Paul Simon

Rhythm Of The Saints

Paul Simon's Masterpiece--And One of the Best Ever

Review Score:

(10/10)
I'm coming out of the closet and finally putting myself on record as saying that this is Paul Simon's best album as a solo artist. I also agree with other reviewers--this is one of the fifty best albums of the twentieth century.

Although Graceland was a landmark record, there were many "outside" issues with that record. Troubles with cultural snobbery and exploitation (particularly of Los Lobos), unsituated appropriation of "Third World" musics and musicalisms, and just plain screwed up "liberal" New York elitism. Some of that is still here in this album--even Caetano Veloso took some pot shots at Paul Simon, as has Carlinhos Brown.

But great art is judged by time as much as anything else, and I believe that this is a fascinating and moving record, whose subtle and shifting rhythms, melodies, harmonies, and chords represent perhaps the best admixture of Brazilian, African, and American sensibilities in the history of pop music (Jazz music is here, of course, excepted; that music is beyond this discussion and is in an entirely separate category). The single biggest thing that sticks out for me about this album is the percussion work. You get a broad and deep emotional working out of a variety of African-matrixed South American percussion styles, and the perhaps biggest musical achievement by Simon here is his sly and sophisticated incorporation of a stunning variety of polyrythms into his already legendary folk and folksy pop music. This music is at times simply gorgeous--it flows like a river, and on occasion it flows thick and lovingly like hot lava.

This is grown-up, laid back, (in the best American/Brazilian collaborative tradition), intelligent, lovely, and wise music.

Highly Recommended.

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