audio review : Trailways Bus ( song ) … Paul Simon ( featuring Sara Ramirez )

This isn’t just the best song from Paul Simon’s Capeman play and companion album, it’s one of the best he’s ever made. It’s sang mostly from the perspective of character (Saint) Lazarus; Simon also covers the roles of Sal and a “border patrol” officer while guest Sara Ramirez plays Wahzinak; and the vocals are wonderful.

That goes for both the melodies and the lyrics, apparently co-authored by poet Derek Walcott. “He can’t leave his fears behind; he recalls each fatal thrust,” one line goes in reference to Salvador Agron, who was convicted as a youth for killing two peers with a knife; “Screams carried by the wind; phantom figures in the dust.”

my rating : 5 of 5

1997

audio review : Songs From The Capeman ( album ) ... Paul Simon

video review : Contact

video review : Contact

Like observing deep space via satellite, waiting for some sign of intelligent life, this movie is boring for a long time. About a third of its two-and-a-half hours goes by before the catch of the plot finally beams in and things start to get interesting.

Based on a Carl Sagan sci-fi novel, Contact propels itself with a wonderous concept, brilliant visual effects and mind-bending philosophical undertones, but the story, bogged down by extraneous love themes, doesn’t reach good fast enough.

my rating : 3 of 5

1997

audio review : Songs From The Capeman ( album ) … Paul Simon

audio review : Songs From The Capeman ( album ) ... Paul Simon

This isn’t really a Paul Simon album. It’s songs from a stage musical created by him. The Capeman is based on the true story of Salvador Agron, a Puerto Rican teen who made the New York news in 1959 for killing two rival gang members. Why Simon finds the case; a front page story at the time but banal compared to the news of today; interesting enough to devote such a big production to is the question. Whatever the reason, he and his team of musicians make it something extraordinary. Their songs, inspired by doo-wop and other 1950s styles, soar with melody. Their words flow with poetry.

The album’s one major flaw goes back to it not really being a Paul Simon album. The individual songs turn a tragic tale into a tuneful triumph, but the overall concept is a bloody mess. Different singers play the same characters. It starts with Paul as Sal, but the role switches to Marc Anthony along the way. Different characters are also played by the same singers, often in the same songs, which make the dialogue and plotting confusing to anyone not reading along with the liner notes. If said nuisances can be ignored, or at least forgiven, Songs From The Capeman ranks among Paul Simon’s best.

my rating : 4 of 5

1997