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Greatest Hits, Etc. by Paul Simon (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Greatest Hits, Etc.
  • Artist name: Paul Simon
  • Year: 1977
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Buy it on Amazon: $49.99

Greatest Hits, Etc. by Paul Simon

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I haven’t heard this record before, but I’m familiar with about half of the songs on it by name. Other Paul Simon records I’ve reviewed:

What I expected

Paul Simon’s hits from after his collaboration with Art Garfunkel, and also some non-hits.

What it was actually like

I’ve always thought that Slip Slidin’ Away was basically a good melody and a good concept for a song, but that it just never came together right. I could imagine a more rock version that could be great, or a simpler, more stripped down version like this one, which is excellent, but the version on this record just had too much weird instrumentation and too many sound effects to be enjoyable.

50 Ways to Leave Your Lover was half a good song, and half crap easy listening, but the good part, which was the chorus, was excellent, and I especially loved the bass guitar. Stranded in a Limousine mostly wasn’t bad, and musically sounded like 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, but had some really bad saxophone to ruin it.

Duncan was a pretty good folk style song, and I liked the flutes, but also thought they were a little too much.

I still loved Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, but also still thought that this version was superior. If that wasn’t the best Paul Simon song, then Kodachrome might have been, and it’s probably his only song that I sing whenever I hear it [1].

I had forgotten about Mother and Child Reunion, but it was a pretty solid reggae song, and I liked it!

Take Me to the Mardi Gras didn’t sound like very much of a mardi gras song until the horns kicked in at the end, but I liked that part a lot (and here is a better mardi gras song).

Still Crazy After All These Years was terrible, slow and boring – and that was before the saxophone. It could have been the worst Paul Simon song. American Tune sounded too much like Bridge Over Troubled Water, the worst Simon and Garfunkel song.

Have a Good Time was also terrible, and its atrocious saxophone solo at the end made me want to barf.

Something So Right and I Do It for Your Love were both also easy listening crap.

Loves Me Like a Rock was soul style, but too corny to be good.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

References

References
↑1 And in my freezer, I have a factory sealed brick of Kodachrome that expired the month I was born, and I’m waiting to shoot it… any decade now.

Old Friends by Mary McCaslin (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Old Friends
  • Artist name: Mary McCaslin
  • Year: 1977
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Philo Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my mother
  • Buy it on Amazon: $10.00

Old Friends by Mary McCaslin

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never heard of Mary McCaslin or this record.

I’ve also never heard of Philo Records, and think it’s fascinating that someone named a record label after the first century CE Hellenistic-Jewish philosopher.

What I expected

What I know about this is that it’s from 1977, that it was owned by my mother, and that the songs on it appear to be covers of other artists’ work, so I’m guessing it will be folk interpretations of famous songs.

What it was actually like

My prediction was right, though there was one original song, the title track Old Friends, which was fine, but nothing special.

Things We Said Today was fantastic, with an excellent tempo (that most singers would have opted to slow down). I loved the simplicity and the harmonies, and thought she did a great job, and thought the same about Wendigo.

Oklahoma Hills was upbeat, and I liked the subtle steel guitar.

Both Way Out There and My World Is Empty Without You Babe were slightly Oompa-Loompa, but still excellent. The former in particular was country enough to make up for it and had nice high notes, and I was again impressed that it wasn’t slowed down.

Pinball Wizard was kind of hilarious because I’ve never heard it outside the context of Tommy, and I love that she did it with banjo and drums. Blackbird was also great because of the banjo.

I didn’t like Wayward Wind and Don’t Fence Me In as much as some others, but still thought the steel guitar and drums were good on the former and the fiddle was good on the latter.

It seems like Mary McCaslin died a month ago, but I’m happy to have found her music!

Grade

5/5: love it

CSN by Crosby, Stills & Nash (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: CSN
  • Group name: Crosby, Stills & Nash
  • Year: 1977
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Atlantic Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Buy it on Amazon: $11.60

CSN by Crosby, Stills & Nash

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m not familiar with this confusingly named record, but I do know Crosby, Stills & Nash well from their heyday in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and have recently listened to several records by different configurations of the group:

What I expected

It’s hard to say! I didn’t recognize the album and don’t think I recognize any of the song names. I really wasn’t aware that these three were together and recording music at all in 1977. I guess I have to assume it will be like their earlier work, except in more of a late 1970s style (and worse).

What it was actually like

CSN was an abomination and everything about it was bad, but some parts were certainly worse than other parts.

Fair Game was uncommonly terrible, like some sort of calypso-influenced soft rock, truly horrific.

Parts of Cathedral sounded like the Bee Gees.

Dark Star, Stephen Stills’ ode to Lucifer, was atrocious and tried to be jazzy at times, and the funky bassline was an extreme distraction.

Various songs on the record could be classified as easy listening, which is hard to swallow. I would not recommend this record.

Grade

2/5: bad, but I was able to listen to the whole thing

Simple Dreams by Linda Ronstadt (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

Simple Dreams by Linda Ronstadt

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I listened to Different Drum by Linda Ronstadt last month and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. “Simple Dreams” was recorded a few years later, but maybe it will be similar?

What I expected

Country, rock, country-rock, folk-rock.

What it was actually like

“Simple Dreams” had a bunch of covers, and Buddy Holly’s It’s So Easy was by far its best song, and the only one that I really liked at all – I thought Linda Ronstadt did a great job with it. Blue Bayou (Roy Orbison) and Tumbling Dice (Rolling Stones) were both all right, but nothing special. The rest of the record was quite boring.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

The Best of Arlo Guthrie (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: The Best of Arlo Guthrie
  • Artist name: Arlo Guthrie
  • Year: 1977
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Warner Brothers Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics:
  • Buy it:

The Best of Arlo Guthrie

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve been to Los Angeles about five times, and listened to Coming Into Los Angeles on the airplane every time. I also know Alice’s Restaurant Massacree, but I don’t know the other songs.

What I expected

Joke-folk-rock.

What it was actually like

Alice’s Restaurant Massacree and Coming Into Los Angeles were just as I remembered. Most of the rest of the record was decent, but nothing special.

When City Of New Orleans came on, my first reaction was: I know this song! And my second reaction was: wait a second! I’d never heard City Of New Orleans before, but it took me just a minute to realize that Israeli folk music icon Yehoram Gaon used that melody for his song שלום לך ארץ נהדרת (music, lyrics), one of my favorites!

So that was pretty cool, and reminded me of a certain biographical detail of Arlo Guthrie’s Jewish education when he was a child, and I imagined him, his teacher and Yehoram Gaon all chilling in New York City in the early 1960s.

Grade

4/5: would listen again