Orang-utans are sceptical of changes in their cages

Continuing my trip back through the 1968 album charts.

24/11/68 : Bookends - Simon & Garfunkel

I've not heard this album but I certainly know quite a few of the tracks - it'll be interesting to see whether the other tracks are not so well know for a reason!  I've heard good things about the album though, so I'm looking forward to it - and it's nice to have a "proper" album for the first time this year.

So, the tracks I know are "America" (a very fine track), "Old Friends", "Mrs Robinson" (much better than the versions on this), "Hazy Shades Of Winter", "At The Zoo" (which I really like) and the two "Bookends Themes" (both very inessential) and there's nothing wrong with any of them.  The rest are a mixed bunch - most of them are fine enough, but "Save The Life Of My Child" is surprisingly quirky and "Voices Of Old People" is well, exactly what it says on the tin.  Which wasn't what I was expecting at all - and it is the only track on the album "written" by Art Garfunkel.  I'd have to say it was a pleasure to listen to a "proper" album - I wasn't sure it always hit the sweet spot, but the high points were certainly high enough.  It's a very short album though - not even managing a full half hour at 29:51.

We're at #7 in the charts this week on their 18th week of a 28 week run, having spent 7 weeks at #1 with a fourteen week run in the top three.  It's also managed another 49 weeks in the charts since, but was last seen in '71.  The top five this week were The Hollies, TGTBATU, The Seekers, another Simon & Garfunkel and TSOM - two best-ofs and three soundtracks!  The highest new entry was British Motown Chartbusters Vol 2 (#29) and I'd have to say it features some very fine tracks on it, all of which seem to be connected by the specific exclusion of any British element to them.

Wikipedia has a reasonable amount on the album, but most of it seems to relate to how long it took them to pull it all together - it really sounds as though Paul Simon was just the most annoying person in need of a good slap at the time, being obsessed with "artistic integrity".  There's also a lot of pointless discussion about whether it was or wasn't inspired by The Beatles, particularly Sgt Pepper.  The critics liked it enough at the time, but have fallen over themselves since to declare its greatness and its legacy.  And the commercial reception was phenomenal, particularly in the US where it sold 2 million copies - the plausible point is made that Martin Luther King was assassinated 24 hours after its release and the country needed something soothing in troubled times.

"Customers also listened to" The Mamas & The Papas, Buffalo Springfield and The Youngbloods - all of whom I can tell you very little about.  I enjoyed experiencing this album but, at first listen, I can't say the tracks I didn't already know added anything to my enjoyment or appreciation of Messrs Simon & Garfunkel.

17/11/68 - I really don't see the appeal
01/12/68 - An interesting step back in time