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Post by Admin on Jun 29, 2020 10:17:59 GMT
Management Special Album Choice This AC slot was going to be a no-show, so we fired up the state of the art, no expense spared, solid-state TAS-Crusty-Classic-Album-Generator TM and it has selected the disc that was number one in the UK album chart 50 years ago today. Simon and Garfunkel - 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' It was released on January 26, 1970 and became a massive seller - 25 million albums worldwide. In the UK it spent a total of 33 weeks at number one, on and off, throughout 1970 '71 and '72 It was the best selling album of both '70 and '71 and the best selling album of the 1970s. It spent a more modest 10 weeks at number one in the US but also received two Grammy awards and the title track won another five. It was to be Simon and Garfunkel's last studio album togather and was originally available in both stereo and quad formats. The reviewers weren't anticipating the level of success that it attained and gave mixed reviews - one of them comprised just a single word: "melodic"! Another talked about dullness and compared it unfavourably to the previous album 'Bookends', doubting it would become a classic. Even in retrospect, some reviewers still don't like it, with a 2001 review calling it "self-satisfied, sentimental, mediocre, and overblown". So, why don't you play it now and tell us what you think? Don't forget to vote in the poll at the top of the page. Spotify:Qobuz 24/96 hi-res:open.qobuz.com/track/20534191YouTube:www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjYET3IL7svc7K9ZVj6ze_cLRGPN2UGDiSuggested related listening:'Bookends' 'Sounds of Silence'
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Post by MartinT on Jul 1, 2020 7:28:14 GMT
This was the first record I ever bought and is now framed and hanging on my wall.
I will listen again with pleasure and give my views.
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Post by jandl100 on Jul 1, 2020 9:00:23 GMT
Top marks from me - one of the truly great albums. An all-time classic.
50 years? Incredible, makes me feel old, I was 14 then.
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Post by Tim on Jul 1, 2020 11:58:20 GMT
I'm playing it right now, not sure how it's going to stack up today though. I have this on vinyl (and CD) like pretty much everyone of a certain age, but it's been played to death. Years ago I played it all the time, but just checked Last.fm and the last time I played it was Feb and June 2015. It would have been 5/5 in 1970 no question . . . but can it still cut the mustard?
It is an all time classic mind you, without a doubt.
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Post by Slinger on Jul 1, 2020 14:07:53 GMT
Three (and-a-half) I'm afraid. Yes, I know, it's a classic, but, unfortunately, it contains that offence against music, "Baby Driver." I have what you'd probably call an irrational hatred of that song, and it ruins the whole album for me. It's like buying a luscious cream cake and finding a gherkin lurkin' in the middle. Having said that, the title track, The Boxer, The Only Living Boy.., and Song For The Asking, are among my all-time favourite S&G songs. And I really am a Simon and Garfunkel fan, honest. Even Keep The Customer Satisfied, and Cecilia, skirt the edges of my liking for them though. I love their slow songs, their fast stuff almost invariably sounds like "filler" to my ears. Sorry. Jerry, if it makes you feel any better, I was 16.  |
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Post by Tim on Jul 1, 2020 14:55:40 GMT
Well I'm with you Slinger, it's OK but I've moved on and the fact that I haven't played it for 5 years is indicative.
So showing it's age for me, still a few great songs and I would now view it as a 'party playlist' album, picking out one or two tracks as crowd pleasers, rather than something I'd sit down and listen to.
3/5
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Post by MartinT on Jul 1, 2020 16:10:41 GMT
I first heard this when in Australia, setting up for a new life (so I thought) at the tender age of 14. My aunt had the record and I loved playing it. Upon returning to the UK I bought it as my first record so it has a special place in my heart, and that very same record now hangs on my wall.
The recording is somewhat agricultural and hearing it in 24/96 on Qobuz is rather a waste. However, I know every single song very well, they are ingrained in me. I like the quirky songs like El Condor Pasa, Cecilia and Why Don't You Write Me. For nostalgia, then, 4/5.
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Post by Barrington on Jul 1, 2020 19:16:56 GMT
I'm a big fan , 5/5 . The title track if I was pushed I'd say is my favourite S&G song . Not my favourite album though , that would be Bookends .
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 3, 2020 6:18:30 GMT
This album kind of formed part of the soundtrack of my seventies. My family spent a few years in the middle of the decade in a community of UK and other European expats in central Africa. As far as music was concerned, there was nowhere to buy anything new, so you had what you took with you and almost everyone (except us) had this album. But we were a very sociable bunch, so it was sundowners at someone or others house at least a couple of evenings a week and this album usually got played sooner or later.
When we returned to England in '76, a copy of it on tape appeared from somewhere or other and I and my sisters played it to death on my Dad's Sony reel to reel machine.
I have a vinyl copy and still play it every now and then. I still brace myself against the Spector-esque wall of sound at the end of the title track, which always seemed a bit overdone to me.
Favourite tracks would be Song for the Asking, The Boxer and Only Living Boy. The inclusion of the live version of Bye Bye Love always seemed a bit odd to me, especially in that place in the running order.
4 out of 5 from me.
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Post by jachawk on Jul 3, 2020 22:33:12 GMT
Got a 1st pressing on vinyl and it was at the top of the charts the day i was born, as was mungo gerry "summertime" in the singles charts.
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Post by MikeMusic on Jul 10, 2020 13:28:43 GMT
Have LP and CD
Know it well
Current score is 8/10
Will listen again and check
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Post by MikeMusic on Jul 12, 2020 9:13:58 GMT
Playing through I remember what I thought when it came out
Slightly disappointing.
Very well made. Just about manages to keep 8/10 so 4/5 !
Best S&G albums for me
Bookends
Parsley Sage Rosemary Thyme
which is why Bridge over Trouble water was a bit of a let down
Always surprised me that this sold so well and the other two were nowhere near as popular
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aaccandy49
Rank: Starter
Enthusiastic Listener
Posts: 1
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Post by aaccandy49 on Aug 19, 2020 12:09:58 GMT
I bought the album the week it was released based upon an ad in the NME and its inclusion of the "The Boxer". Turned out to be a surprisingly varied album more so than there previous ones all of which I already owned, including the folksy Wednesday Morning 3AM as touted by John Peel.
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