I have a huge, huge soft spot for Paul Simon. Simon & Garfunkel was one of the first bands I ever got into (like when I was eight) and I still love virtually everything Simon’s ever done. My musical tastes were shaped by his catchy melodies, pretty harmonies, and wry, literate lyrics. I’m one of the 12 people that bought the soundtrack to his Broadway play.
So I was both excited and trepidatious about the musical debut of his son (with his first wife) Harper Simon. Needless to say, a lot can go wrong with these musical legacy artists. They tend to ... try too hard. Happily, Simon escapes that trap—his eponymous debut is a short (30 minute), modest, likeable affair. It doesn’t stray to far from his father’s template, perhaps with a little less folk and a little more steel-guitar americana. Promising.
This track may be the most Paul-like, perhaps because he co-wrote it with Paul. It’s called “Tennessee.”
Friday music blogging: Todd Snider
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mdavidhall Posted 4:08 pm
24 Nov 2009
I'm new to Grist, and have been loving the site so far. Was especially psyched to see that you were dabbling in music coverage.
Just wanted to mention that Harper Simon, before branching out for his solo debut, was in a band from the UK called Menlo Park. I'm not really all that familiar with them, having only been tangentally aware of them and having heard a couple of tracks here and there, but thought you might want to check them out. They have a MySpace page here:
http://www.myspace.com/menloparkband
I heard an interview with Harper Simon on NPR a few weeks ago and he seemed to play down his musical past a bit. Not sure why. He did mention that he joined a band (never mentioned the name of the band) just out of college so that he wouldn't have to endure the constant comparisons to his dad that a solo career might bring, as well as the fact that he (at least early on) was not all that interested in solo acoustic music. But he also admitted, with some humor and humility, that in the end he did not think his vocals were really strong enough to stand out in a "rock" band environment.
Just thought I would share.
-m
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David Roberts Posted 5:27 pm
24 Nov 2009
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