Simon and Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966)

(This review originally appeared in October 2003.)

One of the great myths of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel's stormy partnership is that the duo broke through with their soundtrack for the movie The Graduate. But it must be pointed out that, apart from "Mrs. Robinson," none of the songs from the soundtrack record were specifically done for the movie itself; they were songs selected from their earlier work. What first got Simon and Garfunkel noticed was a new, remixed version of the originally acoustic "The Sounds of Silence" with an overdubbed electric backing group, which became a huge hit single. (This was a year or two before The Graduate was released.) Despite the fact that the overdubbing was done without Paul Simon's approval (any chance Phil Spector was involved here?), this new version of "The Sounds of Silence" allowed Simon and his partner Art Garfunkel, having flopped commercially with their debut album, Wednesday Morning 3 A.M., to restart their careers and their partnership. Their second album, quickly recorded and released to capitalize on the success of "The Sounds of Silence" (the LP was named for the song), was spotty and uneven, but a couple of tunes offered hints of their potential.

The duo's third album, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, released in October 1966, displayed that potential in spades. Critics have made the case for the later albums Bookends (1968) and Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970) as Simon and Garfunkel's best work, but Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme was perhaps the duo's clearest, sharpest, most diverse album. It offers lyrical ballads, biting satire, and some dramatic social commentary. And it delivers everything in under half an hour.

The twelve songs on Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme forever fixed Simon's image as an erudite, eclectic songwriter who is open to all influences but fashions a style all his own, and they also add proof that Garfunkel, far from being just the world's most famous backup singer, is a highly underrated vocal arranger. Simon's songs are highly personal, offering moody observations of the outside world in "Patterns" and "A Poem On the Underground Wall" and hopeful appreciations of life in "Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall." Not to mention "Homeward Bound," his take on the life of the traveling musician and the album's best song. Also, his spoofs of consumerism ("The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine") and bourgeois values ("The Dangling Conversation") allow Simon to laugh at himself even as he mocks third parties, making the satire a shared experience between himself and his targets. The musical arrangements acutely fit the tones of these songs but never veer away from the light mix of folk and rock; finely tuned acoustic guitars, dry percussion, and light organ flourishes create a fluid song cycle. The vocals rarely go beyond careful, simplified two-part harmony; Garfunkel's assistance here reduces the voices to their essential natures, as if verses from Henry David Thoreau's Walden were set to music.

Ironically, their most daring cuts here are the most interesting. Garfunkel's piercing solo vocal on "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" is as much a catharsis as some of the heaviest British rock of the time. A reworking of the English ballad "Scarborough Fair" sneaks in an antiwar message in a subtle counter-melody behind the prim harpsichord. "7 O'Clock News / Silent Night," which closes the record, displays Simon and Garfunkel's soft, slow choirboy harmonies singing a Christmas carol about peace on earth while, a terse, brisk newsreader offers proof (stories about Vietnam and the killings of student nurses by Richard Speck, among other things) of a bitterly different reality. The final piano chord is brief, yet as profound as the eternal chord that would close the Beatles's "A Day In the Life."

At the time of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme's release, Bob Dylan was recovering from his motorcycle accident, the Beatles had not yet begun taping Sgt. Pepper, and the Rolling Stones's eagerly awaited Between the Buttons was still being awaited as the Stones were putting the finishing touches on it. Simon and Garfunkel had the stage to themselves, and it was a moment in the spotlight that was not wasted.  Their third album had certified their place in pop by the time Graduate director Mike Nichols came to call.