Live 1969 [PA] [Digipak]

Performer: Simon & Garfunkel
Engineer: David Stoller
Producer: Bob Irwin
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel: Paul Simon (vocals, guitar); Art Garfunkel (vocals); Fred Carter, Jr. (guitar); Larry Knechtel (keyboards); Joe Osborn (bass guitar); Hal Blaine (drums). For folk legends Simon & Garfunkel, 1969 was both a peak year and the beginning of the end. They had achieved most of their hits and were about to record their classic final album at the time of this recording, which took place on a lucrative six-city U.S. tour. While other celebrated live albums by the duo have been released, and this tour in particular produced many bootlegs, this is the first official live concert album of that period, and is invaluable to fans. The duo's singing is stellar and the musical rapport is strong here, with no indication of the rupture that would take place soon after. Listeners will be amused by references to "new songs" like "Bridge Over Troubled Waters." Recorded at the duo's peak, just after finishing their fifth and final album, Live 1969 benefits greatly from the expert touch of Simon & Garfunkel's crucial producer/engineer, Roy Halee. It's significant that the six concerts sourced were intended for a live album, as the depth of its exceptional sound match that of their last two masterpieces with Halee, 1968's Bookends and 1970s Bridge Over Troubled Water -- two LPs whose material thankfully dominate the proceedings. For these three factors, Live 1969 instantly supersedes Columbia's OK 2002 issue, Live from New York City, 1967. Why these 1969 tour recordings only gained release now can't quickly be explained by the two pals' 1970 split; after all, the Beatles quit that year in greater bitterness, yet witness the speed in which the flawed, posthumous Let It Be appeared. Whatever the inexplicable reasoning, one feels the hand of history made in the hush of these pristine recordings, end-of-decade crowds basking in the splendor of exquisite harmonies -- especially on the Bridge material they'd yet to experience on record. The newness of the soaring, ageless "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and the unheralded, immaculate "Song for the Asking" and "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" are otherworldly, as are older overlooked riches like "Old Friends/Bookends Theme" and a reconfigured, quieted "Leaves That Are Green." The presence of Wrecking Crew pros from the LP sessions for half the show makes a big difference, fleshing out the later, complex productions such as the new hit "The Boxer" (with an unfamiliar verse), and "Why Don't You Write Me." (These are commensurate with the beguiling full-band versions from the 2003 comeback tour.) Lastly, there's a previously unknown, pretty cover of Gene Autry's first song, his 1920s paean for his pa, "That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine" (patterned on the Everly Brothers' 1958 version). Though one would like to see a one-concert document from this tour instead, Live 1969 is not a Columbia cash-in. This is open vault paydirt. ~ Jack Rabid

Rolling Stone (p.69) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "The audiences gathered for these sets were hearing 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' for the first time, and their amazement at its beauty is palpable." Dirty Linen (p.77) - "LIVE 1969 captures the duo at its peak....[The recording allows] Simon's poetic lyricism and acoustic mastery and Garfunkel's angelic harmonies to be heard as they were intended to be." Pitchfork (Website) - "For all their politeness, they still took risks, still tried to innovate, as this document of their short 1969 tour proves....Part of the pleasure of listening to LIVE 1969 is hearing early versions of 'Why Don't You Write Me' and 'Song for the Asking' and imagining what it would have been like to hear them with fresh ears..." Record Collector (magazine) (p.96) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "There are the expected hits....Happily, the pair are also in a conversational mood, adding to the overall warmth of an engaging performance."

New Yorkers Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel began as a late-1950s doo-wop group called Tom & Jerry. In the '60s, they turned to folk, with an extended stay in London bringing a heavy British folk influence into Simon's work. When a rock band was overdubbed onto the original acoustic version of their single "The Sounds of Silence," a hit resulted and helped further the then-nascent folk-rock movement. The pair's subsequent albums produced a long stream of catchy-but-brainy hit singles and also explored various musical styles, foreshadowing the eclecticism of Simon's solo career. Although the duo split after 1970's BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER, they have reunited for performances on a few occasions, including a tour in 2003.

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