I own a Paul Simon record. Given the 650-or-so records I've written about on here over the last seven years, this might seem like an outlier. On the other hand, there are so many Paul Simon records in existence it's only likely that one would end up in my collection; buy enough records, and one of them will eventually be by Paul Simon.
Throughout my 20's it seemed that a lot of people around me really loved Paul Simon. Near the start of that decade in my life, I bought this copy of Graceland in a charity shop in Canberra for AU$1, which was about 42p at the time. I'd already heard enough good things about it and you can't argue with that price. I think perhaps I was trying to seem a bit more eclectic in my music taste around then (regardless of whether I actually was or not). I definitely remember thinking that owning a Paul Simon record suggested I wasn't this one-dimensional character that only listened to modern rock bands, which it would have been easy to believe (in truth, I thought I was being pretty eclectic by loving an indie band like the Manics as much as I loved post-hardcore and metal, but such differences didn't seem to translate in the other hemisphere, where all of that was basically "rock").
Towards the end of my 20's, the love all my friends had for Paul Simon seemed to peak with him playing all of Graceland in Hyde Park as part of their series of summer shows; it says more that I didn't go with them, but went to see Soundgarden play two nights before in the same venue instead with Hugh and Holly (we also saw The Mars Volta for what would turn out to be the last time too). I'm sure I would have had a great time sitting in the sun with a huge group of friends watching Paul Simon play this album, but I definitely had a better time getting unnecessarily drunk, singing along and seeing Soundgarden live for the first time in my life. (Two years later we'd see Soundgarden play the same venue with Black Sabbath, Faith No More and Motorhead. Soundgarden decided that morning to play Superunknown in whole, and I had an even better time. I count myself very lucky to have seen Soundgarden twice, partly because the first time I was too drunk to really remember much in detail, other than having the time of my life.)
Here I am writing about Paul Simon and I still end up raving about a hard-rock band. Perhaps I am one-dimensional?
Anyway, I like this album. I can honestly say there is nothing else like it in my collection. I know very little about Simon and Garfunkel so can't say much about the important differences and cultural significance of this album. I'm sure countless other people have said it all much better than I ever could a million times anyway. Boy in the Middle is a great song, and the backing vocals on I Know What I Know catch me by surprise every time. The title track stays in your head for days and it's hard not to sing the chorus when thinking about the album. You Can Call Me Al was the one I knew best going into the album, a song that was surely littered over the radio when I was a kid. I once put it on a mixtape for a girl I was trying to impress - it was the only song she mentioned from it, so that was probably a sign it wasn't meant to be (again, trying to look eclectic and not one-dimensional!). It is a huge tune.
Format: 12"
Tracks: 12
Cost: £0.42 second hand
Bought: Charity shop, Canberra
When: 14/10/05
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none
