Still Crazy After All These Years (1975)

I confuse the Paul Simon who appears on this album with the Paul Simon who appeared in Annie Hall, the self-assured and eternally deeply relaxed savant so plainly in love with his own image in the mirror, Narcissus style. I'm not sure Paul Simon's third album in approximately as many years following the demise of Simon & Garfunkel ever adds up to more than the sum of its pieces, even if I know and honesty requires me to acknowledge that for sure it has some really sweet pieces, starting with the reunion single with Garfunkel, "My Little Town." It's another one of those albums I used to like a good deal more than I do now—maybe there's a mood I need to get myself into to get the most out of these Paul Simon solos. Call it "wistful for the '70s" and it doesn't come over me that often, certainly not on command. Things you need to know: This remains a slick production all through with strings and backing vocals and horns busting in as the feeling dictates. Of course, we could all do a lot less with the overweening and ultimately toxic smug of "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover." Yeah, hop on the bus, Gus—it belongs in a time capsule for the era but it doesn't mean we ever have to like it (in spite of, yes I admit even this, the coy mannerisms that make it occasionally charming). My favorite now is "Gone at Last" because I love the way Phoebe Snow's voice comes welling out of the mix and takes possession of it, and she sounds so good. Approximately at her very peak here, she sounds it every bit. One thing you can say about Paul Simon is that he is always quick to identify talent (particularly when traveling overseas, though there's not so much of that here)—for better or worse, that includes recognizing his own, at such tiresome length and with all the preening ego gestures that inevitably follow. Do I recommend this to anyone born after the year of its release or who has somehow perhaps never heard any of it? That's a harder question. I have a feeling this could well be a case of "you had to be there."