fade out. It's those seemingly incongruous, unexpected sonic details that keep songs like this forever fresh. And of course Ronstadt sings the hell out of it. "
www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/paul-simons-graceland-tur_b_1603009.html
Michael Glitz says what we all know --
"UNDER AFRICAN SKIES
Again, if you listen to this album on headphones and really pay attention, certain details will jump out at you. Many, many tracks have thunderous percussion and drumming. But how unexpected is it to hear the massive thump that begins one of the quietest tracks on the album? That percussive sound (almost like thunder) is repeatedly more quietly throughout the song, a tune you probably remember mostly for its gently beautiful verses and the iconic lyric on the chorus, "These are the roots of rhythm and the roots of rhythm remain," as clear a calling card for the album one could ask for. Simon duets with Linda Ronstadt and her childhood memories provided the inspiration for the lyrics of the second verse. On tour, Simon sang the song with the great Miriam Makeba, but Ronstadt belongs on the album. She's one of pop's great voices and as a talent is one of the most musically adventurous in rock history. As a woman (I can't think of any other reason), she hasn't received her due for how bold and exploratory she's been throughout her career. But Ronstadt embraced country and folk and pop and rock and what would be known as Americana throughout her career, not to mention venturing successfully into operetta with Gilbert & Sullivan. When she recorded this song with Simon, Ronstadt was deep into her collaboration with arranger Nelson Riddle on classic standards, a genre she was first roundly mocked for singing but which proved hugely successful. By the time her third album of standards came out the same year as Graceland, even doubters would recognize she'd grown mightily in her chops as a torch singer. One year later, she was belting out Mariachi music and earning the respect of traditionalists.
You can take music you find and use it as a launching pad or find inspiration by respecting its origins. Neither path is wrong and Ronstadt -- who has received more Grammys in more genres than any other performer in history, I think -- is a genuine trailblazer. But again, there's that thunderous percussion, which reasserts itself throughout this song that encompasses perhaps the birth of Christianity and music itself and the desire to express yourself artistically, the constant need for rebirth that all artists must face and which Simon succeeded so completely at here. That unexpected thump, which seems so out of place in such a gorgeous, almost contemplative song. And then the coda, which lets all the rest of the music drop away while the percussion by Ralph MacDonald continues in its striking pattern, long after you imagine it would stop or fade out. It's those seemingly incongruous, unexpected sonic details that keep songs like this forever fresh. And of course Ronstadt sings the hell out of it. "
