There Goes Rhymin' Simon

There Goes Rhymin' Simon
There Goes Rhymin' Simon.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedMay 5, 1973 (1973-05-05)
RecordedSeptember 1972 – January 1973
StudioColumbia Studios, New York City, A&R Recording, New York City,
Malaco Recording Studios, Jackson, Mississippi,
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Sheffield, Alabama
Morgan Studios, London
GenrePop rock
Length35:19
LabelColumbia, Warner Bros.
ProducerPaul Simon, Phil Ramone, Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, Paul Samwell-Smith, Roy Halee
Paul Simon chronology
Paul Simon
(1972)
There Goes Rhymin' Simon
(1973)
Paul Simon in Concert: Live Rhymin'
(1974)
Singles from There Goes Rhymin' Simon
  1. "Kodachrome"
    Released: May 19, 1973
  2. "Loves Me Like a Rock"
    Released: July 17, 1973
  3. "American Tune"
    Released: November 8, 1973
  4. "Take Me to the Mardi Gras"
    Released: 1973
  5. "Something So Right"
    Released: 1973
  6. "St. Judy's Comet"
    Released: 1973

There Goes Rhymin' Simon is the third solo studio album by American musician Paul Simon released on May 5, 1973. It contains songs spanning several styles and genres, such as gospel ("Loves Me Like a Rock") and Dixieland ("Take Me to the Mardi Gras"). It received two nominations at the Grammy Awards of 1974, which were for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male and Album of the Year.

As foreshadowed by the lead single "Kodachrome" (which reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts, behind Billy Preston's "Will It Go Round in Circles"), There Goes Rhymin' Simon was a bigger hit than its predecessor, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart (behind George Harrison's Living in the Material World), and No. 1 on Cashbox for one week from June 30, 1973. In the United Kingdom, the album peaked at No. 4. Subsequent singles were also the No. 2 single "Loves Me Like a Rock" (kept out of the top spot by Cher's "Half-Breed", but reaching No. 1 on Cashbox on September 29, 1973), and the Top 40 hit "American Tune". Also, "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" was released in the UK reaching the Top 10.

The song "Kodachrome" is named after the Kodak film of the same name. Kodak required the album to note that Kodachrome is a trademark. The song was not released as a single in Britain, where it could not be played on BBC radio due to its trademarked name.

Reception

Retrospective professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
Blender
Chicago Tribune
Christgau's Record GuideB+
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Entertainment WeeklyA−
The Guardian
Record Collector
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Uncut

Critics praised the album. The Denver Post's Jared Johnson called it "a brilliantly executed masterpiece, and surely the finest album in three years," citing such 1970 releases as Bridge Over Troubled Water and After the Gold Rush. Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times said, "Combining a variety of musical textures (from a touch of gospel to an infectious trace of Jamaican rhythm to a hint of the old Simon and Garfunkel grandeur), Simon's new album firmly establishes him as one of our most valuable and accessible artists." Stephen Holden of Rolling Stone praised the album as "a rich and moving song cycle, one in which each cut reflects on every other to create an ever-widening series of refractions."

However, Stereo Review's Noel Coppage, while giving the album an "excellent" rating, nonetheless felt that it was "deficient in spontaneity, excitement, strain", calling its arrangements "clean and sensible" but "oddly predictable".

In 2003, the album was ranked number 267 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

In 2000 it was voted number 421 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.

Track listing

All tracks written by Paul Simon.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Kodachrome"3:32
2."Tenderness"2:53
3."Take Me to the Mardi Gras"3:27
4."Something So Right"4:33
5."One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor"3:46
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."American Tune"3:43
7."Was a Sunny Day"3:41
8."Learn How to Fall"2:44
9."St. Judy's Comet"3:19
10."Loves Me Like a Rock"3:31
2004 remastered reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."Let Me Live in Your City" (work in progress)4:21
12."Take Me to the Mardi Gras" (acoustic demo)2:31
13."American Tune" (unfinished demo)4:03
14."Loves Me Like a Rock" (acoustic demo)3:24

Personnel

Production

  • Paul Simon – producer, arrangements
  • The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section – co-producers (1, 3, 5, 9, 10)
  • Roy Halee – co-producer (2, 7), engineer (2, 7)
  • Paul Samwell-Smith – co-producer (6)
  • Jerry Masters – supervising engineer, engineer (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10)
  • Phil Ramone – supervising engineer, engineer (2, 4-7, 10), co-producer (4, 7, 8, 10)
  • Roger Quested – engineer (6)
  • Gerald Stephenson – engineer (8)
  • Richard Blakin – assistant engineer
  • Milton Glaser – cover design

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI) Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA) Platinum 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.


This page was last updated at 2023-05-08 01:38 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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