Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still Magical After All These Years!!......., 10 Mar 2006
H'mm....first bought this album in the mid-seventies.Its a fine intro' to the huge talent of Simon and Garfunkel.The tracks are gleaned from four of their five original albums and as such are a fair sample of those original albums.That said this is still only a sample and there are many fine songs not included here.Still this album contains all their major hits, from their first 'Sounds of Silence' right through to 'Bridge' and 'The Boxer' off their last album.It gives a good cross section of the different type of songs that Simon was so good at creating.From the isolationist 'I Am A Rock' to the merry 'Cecilia'(a plea to St.Cecilia-patron saint of music to come back and assist in the writing of more music), this album covers all moods.There is not one bad track here but mention must be made of the beautiful 'America' and the smash hit 'Mrs Robinson', both taken off the classic album 'Bookends'.
If you enjoy this you should buy the original albums as they are all excellent, even the neglected 'Wednesday Morning 3A.M.'.
Yes a good intro' to their music and excellent value at this price.Buy and enjoy...you can't go wrong!!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The classic S&G compilation -- BUT READ THIS CAVEAT, 25 Sep 2008
It would be churlish to criticize "Greatest Hits", as it's the classic compilation, and the best possible 40-odd minute introduction to the duo's work. On the face of it, everything's here. Plus this is an of-the-time release, one you or your parents probably owned way-back-when, and even the cover can bring on pangs of nostalgia. It's still a superb listen and, even if like me you own all the original albums, it's something that is always first to get in the player. Sometimes I don't even stop it before "Cecilia" -- and not just because I'm not quick enough having been lulled into a pleasurable stupor by the "Bookends" coda.
BUT this is what you must know. A number of these songs are NOT the original studio versions, they're live recordings. This album was not released to celebrate the duo's career, it was released to commemorate a brief reunion in 1972 when they played a concert tour. The company rushed out the album in 1972 to cash in on the reunion. That's why you have the lovely moustached Simon on the front. Rather than just package all the hits, which the fans would already have (they only split up a year or so previous), they threw in a bunch of live recordings which made it a must-have for the completists (and still does). "Emily", "Feelin' Groovy", "Homeward Bound" and "Kathy's Song" are all live versions. They sound lovely, but they're not the original album versions.
Also, you might want to be aware that, in the spirit of the day, the introductions to both "Sound of Silence" and "Bridge over Troubled Water" overlap with the live audience applause, which may have been to attempt to blur the boundaries between the live stuff and the studio stuff. It's not clean. We're not talking a "Shaved Fish" hatchet job here, but it might just annoy you enough to wish you'd bought one of the more recent compilations.
Where and when were the live tracks recorded? I have no idea. Possibly during the reunion, but I'd love to think they were 60s vintage. I'd also wish the company could dig out the entire concert and release that -- where there's some, there must be more. (This is NOT the January 1967 Philharmonic Hall concert released in 2002 as "Live From New York City 1967".)
My personal advice is: buy this one. You know you'll buy all the original albums anyway, and there's nowhere else you can hear all the live stuff here. Plus, it's such a cool album, with such strong memories attached. Even if the CD presentation is cheap and lacks any informative liner notes (or tells you some of the tracks are live) whatsoever.
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24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Simon & Garfunkel's offer up a unique collection of hits, 8 Jan 2003
By A Customer
In 1972 Simon & Garfunkle got back together for a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden to raise money for George McGovern's presidential campaign. A few weeks later this "Greatest Hits" collection was released. As such this was a rather innovative album in that it live versions of "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her," "Homeward Bound," "Feelin' Groovy," and "Kathy's Song." There is also a previously unissued alternate take of the lovely "America." Consequently, this was a hits collection that was worth buying if you already had all of Simon & Garfunkle's albums. Listening to Garfunkle's live performance of "Emily" is the real treat, since there was a time when that was my favorite song in the whole wide world (and, I should note, the only one of the live versions from this album to make it onto the new "The Best of Simon & Garfunkle" collection). My only complaints with this album are rather trivial, but the applause at the end of the live tracks is way too loud and it seems almost sacrilegious to me that the piano introduction of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" comes out of the applause from "Homeward Bound." Sorry, but there is just something wrong about that. The 1999 collection of "The Best of Simon & Garfunkle" drops "Kathy's Song" and still ends up with six more tracks, so it is clearly superior to this 1972 album, and even those who like to hear the duo in live performance would have to make the 1982 "Concert in Central Park" their first choice.
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