Paul Simon – The Complete Albums Collection – 15 CD Sony Legacy -15/10/2013

Mancava all’appello il cofanetto con l’opera omnia di Paul Simon come solista e ora ci pensa la Sony a colmare questa lacuna. Tra l’altro la discografia di Simon è sempre stata alquanto ballerina, i suoi dischi infatti sono usciti per la vecchia Columbia/CBS, per la Warner/Rhino (che nel 2004 aveva già pubblicato un The Studio Recordings 1972-2000 in 9 CD senza i Live, il primo Paul Simon Songbook e i due nuovi che ovviamente non erano ancora usciti), per la Universal e periodicamente hanno cambiato distribuzione. Ora sembra che la Legacy si sia aggiudicata i diritti per tutti gli albums che vengono ripubblicati nelle versioni rimasterizzate e con bonus, con l’eccezione degli ultimi due (perché? Mah…), Surprise e So Beautiful Or So What. C’è di bello che escono in questa serie di Box Sets della Sony/BMG che sono particolarmente a buon mercato e quindi iniziate a farci un pensierino.

Questa è la lista completa dei brani, disco per disco, inediti e rarità aggiunte compresi:

The Paul Simon Song Book (1965)

• 1. I Am A Rock
• 2. Leaves That Are Green
• 3. A Church Is Burning
• 4. April Come She Will
• 5. The Sound Of Silence
• 6. A Most Peculiar Man
• 7. He Was My Brother
• 8. Kathy’s Song
• 9. The Side Of A Hill
• 10. A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara’d Into Submission)
• 11. Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall
• 12. Patterns
• 13. I Am A Rock (alternate version) *
• 14. A Church Is Burning (alternate version) *

Paul Simon (1972)

• 1. Mother And Child Reunion
• 2. Duncan
• 3. Everything Put Together Falls Apart
• 4. Run That Body Down
• 5. Armistice Day
• 6. Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard
• 7. Peace Like A River
• 8. Papa Hobo
• 9. Hobo’s Blues
• 10. Paranoia Blues
• 11. Congratulations
• 12. Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard (Demo – San Francisco 2/71) *
• 13. Duncan (Demo – San Francisco 2/71) *
• 14. Paranoia Blues (Unreleased Version) *

 There Goes Rhymin’ Simon (1973)

•  1. Kodachrome
• 2. Tenderness
• 3. Take Me To The Mardi Gras
• 4. Something So Right
• 5. One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor
• 6. American Tune
• 7. Was A Sunny Day
• 8. Learn How To Fall
• 9. St. Judy’s Comet
• 10. Loves Me Like a Rock
• 11. Let Me Live In Your City (Work In Progress) *
• 12. Take Me To The Mardi Gras (Acoustic Demo) *
• 13. American Tune (Unfinished Demo) *
• 14. Loves Me Like A Rock (Acoustic Demo) *

Paul Simon in Concert: Live Rhymin’ (1974)

• 1. Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard
• 2. Homeward Bound
• 3. American Tune
• 4. El Condor Pasa (If I Could)
• 5. Duncan
• 6. The Boxer
• 7. Mother And Child Reunion
• 8. The Sound Of Silence
• 9. Jesus Is The Answer
• 10. Bridge Over Troubled Water
• 11. Loves Me Like A Rock
• 12. America
• 13. Kodachrome (Alternate Version) *
• 14. Something So Right (Alternate Version) *

Still Crazy After All These Years (1975)

• 1. Still Crazy After All These Years
• 2. My Little Town
• 3. I’d Do It For Your Love
• 4. 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover
• 5. Night Game
• 6. Gone At Last
• 7. Some Folks’ Lives Roll Easy
• 8. Have A Good Time
• 9. You’re Kind
• 10. Silent Eyes
• 11. Slip Slidin’ Away (Demo) *
• 12. Gone At Last (Original Demo w/The Jessy Dixon Singers) *

 One-Trick Pony (1980)

• 1. Late In The Evening
• 2. That’s Why God Made The Movies
• 3. One-Trick Pony
• 4. How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns
• 5. Oh, Marion
• 6. Ace In The Hole
• 7. Nobody
• 8. Jonah
• 9. God Bless The Absentee
• 10. Long, Long Day
• 11. Soft Parachutes (Unreleased Soundtrack Recording) *
• 12. All Because Of You (Outtake) *
• 13. Spiral Highway (Unreleased Soundtrack Recording) *
• 14. Stranded In A Limousine *

 Hearts and Bones (1983)

• 1. Allergies
• 2. Hearts And Bones
• 3. When Numbers Get Serious
• 4. Think Too Much (b)
• 5. Song About The Moon
• 6. Think Too Much (a)
• 7. Train In The Distance
• 8. Rene And George Magritte with Their Dog After The War
• 9. Cars Are Cars
• 10. The Late Great Johnny Ace
• 11. Shelter Of Your Arms (Unreleased Work-In-Progress) (Bonus Track) *
• 12. Train In The Distance (Original Acoustic Demo) (Bonus Track) *
• 13. Rene And George Magritte with Their Dog After The War (Original Acoustic Demo) (Bonus Track) *
• 14. The Late Great Johnny Ace (Original Acoustic Demo) (Bonus Track) *

Graceland (1986)

• 1. The Boy In The Bubble
• 2. Graceland
• 3. I Know What I Know
• 4. Gumboots
• 5. Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes
• 6. You Can Call Me Al
• 7. Under African Skies
• 8. Homeless
• 9. Crazy Love, Vol. II
• 10. That Was Your Mother
• 11. All Around The World Or The Myth Of Fingerprints
• 12. Homeless (Demo) (Bonus Track) *
• 13. Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes (Unreleased Version) (Bonus Track) *
• 14. All Around The World Or The Myth Of Fingerprints (Early Version) (Bonus Track) *
• 15. You Can Call Me Al (Demo) *
• 16. Crazy Love (Demo) *
• 17. The Story of “Graceland” (As told by Paul Simon, Recorded January 2012) *

The Rhythm of the Saints (1990)

• 1. The Obvious Child
• 2. Can’t Run But
• 3. The Coast
• 4. Proof
• 5. Further To Fly
• 6. She Moves On
• 7. Born At The Right Time
• 8. The Cool, Cool River
• 9. Spirit Voices
• 10. The Rhythm Of The Saints
• 11. Born At The Right Time (Original Acoustic Demo) (Bonus Track) *
• 12. Thelma (Bonus Track) *
• 13. The Coast (Work-In-Progress) (Bonus Track) *
• 14. Spirit Voices (Work-In-Progress) (Bonus Track) *

Paul Simon’s Concert in the Park (1991)

Disc 1

• 1. The Obvious Child
• 2. The Boy in the Bubble
• 3. She Moves On
• 4. Kodachrome
• 5. Born at the Right Time
• 6. Train in the Distance
• 7. Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
• 8. I Know What I Know
• 9. The Cool, Cool River
• 10. Bridge Over Troubled Water
• 11. Proof

Disc 2

• 1. The Coast
• 2. Graceland
• 3. You Can Call Me Al
• 4. Still Crazy After All These Years
• 5. Loves Me Like a Rock
• 6. Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
• 7. Hearts and Bones
• 8. Late in the Evening
• 9. America
• 10. The Boxer
• 11. Cecilia
• 12. The Sound of Silence

 Songs From the Capeman (1997)

• 1. Adios Hermanos
• 2. Born in Puerto Rico
• 3. Satin Summer Nights
• 4. Bernadette
• 5. The Vampires
• 6. Quality
• 7. Can I Forgive Him
• 8. Sunday Afternoon
• 9. Killer Wants to Go to College
• 10. Time Is an Ocean
• 11. Virgil
• 12. Killer Wants to Go to College II
• 13. Trailways Bus
• 14. Shoplifting Clothes *
• 15. Born in Puerto Rico (Demo with José Feliciano) *
• 16. Can I Forgive Him (Original Demo Recorded March 1993) *

You’re The One (2000)

• 1. That’s Where I Belong
• 2. Darling Lorraine
• 3. Old
• 4. You’re the One
• 5. The Teacher
• 6. Look at That
• 7. Señorita with a Necklace of Tears
• 8. Love
• 9. Pigs, Sheep and Wolves
• 10. Hurricane Eye
• 11. Quiet
• 12. That’s Where I Belong (Live) *
• 13. Old (Live) *
• 14. Hurricane Eye (Live) *

Surprise (2006)

• 1. How Can You Live in the Northeast?
• 2. Everything About It Is a Love Song
• 3. Outrageous
• 4. Sure Don’t Feel like Love
• 5. Wartime Prayers
• 6. Beautiful
• 7. I Don’t Believe
• 8. Another Galaxy
• 9. Once Upon a Time There Was an Ocean
• 10. That’s Me
• 11. Father and Daughter

So Beautiful or So What (2011)

• 1. Getting Ready for Christmas Day
• 2. The Afterlife
• 3. Dazzling Blue
• 4. Rewrite
• 5. Love and Hard Times
• 6. Love Is Eternal Sacred Light
• 7. Amulet
• 8. Questions for the Angels
• 9. Love and Blessings
• 10. So Beautiful or So What

* Expanded CD reissues contain 37 bonus tracks (previously released)

Sono 14 album, ma Concert In The Park è doppio, quindi il totale dei CD è 15.

Una inezia in confronto ai 24 (tra CD, DVD e Blu-Ray) che costituiranno il contenuto del cofanetto dei King Crimson The Road To Red. Dedicato ad un solo album, credevo che i 14 relativi a Larks’ Tongues In Aspic fossero un record, ma qui si supera ogni immaginazione, nemmeno i Grateful Dead nei loro “sogni più selvaggi” (che ne hanno fatti anche di più voluminosi, ma non su un disco solo). Ma ne parliamo nei prossimi giorni. Ogni giorno si aggiunge qualche cofanetto sfizioso per un autunno spendaccioso, serviva per la rima: per esempio Nirvana, Tears For Fears, Zombies, Orb, il Box sul Glam Rock, tanto per citarne alcuni!

Bruno Conti

P.S. Sembra che anche il più volte annunciato Bob Dylan The Complete Albums Collection, 41 CD, possa essere in pista per l’autunno!