Artist: Paul Simon
Album: Live in New York City
Release date: 3 October 2012
At age 70, an average person might find themselves settling into a life of leisure, card games, and RV touring. If you’re Paul Simon, on the other hand, you maintain legendary music star status with a creative push that boasts the same edge with which 1986’s Graceland was carved. Paul Simon Live in NYC is a live album and concert DVD set, recorded in June 2011 at NYC’s landmark Wester Hall. The 20 track set list spans the range of Simon’s recording career, from “The Sound Of Silence” and the first-white-guy-tries reggae “Mother and Child Reunion,” to the infectiously rocking “So Beautiful Or So What” (from Simon’s 2011 album of the same title). An 8-piece band that includes Simon’s Graceland South African bassist Bakithi Kumalo backs Simon’s non-wavering vocals. Tony Cedras, touring with Simon since 1987, proves he can still rip out some accordion stops with “The Boy In The Bubble.” The recording is clean, and although he may be eligible for a senior’s discount breakfast at diners across America, this instantly classic album proves that Simon’s edge has not faded with age.
