Side 1: 1. Hey School Girl (Simon/Garfunkel) 2. Our Song (Simon/Garfunkel) 3. That's My Story (Simon/Garfunkel) 4. Teen Age Fool 5. Tia-Juana Blues (Simon/Prosen)

Side 2: 1. Dancin' Wild (Simon/Garfunkel) 2. Don't Say Goodbye (Simon/Garfunkel) 3. Two Teen Agers (Rose Marie McCoy) 4. True Or False (Lou Simon) 5. Simon Says (Simon/Prosen)

This LP consists of ten songs collected from Simon & Garfunkel’s days in the late 1950s and 1960s where they used pseudonyms under which they recorded these tracks. The Pickwick label (which had a reputation for producing poor-quality records) tried to cash in on the duo’s recent success by releasing this LP, posing it as material that they hadrecently recorded, which was, of course, not true. When Simon and Garfunkel got wind of this, they sued Pickwick over the fact that it was falsely advertised as new music, and forced Pickwick to withdraw the record from circulation shortly after its release, but not before it had sold several copies. This record is not overly difficult to obtain, even at a low price. I personally own a mono copy in fairly good condition (most of these copies were not played frequently, so finding one in near-mint condition is not a rarity). The sound quality is normal for an LP and, as far as I can tell, should not be deficient in any noticeable way. Apparently, the LP was released through Sears as well (my copy above is a stereo pressing), with the exact same back cover but different front cover art, which can only be described as truly bizarre. I have found it somewhat more difficult to find the Sears pressings than the Pickwick releases.

1. He Was My Brother 2. Leaves That Are Green 3. Sparrow 4. Homeward Bound 5. You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies 6. A Most Peculiar Man 7. The 59 th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) 8. The Dangling Conversation 9. Richard Cory 10. A Hazy Shade Of Winter

11. Benedictus 12. Blessed 13. A Poem On The Underground Wall 14. Anji 15. I Am A Rock 16. The Sound Of Silence 17. For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her 18. A Church Is Burning 19. Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.

This disc is a near-complete recording of Simon & Garfunkel's live performance at Lincoln Center in New York in 1967, parts of which showed up on the Old Friends box set of 1997. Curiously, the disc does not contain the recording of "Red Rubber Ball," which is only available on the box set. The sound quality is, of course, beyond excellent. It's inexplicable as to exactly why Columbia declined to release an entire live concert by Simon & Garfunkel in the 1960s. For a lot of their early material, this is the first legal release from a live venue—or, for that matter, in any version other than that released on Simon & Garfunkel's Columbia albums or singles.

Side A: 1. Homeward Bound 2. At The Zoo 3. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) 4. For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her 5. The Sound Of Silence 6. Benedictus 7. Punky's Dilemma

Side B: 8. A Most Peculiar Man 9. You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies 10. Sparrow 11. A Church Is Burning 12. I Am A Rock 13. The Boxer 14. America 15. Song For The Asking

This is a great cassette find, actually. The reason I've placed it here in the discography is that its most important tracks for this collection are those on Side A, which is a recording of Simon & Garfunkel's set from the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and difficult to find elsewhere. The other tracks are from other various live sets found elsewhere in this discography. Tracks 8-12 are outtakes from Sounds Of Silence Live, while the last three are from A Time Of Innocence, although the tape notes say London in 1970.

1. The Sounds Of Silence [electric] 2. The Singleman Party Foxtrot (D. Grusin) 3. Mrs. Robinson [intro cut] 4. Sunporch Cha-Cha-Cha (Grusin) 5. Scarborough Fair/Canticle (Interlude) 6. On The Strip (Grusin) 7. April Come She Will

8. The Folks (Grusin) 9. Scarborough Fair/Canticle [extended double version] 10. A Great Effect (Grusin) 11. The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine 12. Whew (Grusin) 13. Mrs. Robinson [abbreviated, film version] 14. The Sounds Of Silence [acoustic]

The Graduate was one of the very first films that included pop music in its soundtrack but did not take the pop music act as its principal subject. (Obviously, for example, films such as A Hard Day's Night, Help, and Yellow Submarine already included pop music, but were specifically about the performers, i.e., The Beatles.) I don't know if the soundtrack was one of the first to ever be released as an album by itself (probably not). In any case, Simon & Garfunkel scored a veritable coup with it, as it went to #1 on the album pop charts in the United States almost as soon as it was released, despite the fact that Simon had written minimal new material for it ("Mrs. Robinson," the only new song on the LP, wasn't even in finished form, and the two cuts of it here are virtually studio demos). Most of the tracks are either directly borrowed from Simon & Garfunkel's earlier albums or remixed (the abbreviated version of "The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine" includes a lighter instrumental track, and the acoustic version of "Sounds Of Silence" includes Simon & Garfunkel humming instead of singing the last verse, for example). "Whew" is an arrangement of melodies and counter-melodies from "Scarborough Fair," credited to Dave Grusin for some reason. Grusin composed most of the even-numbered tracks, which are basically scene-specific background cuts, though not without their own merit. Most critics agree that much of the success of the music with the movie is due to director Mike Nichols and his crew's shrewd selection of Simon & Garfunkel's music for use as approximation for the thoughts running through the characters' minds, and usually the mind of Benjamin Braddock, Dustin Hoffmann's career breakout role.

1. Bookends Theme 2. Save The Life Of My Child 3. America 4. Overs 5. Voices Of Old People 6. Old Friends

7. Bookends 8. Fakin' It 9. Punky's Dilemma 10. Mrs. Robinson 11. A Hazy Shade of Winter 12. At The Zoo

The success of The Graduate soundtrack was followed immediately by Bookends, which replaced the former in the #1 slot on the charts upon its release in April 1968. Bookends has largely been overlooked by critics due to the massive success of Bridge Over Troubled Water, but in general holds its own, if it is a little sparse on material (the opening track is really nothing more than an "introduction" for the rest of the album, and "Voices of Old People" consists of Garfunkel's montage of random remarks of senior citizens at Los Angeles nursing homes). The album comes with a poster of Simon & Garfunkel montaged with a landscape scene of a bridge, which is perhaps a little strange; predictably, albums with the poster are slightly more valuable than those without it.

1. Mrs. Robinson 2. Homeward Bound 3. April Come She Will 4. Fakin’ It 5. Overs 6. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy) 7. America 8. A Most Peculiar Man 9. I Am A Rock 10. At The Zoo 11. Scarborough Fair/Canticle 12. Bye Bye Love

13. Cloudy/Leaves That Are Green 14. Punky’s Dilemma 15. Benedictus 16. The Dangling Conversation 17. For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her 18. A Poem On The Underground Wall 19. Anji 20. The Sounds Of Silence 21. Richard Cory 22. Old Friends/Bookends 23. He Was My Brother

This is a recording of Simon & Garfunkel performing live in 1968 at the Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, California. It was engineered by Al Kooper, who according to some sources was a fairly reputable sound technician. This CD backs that claim up, as the sound quality is very good. There are many interesting pieces of humor and dialogue between the songs, and the recordings of many of these songs found here are otherwise unavailable in the live format outside the studio. It is refreshing to see how Simon & Garfunkel put together their two-part harmony without any of the extrabacking besides Paul’s guitar.

1. You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies 2. For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her 3. Overs 4. Homeward Bound 5. At The Zoo 6. America 7. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) 8. Song For The Asking 9. A Poem On The Underground Wall 10. For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her 11. Anji 12. Richard Cory 13. The Sounds Of Silence 14. Homeward Bound

15. A Most Peculiar Man 16. He Was My Brother 17. I Am A Rock 18. I Wish You Could Be Here 19. Blessed 20. Bad News Feeling 21. Cloudy 22. Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound 23. Sparrow 24. The Side Of A Hill 25. I Am A Rock 26. A Church Is Burning 27. Anji

This CD is a mix of some rare concert, broadcast, and studio recordings. The first 3 tracks and tracks 17-21 are studio outtakes from 1966-7. Among these is the only recording I have found of "Bad News Feeling," a song Simon wrote in 1965 and premiered on BBC broadcasts, but never recorded for public release. Tracks 4-11 are live recordings from a concert given by Simon & Garfunkel in Carbondale, IL, on 8 November 1969, on the same tour as the A Time Of Innocence show. This tour,which also saw Simon & Garfunkel perform at Ames, Iowa—a show which produced the live recording of "Bye Bye Love" for the Bridge Over Troubled Water album—seems to have been largely a collection of stops at college venues: Southern Illinois University, Miami University, and Iowa State University—fitting for Simon & Garfunkel, whose following was partly made up of college students. Tracks 12-16 are from a TV special from 1966 broadcast in Canada which you can watch on YouTube, and the last 6 tracks are from a show done on the air for the BBC in London in 1966. Most of this material is unavailable elsewhere, which makes this a particularly worthwhile disc to hunt down.

1. Mrs. Robinson 2. Fakin’ It 3. The Boxer 4. So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright 5. Why Don’t You Write Me 6. That Silver-Haired Daddy Of Mine 7. Cuba Si, Nixon No 8. Bridge Over Troubled Water

9. The Sounds Of Silence 10. Bye Bye Love 11 .Homeward Bound 12. At The Zoo 13. America 14. Song For The Asking 15. A Poem On The Underground Wall 16. For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her

This CD, another bootleg concert recording, has also been released on Yellow Dog Records as Back To College. It was recorded on 11 November 1969 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Like Voices Of Intelligent Dissent, it contains a lot of introductions with witty banter, though it also reveals a slight bit of tension between the duo due to Garfunkel’s acting career, which Simon felt was diverting Art from time spent on their music. It is also the only recording of “Cuba Si, Nixon No” found anywhere, and the sound quality of the recording is excellent. This, I believe, is also the only full concert recording of Simon & Garfunkel from this tour in late 1969 that includes their live band. In fact, this was the only tour from their time in the 1960s which featured a band, most of whose members were in the middle of recording Bridge Over Troubled Water with them. Footage from this show was also used for the duo’s Songs of America TV special, which aired nationally just under three weeks after this concert took place.

1. Homeward Bound 2. At The Zoo 3. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) 4. Song For The Asking 5. For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her 6. Scarborough Fair 7. Mrs. Robinson 8. The Boxer 9. Why Don't You Write Me 10. So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright 11. That Silver-Haired Daddy Of Mine 12. Bridge Over Troubled Water 13. The Sounds Of Silence 14. I Am A Rock 15. Old Friends/Bookends 16. Leaves That Are Green 17. Kathy's Song

Set musicians: Larry Knechtel--keyboards; Hal Blaine--drums; Joe Osborne--bass; Fred Carter, Jr.--guitar.

These musicians made up most of the group that Simon & Garfunkel normally worked with in the studio, and this tour was the first that the duo would embark upon with a live band. Many of the concerts from which these cuts are taken were filmed for the purposes of a TV special airing on 30 November 1969 called Songs of America, which included a blatant anti-Vietnam War message; the corporate sponsors pulled their backing, but I believe the TV show nonetheless still aired, and copies of it sometimes surface.

In any case, this release has been anticipated for a while among Simon & Garfunkel fans. Of course, the recordings have fantastic sound quality, although I must admit that sometimes I enjoy other cuts of these songs. There are some standout performances, however: "I Am A Rock" is a particularly lively rendition. Nonetheless, it's finally nice to get an official live release of some of Simon & Garfunkel's music post-Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. Several tracks are from performances on college campuses where Simon & Garfunkel's fan base was particularly strong. Carbondale, Illinois, (home of Southern Illinois University) numbers among the ones here, and some other locations not found on this disc include the set at Miami University (see Back To College above) and Iowa State University in Ames (see Bridge Over Troubled Water below). Other locations where Simon & Garfunkel performed included Detroit, New York City, Long Beach (CA), St. Louis, and Toledo (OH).

1. Bridge Over Troubled Water 2. El Condor Pasa (If I Could) 3. Cecilia 4. Keep The Customer Satisfied 5. So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright 6. The Boxer 7. Baby Driver

8. The Only Living Boy In New York 9. Why Don't You Write Me 10. Bye Bye Love 11. Song For The Asking 12. Feuilles-O (demo) 13. Bridge Over Troubled Water (demo take 6)

The last two tracks were released as a bonus when this album was re-released along with the other four Simon & Garfunkel studio albums in 2004. According to some sources, the duo argued vehemently over including a twelfth track on the album, with Simon favoring "Cuba Si, Nixon No" and Garfunkel wanting to do a Bach chorale--strange though that would have been. Neither would budge, heated words were exchanged, and the album came out with only eleven. Unfortunate, but perhaps a footnote when you consider that this album remains their best-selling offering of new material ever.

Disc 1: 1. The Boxer 2. Homeward Bound 3. Fakin' It 4. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) 5. That Silver-Haired Daddy Of Mine 6. I Am A Rock 7. For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her 8. Mrs. Robinson 9. Scarborough Fair 10. El Condor Pasa (If I Could) 11. Leaves That Are Green 12. Punky's Dilemma 13. America 14. So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright 15. Song For The Asking

Disc 2: 1. A Poem On The Underground Wall 2. Bridge Over Troubled Water 3. The Sounds Of Silence 4. Bye, Bye Love 5. The Boxer 6. Old Friends 7. Richard Cory 8. Homeward Bound 9. Leaves That Are Green 10. I Am A Rock 11. A Most Peculiar Man 12. A Poem On The Underground Wall 13. He Was My Brother 14. The Sounds Of Silence 15. Anji

The entirety of the first disc and the first five tracks on the second are from a concert in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 1970. The rest of the tracks on disc 2 are recorded from a television show appearance by Simon & Garfunkel in the Netherlands in 1966. The concert tracks must be an audience recording, as the audio is somewhat muffled and the applause is thunderous in comparison to the performed music. The television appearance tracks are taken directly from the TV audio feed, so they're reasonably clear, especially for 1966, though you can hear a tape hissing through the recordings. The television show's video is floating around in many people's collections, and I believe that most of the clips from it can be seen on YouTube and other sites.

1. Homeward Bound 2. The Boxer 3. Fakin' It 4. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) 5. That Silver-Haired Daddy Of Mine 6. I Am A Rock 7. For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her 8. Anji

9. Scarborough Fair 10. Mrs. Robinson 11. Leaves That Are Green 12. America 13. So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright 14. Lightning Express 15. A Poem On The Underground Wall

I believe there is another issue of this recording known as So Long, Artie, as this was one of Simon & Garfunkel's last concerts before they (officially) broke up. The sound quality is nice, and there are some particularly good cuts on this concert, including "I Am A Rock," and "Leaves That Are Green." It's also the only recording I've found by Simon & Garfunkel of "Lightning Express," another country/western tune they covered on tour.