Simon & Garfunkel
Greatest Hits

THE REVIEW

Who among you, born in the years of the Italian economic boom ('50s), doesn't have/haven't had this album in their record collection, raise your hand? I count few, really few! Just like those who haven't seen the film "The Graduate" by Mike Nichols (Oscar) with the great Dustin Hoffman at least once. The "Greatest Hits" collected here represent the musical epitome of Simon & Garfunkel, a popular American pop-folk duo active in the late '60s and dissolved at the dawn of the new decade, to undertake honorable solo careers never reaching the heights previously achieved. Part of the tracks is taken from the film's soundtrack and it can be said that they are also the most famous songs. I'm specifically writing about the famous Mrs. Robinson in the opening, the captivating "The Sound of Silence" here in the live version, and the delightful, albeit a bit soporific (and I apologize to the more ardent fans) "Scarborough Fair," the only one co-written by the authors besides the beautiful "Condor Pasa."

The other tracks are all written by Paul Simon, among them "Bridge over Troubled Water" from the eponymous 1970 album, the true swan song and the last product together from this well-matched pair. Four are from live concerts like "Kathy's Song," dedicated to Simon's first great love, the then-seventeen-year-old Kathleen Chitty, met during his first trip to England, and "For Emily," quite suitable to enhance Art Garfunkel's velvety voice. And finally "The 59th Bridge Song," in addition to the already mentioned "Sound of Silence." Unfortunately, it is not known where or when these tracks were recorded as both the original 'LP and the CD, both published by CBS, were rather spartan: front and back cover (photos of the protagonists in New York), song titles, their duration, and that's it.

Despite the informational "poverty," this remarkable collection is credited with sales, only in the United States, of 14 million pieces, obviously not counting the numerous hits of the singles reported here, of which at least a couple reached the top of both American and British charts (not to mention those of dozens of other countries where they reached the same peak)......... and excuse me, that's not too little.

Here, I felt it was necessary to bring back this epochal collection, which perhaps will mean little to the younger ones without its memory; someone will find it even sleepy, except for "I'm a Rock" and of course "Cecilia," not coincidentally placed at the end of the album, just to awaken the absorbed spirits of the listeners, but which represented the mirror of a young, bourgeois, and restless generation, quite well represented by the "graduate."

In general, I don't find it correct to give a judgment to an album that contains great hits even if the selection might have been made correctly. Indeed, every fan of the American duo will easily find some important absence or perhaps an excess, as could be the unreleased "America," but for the reasons mentioned above, it is necessary to make an exception and the result can only lead to the highest rating.

I conclude by observing that after almost half a century from its production, devoid of the sentimental aspect, I find although quite simple the arrangements, how they are still original, fresh, and pleasant, probably still able to convey the magic of the years in which they achieved so much success.