Simon & Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)
Here’s the thing – I had never heard this album. I am a Simon & Garfunkel fan and not to get too defensive, but not only did I already know about 85% of this album I’ve heard the songs performed live by both Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel in separate gigs about a decade apart and by them together as Simon & Garfunkel twice over two nights. I have all the other albums and know them, for some reason I had never listened to this – so there’s something about listening to an album as its intended, in the order as planned, etc…And it did not disappoint! I bought this just recently – a cheapie, but it plays fine. An extraordinary album and Paul Simon was at his peak as a writer perhaps; strange tensions going on around the recording of the album so that’s all in there too. Funny, seeing this, deciding I had to own it and hear it all these years later – I’ve just been thinking about that book, 1001 Albums To Hear Before You Die, and how I might go through it and tick off the ones I haven’t yet heard. I did tick all the ones I had heard. Again, about 85% of it. Why bother with the others? Why not? This decision to finally buy and hear Bridge means I probably will go through with that book-mission. Nothing to lose really but time. And many things (maybe) to gain.

Sample Track: The Only Living Boy In New York
The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown