Album:In The Blue Light Artist:Paul Simon Label:Legacy Genre:Singer / SongwriterIn the intensity of the late career “blue light” referenced in his 1977 song How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns, Paul Simon and longtime producer Roy Halee reconsider “songs that I thought were almost right, or were odd enough to be overlooked the first time around”. It is a concept fraught with danger: they might be his songs but, framed in warm memory, they also belong to his listeners. Yet, with the same artistic bravura that marked his recent Dublin concert, Simon carefully balances each song’s legacy and his need to make it anew. Most are almost 20 years old or more, with the largely unheralded 2000 album You’re the One contributing three tracks including the heartrending Darling Lorraine. However, it is easy to be seduced by the sheer breadth of Simon’s musical imagination, though even he harbours doubts: “I hope the listener will find these new versions of old songs refreshed, like a new coat of paint on the walls of an old family home.”paulsimon.com

Source: The Irish Times September 07, 2018 04:01 UTC