Sounds of Silence (album)
Sounds of Silence is the second album by Simon and Garfunkel, released on January 17, 1966. The album's title is a slight modification of the title of the duo's first major hit, "The Sound of Silence", which originally was released as "The Sounds of Silence". The song had earlier been released in an acoustic version on the album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., and later on the soundtrack to the movie The Graduate. Without the knowledge of Simon and Garfunkel, electric instruments and drums were overdubbed by Bob Dylan's studio band on June 15, 1965. This new version was released as a single in September 1965, and opens the album.
"Homeward Bound" was released on the album in the UK. It was also released as part of the box set Simon & Garfunkel Collected Works, on both LP and CD. Many of the songs in the album had been written by Paul Simon while he lived in London during 1965. "I Am a Rock", "Leaves That Are Green", "April Come She Will", "A Most Peculiar Man", and "Kathy's Song" had appeared on his album The Paul Simon Songbook, released in August 1965 in England.
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Track listing
All songs by Paul Simon, except where noted.
Side one
- "The Sound of Silence" – 3:08
Recorded: March 10, 1964 & June 15, 1965
- "Leaves That Are Green" – 2:23
Recorded: December 13, 1965
- "Blessed" – 3:16
Recorded: December 21, 1965
- "Kathy's Song" – 3:21
Recorded: December 21, 1965
- "Somewhere They Can't Find Me" – 2:37
Recorded: April 5, 1965
- "Anji" (Davey Graham) – 2:17
Recorded: December 13, 1965
Side two
- "Richard Cory" – 2:57
Recorded: December 14, 1965
- "A Most Peculiar Man" – 2:34
Recorded: December 22, 1965
- "April Come She Will" – 1:51
Recorded: December 21, 1965
- "We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin'" – 2:00
Recorded: April 5, 1965
- "I Am a Rock" – 2:50
Recorded: December 14, 1965
Bonus tracks (2001 CD reissue)
- "Blues Run The Game" (Jackson C. Frank) – 2:55
Recorded: December 21, 1965
- "Barbriallen" (Traditional) – 4:06
Recorded: July 8, 1970
- "Rose of Aberdeen" (Traditional) – 2:02
Recorded: July 8, 1970
- "Roving Gambler" (Traditional) – 3:03
Recorded: July 8, 1970
Notes
- The album cover photo was shot at Franklin Canyon Park in Los Angeles, California.
- The song "Richard Cory" was based on a poem with the same title by Edwin Arlington Robinson. The chorus, however, is entirely of Simon's composition.
- Two songs on the album deal with suicide: "Richard Cory" and "A Most Peculiar Man".
- The Tremeloes' recording of "Blessed" became their 1966 "solo debut"-single (without Brian Poole)
- The English singer-songwriter Billy Bragg lifted the opening lines of "Leaves That Are Green" ("I was 21 years when I wrote this song/I'm 22 now, but I won't be for long") for his song "A New England", which appeared on Bragg's 1983 EP Life's a Riot with Spy Vs Spy; these same lyrics can be found in the Kirsty MacColl version of this song. Released as a cover in 1984, the song was her biggest solo hit - reaching #7 in the UK and #8 in Ireland.
- "Somewhere They Can't Find Me" is essentially a reworking of the title track of the duo's first album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. It was recorded along with "We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin'" a few months before producer Tom Wilson dubbed electric instruments on "Sounds of Silence". The recurring descending bass line in the track as well as its introductory guitar riff were borrowed from Davey Graham's acoustic guitar piece "Anji", a cover of which follows on the album.
- There are three cover variations of the LP:
- Original issue: SIMON & GARFUNKEL on one line; SOUNDS OF SILENCE on another, all in capital letters, no song titles on the front.
- Second issue: Enlarged title letters, with only the first letter of the words "Sounds" and "Silence" in the album title capitalized. The first letters in "Simon" and "Garfunkel" are capitalized, but the rest are in lower-case. Song titles also included on the front.
- Third issue: Same front cover as the second, the back cover has the copy of Tiger Beat magazine in Garfunkel's hand airbrushed out.
- The original LP label mistakenly spells "Anji" as "Angie" and credits it to Bert Jansch, who had recorded the tune for his 1965 debut album. The back cover of the original LP sleeve properly credits Davey Graham as composer but retains the "Angie" misspelling. Both errors were corrected for subsequent reissues.
Charts
Personnel
Sounds of Silence was recorded in December 1965 at CBS studios in Nashville, Tennessee, and Los Angeles, California. The album was produced by Bob Johnston.
Further reading
- Charlesworth, Chris, The Complete Guide to the Music of Paul Simon and Simon & Garfunkel, Omnibus Press 1996
- Maclauchlan, Paul, "Paul Simon Discography 1955 to 1999 : Simon & Garfunkel - 1964 to 1971"
- Williams, Paul, "Sounds of Silence: Simon & Garfunkel", Crawdaddy! magazine, first issue, January 30, 1966; reprinted in The Crawdaddy! book : writings (and images) from the magazine of rock, by Paul Williams, Milwaukee, WI : Hal Leonard Corp., 2002.
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Songs · Paul Simon solo albums · Paul Simon songs · Art Garfunkel solo albums
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