This is another album I had floating around in my collection for a while before I got around to diving into it. Surely to the surprise of those of you who know me, I am a believer in the idea that if you feel around in the dark with any music long enough, you'll find your own VIP entrance somewhere. Though you may not thoroughly enjoy the music, you'll at least gain an understanding, maybe an appreciation for the artists intentions. Sometimes you find less than you hoped for, or you just downright hate it even after giving it a chance. Other times you're surprised, or you even fall head over heels. Such was my case with 'You're the One.'
Paul Simon's quiet, underproduced later career efforts are often overshadowed by his earlier successes. The 1990's were a relatively quiet time in Simon's career. His 1990 follow up to 1986's blockbuster 'Graceland' was a south African flavored collection of non-radio, rhythm and lyric driven tunes called 'Rythm of the Saints.' Several years passed and in 1997 'Songs From the Capeman', drawn half from cast recordings of the Simon penned, abandoned broadway musical, was released. A few quiet years later, this album arrives. A return to familiar territories throughout Paul's career, 'You're the One' is rootsy but not folky, melodic but not sugary, and as usual, profound but concise.
Immediately there is more than a hint of foreign flavor. Congas, bongos, bells, pan flute, and a myriad of auxiliary percussion flit around the drum kit, or render it obsolete in some songs. Again, the music has been written around a 'rhythmic premise', as Simon calls it. This aspect of the tunes alone is really enriching, whether you mentally isolate it or listen to it as a dialog with the other instruments. It gives this album a live in the studio feel. Of course, this is a Paul Simon album and the rhythm section remains in it's place, never obstructing the center of attention: the songwriting.
This record is a shining demonstration of Simon's enduring genius. Much of the material here is again familiar Paul Simon turf, from wholistic musings on the enderance love and partnership, to those of age and existence. The title track is suspiciously straightforward until mid-song when the title bitterly reappears as an accusation. 'Darling Lorraine' is a grooving narrative that I found to strongly echoe 'Train in the Distance' from the 'Hearts and Bones' album. 'Old' is an upbeat acknowledgement of age while it's author simultaneously contemplates the often shortsighted notion of deeming something (or someone) 'old'. A number of the songs here make use of Simon's nack for expressing an idea with a collage of superficially random artifacts and leading the listener to seeing them his way...after a bit of thought. This accounts for a lot of the fun on this record, but it endures into the melodic sense of it's composition. As always these melodies aren't simply listenable, but immediately engaging, and emotionally punctuate every song. Maybe there's no 'Mother and Child Reunion' or 'Kodachrome', but everything here more than does the trick.
It's easy to go on about Paul Simon's strengths. He's terrific with words, always conceptually innovative, works with top notch musicians, and the songs are catchy as hell. 9 times out of ten, the lyrics, compositions, and performances congeal effortlessly on a Paul Simon album to make something more. Once in a while however he slips up. On 'You're the One', there is a song called 'Pigs, Sheep and Wolves' where artistic liberty kind of gets away with the writer. The words are pretty neat and the concept is one of those things that as a songwriter I ask 'why didn't I think of that?' but Paul's delivery of the song, his embodiment of it's characters, harkens back to his performances on 'Songs From the Cape Man'. I guess it helps break up the record but this is a review. If I have to say something bad about this album, 'Pigs, Sheep and Wolves' makes me scratch my head.
I recommend downloading this collection from iTunes since it comes with three live performances of songs from this album as opposed to a live 'Me and Julio...' or something.
'You're the One' reminds fans and skeptics alike that Paul Simon remains in the new millennium comfortably at the top of his game.
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