Simon and Song Reunion: Celebrating a Life’s Work
By NATE CHINEN
Published: April 25, 2008
“Where’s Paul?” somebody shouted during a lull halfway through “American Tunes,” the final stretch of Paul Simon’s monthlong residency at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. This indecorous question roused just a bit of awkward applause. Then the stage lights brightened, and out walked ... Josh Groban. That’s pretty funny, as cosmic rejoinders go.
In some regards Mr. Simon was a constant presence throughout the concert, which took a retrospective spin through his songbook, reaching back to the Simon and Garfunkel years. He did perform, at the top of the program (briefly) and toward the end (generously). But he also lurked in the cadences and convolutions of the songs, regardless of who was singing them. In an evening with many guest stars and some excellent performances, the focus never strayed from his wry and searching narrative voice.
Some artists were reverential, for better or worse. The Roches — a trio of sisters with a long history in commercial folk music and credits on the album “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon” — opened the concert with “American Tune,” sounding pious if not quite pitch precise. (Later they mangled “Cecilia.” It wasn’t their night.)
Mr. Groban, whose chaste and luminous singing style places him squarely on Art Garfunkel’s side of the fence, made hay with “America,” a song he has lately honed on tour. (His earnestness worked to his favor on one of the song’s pivotal lines, “I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why.”) The singer-songwriter Amos Lee was equally straightforward but much more low-key with “Peace Like a River,” fingerpicking an acoustic guitar and singing in a honeyed tone.
The Brooklyn indie-rock band Grizzly Bear took a more liberal approach, producing haunting results. “Mother and Child Reunion,” an upbeat tune, became something stark and slightly warped, as though it had been left out in the sun too long. “Graceland” was even better, thanks to the harmonic recasting of Daniel Rossen, Grizzly Bear’s principal guitarist and singer, who has recorded the song. Adding to its mystery here was a shifting pulse by the drummer Christopher Bear. At one point he evoked the famous drumbeat for another classic tune, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.”
The program included a decently insouciant version of “50 Ways,” by the Mississippi bluesman Olu Dara. Backed by an attentive electric band, he took its lyrics almost as a suggestion, except during a single iteration of the chorus. His casual tone did less to carry “Still Crazy After All These Years,” set as a shuffle: it felt unstructured and glib.
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings struck the evening’s best balance between faithfulness, care and reinvention. With their impeccable vocal harmonies and effervescent guitar playing, they made “Gone at Last” into an edge-of-the-seat bluegrass romp. And their quieter take on “Duncan” was stunning, as Ms. Welch sang in a warm and weathered tone and Mr. Rawlings keened above her, at hairline intervals.
Mr. Simon joined them for a couple of his landmark songs, “The Boxer” and “Sound of Silence,” as he had done earlier with Mr. Groban on “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” In each case he sang in his silvery and conversational style, harmonizing graciously. The songs themselves felt stout and impassive, like features of a familiar landscape.
By contrast “Mrs. Robinson” brought out Mr. Simon’s playful side: together with his superb working band, led by the multi-instrumentalist Mark Stewart, he imbued the song with elasticity and whimsy. He was even friskier on “Train in the Distance,” which marshaled the full forces of the band during a surging coda, and “Late in the Evening,” a show-stopping encore, complete with horns.
And in a concert steeped in nostalgia, it was gratifying to see Mr. Simon offer something new — “How Can You Live in the Northeast?” from his 2006 album “Surprise” (Warner Brothers) — with gusto and conviction. “I have harvested and I’ve planted,” he sang as the band surged hard behind him, sounding utterly at ease.
“American Tunes” continues through Sunday at the Howard Gilman Opera House, 30 Lafayette Avenue, at Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn; (718) 636-4100; sold out.
Paul SImon Photos
