Paul Simon - 1964/1993 (3CD box set) (1993) {Warner Bros.}

Paul Simon - 1964/1993 (3CD box set) (1993) {Warner Bros.}
EAC Rip | FLAC with CUE and log | scans | 1.16 gb (1 gb + 1.66 mb)
MP3 CBR 320kbps | RAR | 474 mb
Genre: folk, modern pop, Afropop, African, reggae

1964/1993 is a 3CD box set by Paul Simon. Released in 1993 and mastered with No Noise, this focuses on Simon's solo career but also touches on his roots with Simon & Garfunkel, including two songs when they were still Tom & Jerry. It features many of the hits between 1964 and 1993 plus choice album cuts. This was released on 28 September, 1993 by Warner Bros. Records.

(NOTE: This does not have scans of the booklet, just the discs, inlays, and the box itself.)

"Hey, Schoolgirl" is a little-known pop gem from early in Paul Simon's long, hit-filled career. Whether it's hidden nuggets from early efforts in bands like Tom & Jerry, classic tracks from the amazing Simon & Garfunkel era, or excellent tunes from his 30+ years of solo albums, Paul Simon's work as a songwriter and musician is legendary. This 3-disc, 54-track box set spans the entire magical musical tour. The great songs are far too numerous to mention, but here's a sampling: "The Sound Of Silence," "America," "Mrs. Robinson," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Me And Julio Down By The School Yard," "Mother And Child Reunion," "American Tune," "Loves Me Like A Rock," "Kodachrome," "Take Me To The Mardi Gras," "Still Crazy After All These Years," "Late In The Evening," "You Can Call Me Al"… Many of the original Simon & Garfunkel albums are good in their entirety and worth owning, as are some of the Paul Simon solo albums. But for those who appreciate a good overview without having to become a savvy collector, this box set is a great way to go.

In contrast to the single-CD Negotiations and Love Songs, which skates swiftly across his solo canon, this three-disc box follows Paul Simon's evolution from the folk-rock of Simon & Garfunkel toward a highly personalized synthesis of pop, vintage rock, folk, and world music. Laid out in chronological order, 1964-1993 reminds us that the Queens, New York, troubadour was dabbling in hymn-lined melodies, Third World accents, and doo-wop melisma long before Graceland or Songs from the Capeman. While Simon's painstaking craft produced little in the way of shelf material (consisting here of a long unreleased track, "Thelma," a solo demo for "Bridge over Troubled Water," and live versions of six other classics), the set does make room for sturdy gems, including "Slip Slidin' Away" and a satisfying array of his enduring album tracks.

Artist-designed box-set retrospectives tend to be idiosyncratic, and this one is no exception. Take the title, which describes a 52-track, 200+-minute, three-disc set, the earliest recording from which actually was released in 1957 (that's Tom and Jerry's chart single, "Hey, Schoolgirl") and which contains no recordings from 1964 or from later than 1991. While Simon has included all of his biggest solo hits and most of those by Simon and Garfunkel (excepting "Homeward Bound" and "I Am a Rock") and has grouped the songs into three roughly chronological sections (1957-1973, 1973-1983, and 1986-1991), he has made song choices and sequencing decisions within each section more reflective of his own taste than any historical or audience-based consideration. The music is so good it almost doesn't matter, but with only one previously unreleased song (a 1991 outtake from The Rhythm of the Saints), Paul Simon 1964/1993 is little more than an abridged reshuffling of Simon's existing catalog, and one hopes for more from box sets than that. (Note also that Simon's tendency to edit his songs for use on compilations continues: "Loves Me Like a Rock" is 13 seconds shorter than the version on There Goes Rhymin' Simon, while "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" has lost 29 seconds from the Still Crazy After All These Years version.)

DISC 1
01. Paul Simon - Leaves That Are Green
02. Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound Of Silence
03. Simon & Garfunkel - Kathy's Song
04. Simon & Garfunkel - America
05. Simon & Garfunkel - Cecilia
06. Simon & Garfunkel - El Condor Pasa
07. Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer
08. Simon & Garfunkel - Mrs. Robinson
09. Paul Simon - Bridge Over Troubled Water (Demo)
10. Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
11. Simon & Garfunkel - The Breakup
12. Tom & Jerry - Hey. Schoolgirl
13. Simon & Garfunkel - My Little Town
14. Paul Simon - Me And Julio Down By The School Yard
15. Paul Simon - Peace Like A River
16. Paul Simon - Mother And Child Reunion
17. Paul Simon - Congratulations
18. Paul Simon - Duncan (Live)
19. Paul Simon - American Tune


DISC 2
01. Loves Me Like A Rock
02. Tenderness
03. Kodachrome
04. Gone At Last
05. Take Me To The Mardi Gras
06. St. Judy's Comet
07. Something So Right
08. Still Crazy After All These Years (Live)
09. Have A Good Time
10. Jonah
11. How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns
12. 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover
13. Slip Slidin' Away
14. Late In The Evening
15. Hearts And Bones
16. Rene And Georgette Magritte
17. The Late Great Johnny Ace


DISC 3
01. The Boy In The Bubble
02. Graceland
03. Under African Skies
04. That Was Your Mother
05. Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes
06. You Can Call Me Al
07. Homeless
08. Spirit Voices
09. The Obvious Child
10. Can't Run But
11. Thelma
12. Further To Fly
13. She Moves On
14. Born At The Right Time (Live)
15. The Cool, Cool River (Live)
16. The Sound Of Silence (Live)

–-
Producer: Paul Simon
Engineer: Roy Halee
Assistant engineers: Andy Smith, Rich Travali
Project coordinator: Dolores Lusitana
Special consultant: Gregg Geller
Assembled and remixed at The Hit Factory, New York
Remastered by Greg Galbi at Sterling SOund, New York

 

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