Paul Simon's 3-Disc Package, 'Live In New York City'

Alyson Camus|September 20, 2012

Paul Simon has a new album? Kind of, it’s a live album recorded at New York’s Webster Hall during his 2011 US tour, and featuring some of Simon's biggest hits, as well as songs from his most recent album ‘So Beautiful or So What’.

‘Live In New York’, released via Hear Music and Concord Music Group, is actually a 3-disc package, with a DVD of the show and 2 audio CDs, so about 90 minutes and 20 songs. It is just a little surprising there isn’t more of his latest effort and nothing from his two previous ones, but I am sure that fans will be happy with the old tunes he picked, such as ‘Kodachrome’, ‘Mother and Child Reunion’, ‘Slip Slidin' Away’, ‘50 Way To Leave Your Lover’, ‘The Only Living Boy In New York’, ‘Gone At Last’, as well as the unavoidable ‘The Sound Of Silence’, and of course the 'Graceland' tunes.

According to Brooklyn Vegan, the part of the encore when David Byrne came out to sing ‘You Can Call Me Al’ as well as ‘Road to Nowhere’, isn’t included in the DVD, and that’s a terrible shame, but it may be for copyright reasons?

I know this post will get some sarcastic comments to remind us how paul Simon is getting old, and that nobody cares about the repackaging of old songs sung by aging musicians! But seeing how many people (of all age, I insist) were already on line at 5 pm for a 9 pm show, and were pushing a little bit later to be front row, when I saw him at the Fonda theater in Los Angeles a year ago, I can tell you that the old guy still got it, and that Graceland is without any doubt, a legendary album.

Here is the track list and a video of a part that will not appear on the DVD!
The Obvious Child
Dazzling Blue
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover
So Beautiful Or So What
Mother And Child Reunion
That Was Your Mother
Hearts And Bones
Crazy Love, Vol. II
Slip Slidin' Away
Rewrite
The Boy In The Bubble
The Only Living Boy In New York
The Afterlife
Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes
Gumboots