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Paul Simon: Graceland

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Warner Bros. Records
Released: 1986.08.25
Time:
 53:46
Category: Worldbeat, Pop, Rock, Folk
Producer(s): Paul Simon
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.paulsimon.com
Appears with: Simon & Garfunkel
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] The Boy in the Bubble (F.Motloheloa/P.Simon) - 3:59
[2] Graceland (P.Simon) - 4:48
[3] I Know What I Know (G.MD.Shirinda/P.Simon) - 3:13
[4] Gumboots (L.Masilela/J.Mkhalali/P.Simon) - 2:44
[5] Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (J.Shabalala/P.Simon) - 5:45
[6] You Can Call Me Al (P.Simon) - 4:39
[7] Under African Skies (P.Simon) - 3:37
[8] Homeless (J.Shabalala/P.Simon) - 3:48
[9] Crazy Love, Vol. II (P.Simon) - 4:18
[10] That Was Your Mother (P.Simon) - 2:52
[11] All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints (P.Simon) - 3:15
[12] Homeless [demo version] (J.Shabalala/P.Simon) - 2:28
[13] Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes [alternate version] (J.Shabalala/P.Simon) - 4:43
[14] All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints [early version] (P.Simon) - 3:17

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Paul Simon - Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar on [1,11], Guitar on [5,7], Synclavier on [3,4], Six-String Electric Bass on [6], Background Vocals on [1,2,4,6,9], Arrangement, Liner Notes, Producer

Rob Mounsey - Horn Arrangement on [6]
Ray Phiri - Guitar on [2,5,6,7,9]
Adrian Belew - Guitar Synthesizer on [1,6,9], Guitar on [7]
Demola Adepoju - Pedal Steel Guitar on [2]
Daniel Xilakazi - Lead And Rhythm Guitar on [4]
Sherman Robertson - Guitar on [10]
César Rosas - Guitar And Backing Vocals on [11]
David Hidalgo - Guitar, Accordion & Backing Vocals on [11]
Conrad Lozano - Bass on [11]
Alonzo Johnson - Bass on [10]
Lloyd Lelose - Bass on [9]
Bakithi Kumalo - Bass on [1,2,5,6,7]
Isaac Mtshali - Drums on [5,6,7,9]
Vusi Khumalo - Drums on [1,2]
Petrus Manile - Drums on [4]
Alton Rubin, Jr. - Drums on [10]
Louie Pérez - Drums on [11]
Steve Gadd - Additional Drums on [11]
Makhaya Mahlangu - Percussion on [1,2]
Ralph Macdonald - Percussion on [4,6,7,11]
Youssou N'Dour - Percussion on [5]
Babacar Faye - Percussion on [5]
Assane Thiam - Percussion on [5]
James Guyatt - Percussion on [5,6,7]
Lulu Masilela - Tambourines on [4]
David Rubin - Washboard on [10]
Alton Rubin, Sr. - Accordion on [10]
Jonhjon Mkhalali - Accordion on [4]
Forere Motloheloa - Accordion on [1]
Rob Mounsey - Synthesizer on [1,6]
Barney Rachabane - Saxophone on [4]
Mike Makhalemele - Saxophone on [4]
Teaspoon Ndela - Saxophone on [4]
Lenny Pickett - Tenor Saxophone on [5]
Earl Gardner - Trumpet on [5]
Alex Foster - Alto Saxophone on [5]
Ronnie Cuber - Bass & Baritone Saxophone on [6]
Jon Faddis - Trumpet on [6]
Randy Brecker - Trumpet on [6]
Lew Soloff - Trumpet on [6]
Alan Rubin - Trumpet on [6]
Dave Bargeron - Trombone on [6]
Kim Allan Cissel - Trombone on [6]
Morris Goldberg - Penny Whistle on [6], Soprano Saxophone on [9]
Johnny Hoyt - Saxophone on [10]
Steve Berlin - Saxophone on [11]
The Everly Brothers - Additional Vocals on [2]
The Gaza Sisters - Vocals on [3]
Diane Garisto - Backing Vocals on [4]
Michelle Cobbs - Backing Vocals on [4]
Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Vocals on [5,8]
Joseph Shabalala - Vocals on [8]
Linda Ronstadt - Additional Vocals on [7]

Jennifer Lebeau - Session Producer
Steve Berkowitz - Producer, Reissue Supervisor
Roy Halee - Engineer
Mike Reilly - Engineer
Mark Miller - Assistant Engineer
Steven Strassman - Assistant Engineer
Peter Thwaites - Assistant Engineer
Andrew Fraser - Assistant Engineer
Mark Cobrin - Assistant Engineer
Dan Ricci - Editing, Mixing
Ruggiero - Editing, Mixing
Greg Calbi - Mastering, Remastering
Jeri McManus - Art Direction
Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff - Art Direction
Geoff Gans - Design, Package Design, Reissue Art Director
Rachel Gutek - Design
Kim Champagne - Design
Harrison Funk - Photography
Rob Klein - Photography
Gary Heery - Back Cover Photo
Dani Barnard - Project Manager
Gretchen Brennison - Project Manager
Mandy Eidgah - Marketing, Project Director
Jennifer Feinberg - Marketing, Project Director
Bill Inglot - Reissue Supervisor, Transfer Assistant
Jeff Kramer - Management
Eddie Simon - Management

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Recorded in October 1985-June 1986 at South Africa, New York, Los Angeles, London, and Louisiana.



With Graceland, Paul Simon hit on the idea of combining his always perceptive songwriting with the little-heard mbaqanga music of South Africa, creating a fascinating hybrid that re-enchanted his old audience and earned him a new one. It is true that the South African angle (including its controversial aspect during the apartheid days) was a powerful marketing tool and that the catchy music succeeded in presenting listeners with that magical combination: something they'd never heard before that nevertheless sounded familiar. As eclectic as any record Simon had made, it also delved into zydeco and conjunto-flavored rock & roll while marking a surprising new lyrical approach (presaged on some songs on Hearts and Bones); for the most part, Simon abandoned a linear, narrative approach to his words, instead drawing highly poetic ("Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes"), abstract ("The Boy in the Bubble"), and satiric ("I Know What I Know") portraits of modern life, often charged by striking images and turns of phrase torn from the headlines or overheard in contemporary speech. An enormously successful record, Graceland became the standard against which subsequent musical experiments by major artists were measured.

William Ruhlmann - All Music Guide



It was a plush affair for the mid-80s, an era when record sales had already begun to decline, and when music writers had already begun to reminisce about the good old glory days when lavish promotional parties and international flights were commonplace. On 27 August 1986, the Warner label hosted a major event at the Mayfair Theatre in London to mark the release of Paul Simon's adventurous new album, Graceland. We were given lunch, listened to the new work, and presented with a package that included a cassette, an LP and a CD. And then we were invited to question Simon himself (a "small, vulnerable-looking and boyish" figure, as I noted at the time) about the project.

This is when the PRs must have become worried, for the questions gradually switched from the flattering to the political. The album was naturally well-received – after all, it was a brave new departure by a bestselling singer-songwriter who had already shown a fascination for global styles earlier in his career by recording in Jamaica (a rare move back in the Seventies) and working with South American musicians. This time, he had been even bolder, recording several of the tracks in South Africa with black musicians who were then little-known in the west. But as Simon knew all too well, this was a highly controversial move, because South Africa was still a white-run apartheid state, and many other western musicians were playing an active role in trying to bring the system to an end.

There had already been a batch of songs attacking the brutality of apartheid, from Stevie Wonder's It's Wrong to Peter Gabriels' powerful Biko and Jerry Dammers and the Special AKA's classic protest song, (Free) Nelson Mandela. And there were campaigns to stop musicians performing in South Africa, with the likes of Dylan, Springsteen and Bono joining Steve Van Zandt in the recording of Sun City, attacking those who performed in the South African entertainment complex in the so-called "homeland" of Bophuthatswana.

Those who did so were accused of breaking a UN-approved cultural boycott, which had been in effect since December 1980. After all, the wording of Resolution 35/206 was surely clear: "The United Nations General Assembly request all states to prevent all cultural, academic, sporting and other exchanges with South Africa. Appeals to writers, artists, musicians and other personalities to boycott South Africa. Urges all academic and cultural institutions to terminate all links with South Africa."

The resolution was enthusiastically endorsed by the Artists Against Apartheid movement, and offending musicians including Rod Stewart and Queen, who had been attracted by generous fees to play at Sun City, all promised not to return. Simon's reasons for working in the country were very different, but surely he had still broken the boycott?

That was the question he would inevitably be asked at the Mayfair launch, but he clearly wasn't happy about it. He had no regrets, he told us, because he hadn't gone there to perform – indeed, he had turned down a lucrative request to play Sun City. But after hearing Gumboots Accordion Jive Vol 2, a bootleg tape of South African musicians, he was eager that "such rich music" should be introduced to the rest of the world.

That, surely, didn't answer the question, and so I then asked him whether he had taken any advice before making the decision to go. He replied that he had checked with the veteran civil rights campaigner Harry Belafonte, who "had mixed feelings ... it was the first time that he had dealt with someone not going to perform but to bring back the music". It later became clear that Belafonte had told Simon to "go and talk to the ANC", advice he clearly didn't take.

When I pressed him further, he suddenly came out with a quite remarkable outburst, explaining his view on music and politics.

"Personally, I feel I'm with the musicians," he said. "I'm with the artists. I didn't ask the permission of the ANC. I didn't ask permission of Buthelezi, or Desmond Tutu, or the Pretoria government. And to tell you the truth, I have a feeling that when there are radical transfers of power on either the left or the right, the artists always get screwed. The guys with the guns say, 'This is important', and the guys with guitars don't have a chance." I remember him looking round the hall as he added: "I haven't said that before."

The result, predictably enough, was that the row rapidly escalated. Dammers, then heavily involved with Artists Against Apartheid, was among those to react furiously, asking: "Who does he think he is? He's helping maybe 30 people and he's damaging solidarity over sanctions. He thinks he's helping the cause of freedom, but he's naive. He's doing far more harm than good."

Further twists followed in the months after Graceland was released. In early 1987, Simon announced that he had been cleared by the ANC, but Dali Tambo, the founder of Artists Against Apartheid and son of ANC president Oliver Tambo, replied by saying that no such clearance had been given.

Then the PR battle swung the other way, thanks not to the ANC, but to leading black South African musicians who had been closely associated with the anti-apartheid struggle. Hugh Masekela, exiled from South Africa because of his attacks on the apartheid regime, had known Simon since the 60s; he had appeared alongside Simon and Garfunkel at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. He suggested that they tour together, in a show that would include an array of black South African musicians, including the country's finest female singer Miriam Makeba, and that songs from Graceland should be performed alongside black South African music.

It was an inspired idea, and when I went along to the rehearsals in a former warehouse near London's Pentonville prison, it became instantly clear that this was going to be something special. In one room, Masekela was rehearsing a female chorus that included Makeba, his former wife, while in another studio, the 10-man vocal team Ladysmith Black Mambazo were practisising their spine-chilling harmonies and dance steps, backed by members of another South African band, Stimela, while Simon watched and made suggestions.

Masekela, always an outspoken rebel, explained why he was co-operating with Simon and not condemning him. He was delighted that the Graceland tour was bringing black South African musicians together and giving their music global exposure. "South African music has been in limbo because of apartheid," he told me. "Exile and the laws have parted us and caused a lack of growth. If we'd been free and together all these years, who knows what we could have done?"

All the same, when the show reached the Royal Albert Hall, the protesters outside included Dammers, Paul Weller and Billy Bragg. The latter has since told me: "It pained me to be part of that because I'm a Paul Simon fan, but he was on the wrong side of the argument despite his good intentions."

It was a fascinating and heated debate, and now it's being revived, thanks to Simon's decision to return to London for a 25th anniversary Graceland concert, and because of Joe Berlinger's new documentary Under African Skies, which will be shown here in the runup to the Graceland show, which follows the singer on a return journey he made to South Africa in 2011.

There's great music in the film, of course, and emotional scenes as Simon is reunited with those who performed with him on their world tour, 25 years ago. There are excellent interviews with the thoughtful Ray Phiri, leader of Stimela, discussing his life under apartheid, and what the Graceland experience meant to him. And there's praise for Simon from other South African musicians who found global success because of their involvement with the album or the tour. Joseph Shabalala, leader of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, was clearly delighted to see him – and understandably so, because his group haven't stopped touring in the west since Graceland was released.

Nonetheless, it should be remembered that not all black South African musicians felt the same way. Last month, I was sent an email by David Defries, who used to play with the late Jonas Gwangwa, the celebrated South African trombonist who led the ANC's cultural group Amandla, managed by Tambo. Defries told me how Gwangwa reacted when it was suggested to him that Simon should be praised for bringing black South African music to the world stage: "So, it has taken another white man to discover my people?"

The most remarkable sequence in the film sees Simon meet Tambo, who now lives back in South Africa, for the first time. Both argue their positions in a genial but forceful fashion; Tambo explains the boycott as being "all or nothing – we couldn't allow Simon, any more than a tank coming in", while Simon repeats his arguments about being on the side of the artists, as opposed to the politicians. At the end they make their peace, and there is a handshake that should put an end at last to the controversy.

What do I think, having watched this lengthy saga unfold? Of course it would have been better if there had been no row, if Simon had taken Belafonte's advice and argued his case and his motives with Tambo and the ANC, and they then jointly found a solution. Recording the South African musicians outside the country (as was the case with Ladysmith's recording of Homeless) might have been a way out, even if this could arguably have also broken the boycott.

What is most impressive is that Simon allowed Berlinger to make such an intriguing film, including far more criticism than most celebrities would tolerate, and that he had the guts to argue face to face with Tambo. I'm looking forward to the Graceland revival show.

Robin Denselow - 19 April 2012
© 2015 Guardian News and Media Limited




Graceland is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. Produced by Simon and Roy Halee, the album released on August 25, 1986 by Warner Bros. Records. In the early 1980s, Simon's career hit a low point. Following a very successful but contentious reunion with former partner Art Garfunkel, Simon's marriage fell apart and his fifth record, Hearts and Bones (1983), was a significant commercial disappointment. In 1984, after a period of depression, Simon became fascinated with a bootleg cassette of South African township music. He planned a trip to Johannesburg in the new year with Halee, where he spent two weeks recording with South African musicians.

Recorded between 1985–86, Graceland features an eclectic mixture of musical styles, including pop, rock, a cappella, zydeco, isicathamiya, and mbaqanga. Simon created new compositions inspired by the recordings made in Johannesburg, collaborating with both African and American artists. Simon faced controversy for seemingly breaking the cultural boycott imposed by the rest of the world against the apartheid regime in South Africa at the time. In addition, some critics viewed Graceland as an exploitive appropriation of their culture. Following its completion, Simon toured alongside South African musicians, combining the music of Graceland and their own music.

Despite the controversy, Graceland was a major commercial hit, becoming Simon's most successful studio album. His highest-charting effort in over a decade, Simon's return to the forefront of popular music was considered a remarkable comeback in a fickle music industry. It attracted rave reviews from music critics, won 1987 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and sold over 16 million copies worldwide. Graceland has been called one of the best albums of the 1980s with frequency, and is present on list of "greatest" albums by multiple publications. It was added to the National Recording Registry in 2007 for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important."

Wikipedia.org
 

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