Coda.fm

Wednesday Morning, 3 AM

by Simon & Garfunkel

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Simon & Garfunkel would become, in essence, the American folk movement's answer to the Beatles, bridging generations and spanning musical styles--if done with an often-dispassionate air of seeming academic disdain--and a ubiquitous fixture in many a 1960s record collection. Yet, there are precious few hints of what was to come on Simon and Garfunkel's 1964 debut. Though recorded during the first few hectic months of American Beatlemania, the Paul and Art of Wednesday Morning are still firmly rooted in Greenwich Village coffeehouse traditions. Their nasally correct take on Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'," covers of American folk movement standards like "Peggy-O," "He Was My Brother," "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream," and buoyant gospel-tinged fare ("You Can Tell the World," "Go Tell It on the Mountain") just can't help sounding tres ironic, especially coming from the mouths of two nice Jewish boys from Queens. The early Simon originals here are cast in much the same mold, with the notable exception of "The Sounds of Silence" (offered here in its first, all-acoustic incarnation), a song that underscores the songwriter's looming ability to wrap even the most dour observations in poetically and musically accessible terms that would be the envy of many a Hallmark staff writer. This new edition has been digitally remastered to good effect and also contains three bonus tracks: spare, heartfelt demos of Simon's "Bleecker Street" and the covers "He Was My Brother" and "The Sun Is Burning." --Jerry McCulley