Below are links to free full-streams for two of my favorite Paul Simon records.  Every song in its entirety.

Yes, “Graceland” is a genius work that deserves its spot on the mantel of monumental music.  However, unbeknownst to some, Paul Simon was an incredible solo artist both before and after “Graceland.”

Point A: Hearts and Bones (1983)

“Hearts and Bones” was the album released before “Graceland,” so it is understandable how, in retrospect, it is overlooked.  However, there are so many excellent tracks on this album that I beg anyone out there that reads this to give it a chance.  ”Allergies,” while a bit quirky, features a guitar solo by jazz legend Al Di Meola.  ”Hearts and Bones,” the title track, gave me chills the first time I heard it when I got to the lines, “Woah-oh-oh, she said, ‘why, why don’t we drive through the night and wake up down in Mexico?”  It’s probably one of favorites from the album/Paul Simon’s entire catalogue.  ”Think Too Much B” (and its rockier counterpart “A”) are both undisputedly genius songwriting.  The other mammoth track on this album is definitely, “Train in the Distance,” an example of story songs in the most perfect of forms.  The other tracks on the album are also good, but I’m not wanting to write a full review for the album, so I’ll just stop there.  If you havent heard these songs, you owe it to yourself to give them a chance.  Twenty-seven years later, this is still phenomenal music.

Point B: Surprise (2006)

In 2006, after the highly-anticipated and successful Simon and Garfunkel reunion tour, Paul Simon returned to the studio with acclaimed producer, Brian Eno (U2, Talking Heads, Coldplay) and came up with, in my mind, his second “Graceland.”  The songwriting is still strong and littered with both introspective musings and socio-political awareness.  The melodic content is beautiful and infectious.  The instrumentation is a stretch into uncharted territory for the artist (the real bulk of my “Graceland” comparison).  Brian Eno helped Simon create gorgeous soundscapes which rise and fall in a perfect fashion with the movement of his words.  Please, please, please, if you have any hankering for new music, give this album a chance.Favorites from this album would be ranked: “Everything About It is a Love Song,” “Father and Daughter,” “How Can You Live in the Northeast?,” “I Don’t Believe,” “Wartime Prayers,” and “Once Upon a Time There was an Ocean.”

If any of you listen to these, maybe someone will be excited with me about, “So Beautiful Or So What,” the upcoming TWELTH solo album from this American-songwriting genius, which he has self-proclaimed as, “the best work I’ve done in nearly twenty years.”

#Icannotfathomthisstatement.
 

I watched Pirate Radio over Thanksgiving with my family, and it made me lust for a bygone generation of music.  I, momentarily, felt like all of the best of things had come and gone already, as if we were left with only the remnants of a once great phenomena.  All such silly fears have been expelled tonight.

Tumblr, these are very exciting times for music.  Can you feel it?