984 - Paul Simon 'Paul Simon' (1972)

My Rating: 3.45 out of 5

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: √

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums: X

The Mojo Collection: X

Chart Peak (UK/US): 1/4

Favourite Tracks: Everything Put Together Falls Apart, Run That Body Down
Least-Favourite Tracks: Duncan

The album cover photo says it all; here's Paul Simon up close & personal, he peers shyly out from under his hood & there's a warm, glow over everything. Oh and most importantly he standing there on his own with no sign of the curly-haired guy. And that sums it up pretty well, for this is a richly melodic collection of songs that offers an intimate portrait of Simon the solo performer.

I was quite surprised by this album as there's quite a variety of musical styles from reggae to gipsy jazz and yet it all holds together as a complete & unified record. It's almost as if he set out to prove just what he could do once he was freed from the shackles of the 'Simon & Garfunkel' formula. The versatility & songcraft he demonstrates puts a lot of today's trendy singer-songwriters to shame - a song like Everything Put Together Falls Apart manages to be both complex & catchy at the same time and craps all over the bland balladeering of people like James Blunt & Daniel Powter. I also liked the deeply autobiographical nature of the lyrics - he sings about the minutiae of his own life & relationships and that makes the whole thing sound so sincere & heartfelt - especially compared to the contrived so that everyone-can-relate-to-it songs that dominate our airwaves these days.

986 - Curtis Mayfield 'Superfly' (1972)

My Rating: 3.89 out of 5

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: √

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums: X

The Mojo Collection: X

Chart Peak (UK/US): 26/1

Favourite Tracks: Freddie's Dead, Pusherman
Least-Favourite Tracks: No Thing On Me

What's this doing propping up the tail end of the Top 1000? Surely one of the definitions of a good album is whether you can play it from start to finish without encountering one duff track & that's exactly what we have here.

This is seventies funk at its most supercool - driving rhythms & groovy basslines coupled with lush strings & slick brass. If this music hadn't been written for a movie in the first place, you can be sure that Tarantino would have grabbed it by now. But what elevates this beyond being just another solid funk record are Mayfield's incisive lyrics & stunning vocals; his singing is straightforward and yet so soulful. And I mean soulful in the sense that he is genuinely emotive & stirring - there are none of the vocal acrobatics & showboating that seem to define 'soulfulness' to a whole generation of X-factor-Mariah Carey-wannabees.

It does share many similarities with Isaac Hayes' Shaft soundtrack (which incidentally did come out a year before this) though what sets it apart for me are the brooding, streetwise & influential lyrics on songs like Pusherman ('I'm your momma, I'm your daddy / I'm that nigga in the alley / I'm your doctor, when in need / want some coke, have some weed').

It may have been penned as a movie soundtrack but this record works supremely well as an album in its own right. It's no surprise then that according to Wikipedia Superfly is also one of the only films ever to have been outgrossed by its soundtrack. Let's face it, if you don't like this one, you're as dead as Freddie.

997 - Carly Simon 'No Secrets' (1972)

My Rating: 2.40 out of 5

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: X

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums: X

The Mojo Collection: X

Chart Peak (UK/US): 3/1

Favourite Tracks: We Have No Secrets
Least-Favourite Track: Embrace Me You Child

I was a little disappointed by this album & I'm trying to figure out why. For a flagship recording from the peak of the singer-songwriter era, I think I was expecting well.. great singing & great songwriting but both seemed a little shaky. Her voice quite literally does waver around of course, not in the same league as Larry the Lamb or his alter-ego Boy George (well you never see them in the same room do you?) but occasionally a little too wobbly for my tastes. Likewise, the songwriting is not quite as strong as I'd anticipated; I imagined this record to be awash with intricate melodies but again it fell a little short. Perhaps it's just my high expectations that are the problem because it's not a bad record by any means. I liked the intensely-personal, 'confessional' nature of the lyrics which are a million miles away from the usual clichéd pop fodder, though the subject matter (missing a childhood friend, relationship worries) may seem a little lightweight for some. I suppose coming from such a privileged background it would have been difficult for her to sing about social inequalities or bringing down the state with any degree of sincerity. And there's a strong argument that those kind of subjects are just another set of rock clichés anyway.

Once again, I found that the final third of the album tailed off slightly but improved for the closing track. Listening to all these records in their original running order it's a pattern that I have noticed a lot already; a track's postioning says quite a lot about what the record label thought of it at the time.