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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Minstrel Jan 21, 2007
Paul Simon promised that he would never read his liner notes for the 1965 British solo album, THE PAUL SIMON SONGBOOK. It's understandable why-- Simon might have felt they were a too-awkward attempt at a conversation of one. Perhaps he had doubts about their oddly hallucinogenic imagery, as well.
Maybe not the greatest of self-promoters, there's no question that Mr. Simon clearly was, by 1965, already a songwriter of the first rank-- the man's talents shine brightly on all of these tracks. That this earliest solo work wasn't released in the USA until decades later is as much a mystery as the true meaning of Paul's liner note chat with the Poppy Tender.
What a delight it is to examine the sonic building blocks that two future Simon & Garfunkel albums would draw upon. And what a privilege too, to hear the master minstrel, in voice and guitar alone, telling his stories and baring his soul. Opportunities like this are so very rare.
TOTAL RUNNING TIME -- 38:40
2 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Simon when he was rhymin' Jul 01, 2006
Everyone knows that Paul Simon has not been particularly prolific as a composer. His catalog of songs is small and those that are worthy could fill four albums - over a course of forty years - that works out to one song a year. One of the secrets of his career has been the fact that the basis for his first three albums with Garfunkel was the batch of songs he wrote and recorded while in England by himself. Some of these were released as the Paul Simon Songbook. The Sounds of Silence was tweaked in the US to become a folk-rock number, hit number one, and Simon rushed back to the states with his songbook to go electric in the studios. The rest is history.
Here are early versions of many songs that would become classics in later years. Some, like "Kathy's Song," are essentially unchanged. "Sounds of Silence" has a different, plodding tempo that weakens the impact of the song. "I am a Rock" and "Flowers never bend with the rainfall" are strong here but are definitely made more powerful in the later versions.
Simon appears to have been ambivalent about this release once his more electric versions were produced. He didn't exactly withdraw it from the public but he rarely mentioned it either. I suppose its release on cd means he was looking for some quick pocket money. Overall, if this was all we ever heard from Simon, he would have been remembered as a folkie on the "B" list - known only to collectors of early sixties folk music. Interesting for a listen if you are a S & G fan.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 You should buy this... Jan 10, 2005
...for the stripped down "Leaves that are Green" alone. This is the way I heard the song first, on the Paul Simon 1964/1993 box set, and it took me a long time before I could even stand to sit through the high-energy version on Sounds of Silence... this version is simple and beautiful, the way the song should be.
14 of 14 found the following review helpful:
An Early Document From A Seminal Songwriter (4.5 stars) Aug 20, 2004
I too had heard about the existence of these masters and, although I love and respect Paul Simon's body of work, did not think enough of it to check it out right away. Well ... I'm certainly sorry I waited as long as I have.
Listening to this CD will give you the kind of insight into an artist that you may only get from his or her private notebooks, a sense of looking at notes that may still change but were important enough to be written down when they were, a diary of a young man who must express the outrage or tenderness he's found in the world around him.
You don't have to be a completist or be writing a PhD dissertation on Simon, to own this CD. I'd argue that if you've never heard Simon & Garfunkel you may still be thanking your stars for having discovered the treasures that are included here.
This is not to say that the latter versions with Art Garfunkel are to be forgotten, of course, but that these takes ought to be listened to as the roots of the glorious recordings they created together. Actually, I'd go as far as to say that many of their classics would not be have been such without Artie's breathtaking voice.
This album is full of gems, played with a minimum of instrumentation and without any kind of pretentiousness. "I Am A Rock" sounds angrier and reveals an edge to the words I did not ever get from the famous duo's versions; "A Most Peculiar Man" and "Kathy's Song" are bound to thaw your heart; and "A Church Is Burning" or "A Simple Desultory Philippic" although naive, somewhat the sentimental fury of a young man, will move you with their honesty.
These are not outtakes, the often incomplete, unrealized stuff that gets added to reissued classic albums, that clearly proves why it was buried in vaults for a long time. This is an early album, a set of songs that was meant to be heard, by one of the most important singer-songwriters in popular music. Astute and tender, at times naive but not asleep to the times he witnessed as a young artist.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
As good as the reputation that preceded it Jul 01, 2004
Every serious Paul Simon fan has probably heard OF this album, but for years most of us (Americans at least) never got the chance to hear it. Was it worth the wait? Absolutely.I don't think I would go as far as some other reviewers have in suggesting these recordings are better than the Simon and Garfunkel versions of the same songs, but it's definitely an interesting change hearing them in a more stripped down and intimate style. And that said, some of these renditions are better than the more famous ones. "A Church Is Burning," with its by-turns angry and joyous lyrics, is a perfect match for the low-fi style found here. "Kathy's Song" and "Patterns" (admittedly two of my all time favorite Simon songs to begin with) also sound great with just a guitar for a change, and "I Am A Rock" manages to sound even more angst-ridden here than elsewhere. On the other hand, this album's "Sounds of Silence" is a bit weaker than the more famous version (he hits a couple of wrong notes, and more than most of his songs, this one really is best performed as a duet). But for the most part, even the more familiar titles sound great in these early renditions. There are also a couple of songs not to be found elsewhere: "The Side of A Hill" sounds a lot like an outtake from the first S&G album, and has arguably held up better than quite a few of the songs found there. Also, this album's "A Simple Desultory Philippic" is very different lyrically from the more famous version (some of the people he slams in the later recording weren't famous yet, after all). All in all, whether you're in search of buried treasure or just curious about the heretofore-rare title, it's well worth picking up.
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