Simon & Garfunkel: Live 1969

Simon & Garfunkel open ("Homeward Bound") and close ("Kathy's Song") this set as a duo but mostly performed with the band with which they recorded "Bridge Over Troubled Water." From the outset, their interwoven vocal harmonies are simply beautiful—Garfunkel's wordless, cooing accompaniment to Simon's verses—more of a sound, like a flute, than a human voice, in "Homeward Bound." Jazzheads might even imagine their respective deliveries—Simon more dry and literate compared to Garfunkel's angelic yearning—as the '60s pop vocal equivalent to Stan Getz and Chet Baker, especially as their two voices create the unique harmonic sound of "At the Zoo" and "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)."

Garfunkel's voice is so angelic and beautiful, as it soars through Simon's confessional "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" that it's almost painful, serving a sad reminder that life in reality almost never sustains the beauty of its promise. Ironically, "Scarborough Fair / Canticle" sustains that awesome beauty. Garfunkel's voice with only Knechtel's piano, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is a transcendently emotional, revelatory performance; the audience's cheer at its finish is ecstatic, more than merely enthusiastic.

Live 1969 is a tender portrait of an often innocent time. (Art's not entirely angelic, though, and some of his notoriously dour personality slips out while introducing the band before "The Boxer." When someone in the crowd shouts out that the band needs to be louder, he archly sniffs, "Keyboards should be louder, eh? What label do YOU produce for?") Time has since moved on, bringing new poignancy to the sentiments underlying "Old Friends / Bookends Theme," and different meaning to a line like "How terribly strange to be seventy," not only for Simon & Garfunkel but also for their attendant generation.

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