13 years ahead of its time. 11 songs by Paul Simon with unique sonic landscapes by Brian Eno, recorded by Andy Smith, and mixed by Tchad Blake. No other Simon album sounds like this.
The songs are very free in flow and memorable because of Eno’s sonic landscapes. I am also equally very impressed by Simon’s poetic lyrics here:
“If the answer is infinite light, why do we sleep in the dark?”
“We don’t mean to mess things up, but mess them up we do.”
“I shoot a thought into the future, and it flies like an arrow, through my lifetime. And beyond.”
“Who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?”
“I’m an ordinary player in the key of C.”
“Who’s that conscience sticking on the sole of my shoe?”
“Snowman sittin’ in the sun doesn’t have time to waste. He’s had a little bit too much fun, now his head’s erased.”
“I don’t believe a heart can be filled to the brim then vanish like mist as though life were a whim.”
“She hears the clouds, she sees the eye of the hurricane, as it sweeps across her island pillow.”
“I figure that once upon a time I was an ocean. But now I’m a mountain range. Something unstoppable set in motion.”
“I am walking up the face of a mountain. Counting every step I climb. Remembering the names of constellations. Forgotten is a long, long time.”
“I’m gonna stand guard like a postcard of a golden retriever.”
The lyrics have no regular rhymes and are prose poems. The flow of each song lyric is more stream-of-consciousness much like the feel of the accompanying music and sounds.
This is easily one of the best, fun, provocative albums Simon has ever done. Right up there with Graceland. Definitely worth checking out. Has a very contemporary feel with much unpredictability and spontaneousness. Two thumbs way up.