Maps of Music

In the Blue Light (2018)

Where the lyrics of In the Blue Light take you, and where it was really made.

Paul Simon's 2018 album re-records his least-known songs, changing their arrangements, harmonies, and even lyrics.

Key places

Recording location credited on Discogs (2018)

Recording site Power Station Studio — Discogs credits list Power Station At BerkleeNYC as a place where this album was recorded. The source gives no recording dates for this site. Avatar Studios and Sear Sound are also credited as recording locations. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• In the Blue Light: fourteenth solo studio album by American folk rock singer-songwriter Paul Simon
• Released September 7, 2018 through Legacy Recordings
• Produced by Paul Simon and Roy Halee
• Consists of re-recordings of lesser-known songs from Simon's catalog
• Original arrangements, harmonic structures, and lyrics were often altered
• Title refers to lyrics in "How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns" from the 1980 album One-Trick Pony
• Track listing has ten songs, including "Darling Lorraine" (7:13) and "Questions for the Angels"

Background

• Songs were chosen from Simon's catalog as ones he considered not very famous
• Guests on the recordings: the instrumental ensemble yMusic, guitarist Bill Frisell, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, and Bryce Dessner
• Personnel credits include Andy Smith as engineer and Greg Calbi for mastering

Recording

• Discogs credits list Avatar Studios, Power Station At BerkleeNYC, and Sear Sound as recording locations
• Mastering credited to Sterling Sound
• Mixing credited to Roy Halee
• Additional and assistant engineers are also credited on the album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Paul Simon (born October 13, 1941, Newark, New Jersey) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.
• He met Art Garfunkel in elementary school in 1953 and they became known as Simon & Garfunkel in the 1960s.
• The duo's folk-rock hits such as "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", "America" and "The Boxer" defined the 1960s counterculture.
• Their final album, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970), is among the best-selling albums of all time.

Career

• As a solo artist, Simon explored gospel, reggae, soul and world music.
• Paul Simon (1972), There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973) and Still Crazy After All These Years (1975) drew acclaim and hits such as "Mother and Child Reunion" and "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover".
• Graceland (1986), incorporating South African influences, became his most successful and acclaimed album.
• He wrote the Broadway musical The Capeman (1998), which was poorly received.
• His later albums include You're the One (2000), So Beautiful or So What (2011), Stranger to Stranger (2016) and Seven Psalms (2023).
• He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice and won 16 Grammy Awards.

Honors

• He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001 and the first Library of Congress Gershwin Prize in 2007.
• He co-founded the Children's Health Fund, a nonprofit providing medical care to children.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• The Guardian (Dave Simpson): gave four stars; sparser arrangements leave more room for Simon's imagery and his oblique but relevant reflections on several subjects
• The A.V. Club (Jesse Hassenger): gave a B−; the record sounds more or less like a single piece as its own album, even though it is easy to compare it with the originals
• Rolling Stone (David Browne): at its best it works as a dream set list for devoted fans who wish Simon would play whole shows of rarities
• AllMusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine): everything on the record is deliberate, gentle, and subtle, giving as much weight to words and melody as to the instrumentation, unlike the denser original albums
• Metacritic: based on eleven reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 70 out of 100
• The release was generally received favorably by critics

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ko.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album's title is a reference to the lyrics in the song "How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns" from One-Trick Pony (1980).
• In a CBC Radio interview, Simon confirmed that more songs were recorded during the album sessions but left off the finished record.
• Outtakes include a number of unspecified songs from You're the One, and a re-recording of "The Sound of Silence" based on the arrangement of Simon's recent live version.
• It is unknown whether these outtakes will be released.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ko.wikipedia.org

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