This concert from Philadelphia’s Tower Theater was filmed in 1980, the same year that Paul Simon released his feature film One Trick Pony. The Simon-scripted One Trick Pony was the story of a once popular folksinger who’d had a hit back in the ’60s with a protest song about the Vietnam War. He was playing bars and nostalgia shows with a funky band, trying to drum up interest in his new music, but people only wanted to hear the oldies: they wanted “Soft Parachutes.”
The film is sadly out of print, and the soundtrack album didn’t do well, but it’s always been one of my favourites of Simon’s oeuvre. It’s a funky album from a non-funky guy. And the funk comes from the band of jazz champions he put together: the incredible Steve Gadd on drums, guitar king Eric Gale, master of the bass Tony Levin, and Mr. Soul, Richard Tee, on keyboards. This band was tops. They stayed together after Simon’s project, replacing Levin with Gordon Edwards, and adding Cornell Dupree on second lead guitar; they called themselves Stuff and put out a handful of albums of R&B flavoured jazz — or was it jazz flavoured R&B? Here on Paul Simon’s show, they’re doing Paul Simon songs. These guys really cooked.
Recent (late 2000s) video footage of Paul Simon show a performer who has become quite self conscious. His lips pursed, he flits a bit, wears baseball caps to cover his bald pate, and seems to be overcompensating to put on a show. But back in 1980, there’s not much of that. What you get is a great songwriter and guitarist fronting a band of equals, laying down the funkiest rhythms under his intelligent and poetic lyrics. In 1980 he was writing songs, not experimenting with grooves; and he was editing. The songs had natural hooks that were carefully crafted. He was six years away from Graceland but you can already hear African influences on rhythms and guitar styles. Gale adds some distinctly African licks to his bag of jazz stylings. It’s fun to hear some of Simon’s older songs done by this band. Richard Tee’s rough harmonies on songs like “Still Crazy After All These Years” take the songs in a different direction. Simon and band play “Me & Julio Down By the Schoolyard,” “American Tune,” “The Boxer” and “The Sound of Silence.” And the fact that they sound great even in this different context speaks to the quality of songwriting.
The newer tunes are from the film, and this concert was probably as much a road test for the film as anything. This video footage has been released before, but it’s always been hard to find. It now exists as part of Eagle Rock’s Greatest Hits Live series. I’m glad to have it. I love this era of Paul Simon. My only complaint is the lack of bonus footage, and the packaging is a bit slipshod. The DVD sits in a softer plastic molded holder, and the disc, on my copy at least, pops loose regularly. This has caused quite a bit of scratching on the disc. While this hasn’t affected playability, I think it could be only a matter of time. Listen you inventors out there: forget about building a better mousetrap, the world really needs a better DVD case! Until the disc is rendered unplayable, I’m going to enjoy this memorable concert over and over!
(Eagle Rock Entertainment, 2008)
