Art Garfunkel releases “The Singer”
Art Garfunkel hands picks 34 songs, 2- CD collection from his solo work and two new songs from Simon & Garfunkel years.
Putting together one man’s remarkable career in music, THE SINGER is a 34-song collection of songs hand-picked by the artist himself. Spanning a life’s body of work from the first Simon & Garfunkel album of 1964 (Wednesday Morning, 3 AM) through 2007’s Great American Songbook album (Some Enchanted Evening) and continuing with two newly recorded performances for this release (“Lena” and “Long Way Home”). This two-CD retrospective will be available at all physical and digital retail outlets starting August 28th 2012 through Sony Commercial Music Group.
The voice and soul of a true American poet have illuminated the work of Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee Art Garfunkel for nearly five decades. The Simon & Garfunkel LPs of 1964 to 1970 , and his deep catalog as a solo artist starting in 1973 – as well as in film, and on the printed page. Five-time Grammy® Award-winner Art Garfunkel has always approached every new project with the poet’s perspective.
As Garfunkel explained the essence of his Simon & Garfunkel artistry to Esquire, “We didn’t push for exaggerating one’s contribution… There are songs where I am a shadow. As the record emerged, you go, That’s what it is. Those are the two personalities. And the sound is lovely as long as the composite works. But as a solo, starting in the ’70s, I became a tenor/baritone, more expressive leading man of a singer. I owned the interpretation.”
In addition to curating THE SINGER, Garfunkel provides his own personal track-by-track annotations, which appear in the booklet in his handwritten form. The notes are as unique as Garfunkel himself.
The weaving of songs from the Simon & Garfunkel repertoire with songs from Art Garfunkel’s repertoire as a solo artist is one of the hallmarks of THE SINGER, as the collection takes on a timeless air, moving back and forth through time in a seamless pattern. The theme stays true – THE SINGER can sing!
THE SINGER contains many more examples of Garfunkel’s unerring way with pop tunes from our collective past: “Barbara Allen” (the folk ballad popularized by Joan Baez); “Disney Girls” (from the Beach Boys’ Surf’s Up); “I Wonder Why” (via Dion & the Belmonts); “When A Man Loves A Woman” (Percy Sledge); “Crying in the Rain” (a duet with James Taylor, via the Everly Brothers, an early Carole King-Howie Greenfield composition); and “Two Sleepy People,” the 1930s Hoagy Carmichael-Frank Loesser chestnut that captivated a new generation in 1955 when it was sung by James Dean and Natalie Wood in Rebel Without A Cause.
ART GARFUNKEL: THE SINGER
CD One:
1. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (Bridge Over Troubled Water, 1970)
2. “All I Know” with Jimmy Webb (up ’til now, 1993)
3. “Perfect Moment” with Buddy Mondlock & Maia Sharp (everything waits
to be noticed, 2002)
4. “For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her” (Simon & Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits, 1972)
5. “Crying in the Rain” with James Taylor (up ’til now, 1993)
6. “I Only Have Eyes For You” with Nicky Hopkins (piano) (Breakaway, 1975)
7. “99 Miles From L.A.” (Breakaway, 1975)
8. “(What A) Wonderful World” with James Taylor and Paul Simon (Watermark, 1978)
9. “Bright Eyes” (Fate For Breakfast, 1979)
10. “Two Sleepy People,” arranged by Dick Hyman (up ’til now, 1993)
11. “Skywriter” with Nicky Hopkins (piano) (up’til now, 1993)
12. “Scarborough Fair/Canticle” (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, 1966)
13. “Some Enchanted Evening” (Some Enchanted Evening, 2007)
14. “The Promise” produced by Steve Gadd (drums) and Geoff Emerick (Lefty, 1988) 15. “The Thread” with Maia Sharp and Buddy Mondlock” (everything waits
to be noticed, 2002)
16. “Lena” featuring Dean Parks (guitar) – Previously unreleased
17. “Barbara Allen” (Angel Clare, 1973)
CD Two:
1. “Kathy’s Song” (Simon & Garfunkel – Old Friends: Live On Stage, 2004)
2. “Long Way Home” with Maia Sharp – Previously unreleased
3. “Scissors Cut” with Leah Kunkel (Scissors Cut, 1981)
4. “The Sound Of Silence” (Wednesday Morning, 3 AM, 1964)
5. “Breakaway” with Graham Nash and David Crosby (Breakaway, 1975)
6. “So Long Frank Lloyd Wright” (Bridge Over Troubled Water, 1970)
7. “Waters Of March” with Billy Payne (keyboards) (Breakaway, 1975)
8. “The Decree” (The Animals’ Christmas, 1986)
9. “I Wonder Why” with Kenny Rankin (Lefty, 1988)
10. “Disney Girls” with Bruce Johnston (piano) and Toni Tenille (Breakaway, 1975)
11. “My Little Town” (Breakaway, 1975)
12. “O Come All Ye Faithful” with Eric Weissberg (Acoustic Christmas, 1990)
13. “A Heart In New York” with Michael Brecker (tenor sax) (Scissors Cut, 1981)
14. “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face” (Some Enchanted Evening, 2007)
15. “April Come She Will” (Sounds Of Silence, 1965)
16. “When A Man Loves A Woman” with Jeremy Steig (flute) and Michael Brecker (tenor sax) (Lefty, 1988)
17. “In Cars” (Scissors Cut, 1981)
