Paul Simon is back with an US fall tour, he will stop by Los Angeles and even Las Vegas, but you can check the dates and locations below, knowing that new ones may be added later.
Simon has also a new two-disc collection called ‘Songwriter’ set to be released on Monday, October 24, just a few days after his 70th birthday.
This new collection of songs and performances, hand picked by Simon himself, will chronicle 5 decades of music, from the 60s to the present time. There are the obvious hits, from ‘The Sound of Silence’ (recorded during Simon's 2011 concert at New York's Webster Hall), to Aretha Franklin's take on ‘Bridge Over Trouble Water’ to ‘Graceland’, as well as less well-known songs, without forgetting the new ones.
‘Songwriter’ includes liner notes by music journalist Tom Moon, who wrote that this new collection ‘….features commercial landmarks alongside ambitious and often criminally under-appreciated compositions. This structure makes the case that hit-single success is just one (often over-emphasized) measure; inevitably, with an artist who has contributed as much as Simon has, some of the 'smaller' pieces get overlooked…. What you learn, listening to this 'director's cut' sampler from a long career, is that there have always been conversations bubbling inside of Simon's tunes, and those conversations take many forms….’
He has written hundred of songs, so the task of selecting only a few may have been difficult, but Simon has his favorite ones, as he recently declared to Harpers magazine that ‘Graceland was his favorite record, and the favorite song he ever wrote'.
But, as the title of this new collection reveals, the writing part is what matters for him as he said ‘I think of myself as a songwriter first, the recording artist and performer in me follow in the writer's footsteps’.
Here is the tracklist of ‘Songwriter’
Disc 1
1. The Sound Of Silence (Live at Webster Hall 2011) – new unreleased
2. The Boxer – Paul Simon – Live Central Park
3. Bridge Over Troubled Water – Aretha Franklin – studio version
4. Mother And Child Reunion
5. Tenderness
6. Peace Like A River
7. American Tune
8. Kodachrome
9. Something So Right
10. Late In The Evening
11. Train In The Distance
12. Hearts And Bones
13. Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War
14.Still Crazy After All These Years
15. Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes
16. The Boy In The Bubble
17. Graceland
Disc 2
1. Obvious Child
2. Further To Fly
3. The Cool, Cool River
4. Spirit Voices
5. Born In Puerto Rico
6. Quality
7. Darling Lorraine
8. Look At That
9. Senorita With A Necklace Of Tears
10. That's Me
11. Another Galaxy
12. Father And Daughter
13. Rewrite
14. Love And Hard Times
15. So Beautiful Or So What
And here are the dates of his fall tour:
10/17/2011 Phoenix, AZ Comerica Theatre
10/19/2011 Universal City, CA Gibson Amphitheatre
10/20/2011 Berkeley, CA Greek Theatre
10/22/2011 San Diego, CA Viejas Arena
10/23/2011 Santa Barbara, CA Santa Barbara Bowl
10/24/2011 Las Vegas, NV Colosseum at Caesar's Palace
10/26/2011 Denver, CO IstBank Center
10/28/2011 Grand Prairie, TX Verizon Theatre
10/29/2011 Memphis, TN Mud Island Amphitheatre
11/4/2011 New Orleans, LA UNO Lakefront Arena
11/5/2011 Cedar Park, TX Cedar Park Center
11/6/2011 Oklahoma City, OK Civic Center Music Hall
11/8/2011 Kansas City, MO The Midland by AMC