In late 1969, Simon and Garfunkel went on tour for the first time in about a year, despite the fact that they were still putting the finishing touches on their new album "Bridge Over Troubled Water," which would be released in January 1970. Most or all of the short tour was professionally recorded for a possible live album that never came to pass, as well as for video footage meant for a TV special broadcast at the end of November. Decades later, an archival live album of highlights of this tour was released called "Live 1969." I prefer this bootleg over that album. "Live 1969" is a seemingly random selection of songs in seemingly random order, with band performances mixed with acoustic ones, and no banter between songs. Whereas this is longer, and a compete show, with the songs in order and all the banter included.
Speaking of the songs being in order, versions of this bootleg have been around for decades, but I believe the song order has been messed up all that time. In short, Simon and Garfunkel performed an acoustic set and a set with a full band. All versions of this bootleg that I've seen have the full band set first, followed by the acoustic set. But it appears to have been the opposite. It's usually done the other way for concerts in general, and that's how it was done for the other shows on the tour. I even found a review of the concert from the night before the states as much. Here's an excerpt from the article:
"During the first half of the show, there was little informal bantering between performers and audience. However, the numbers , which included 'Homeward Bound, ' 'America,' 'For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her.' and 'Scarborough Fair,' were warmly received. For most of the second half, Simon and Garfunkel performed with the backup group that records with them. 'Mrs. Robinson,' the first number after the intermission, was ruined by a too-loud background and an audible whistle in the equipment."
Other details in the article make clear the two sets should be released. For instance, the full band set included an encore of "Bye Bye Love" for both nights.
Further research revealed that the correct date of the concert was November 9th, not November 11th, as it has been on all versions of this bootleg up until now. There are mentions of the concert being on the 9th written in that time period. So I made that correction too.
Some versions of this bootleg contain two extra songs compared to other versions: "Overs" and "A Most Peculiar Man." Those do seem to fit with the show. For instance, they have the same stellar sound quality. But they seem to have been out of order. So I had to use some guesswork to figure out where to place them. The last song of the first set not including these two, "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her," ends with a regular amount of applause. But "A Most Peculiar Man" ends with a rapturous amount of applause (which gets suddenly cut off). That wouldn't make much sense, since it's not one of the duo's most favorite songs. But it would make sense if that was the end of the set and they left the stage.
So I'm pretty sure that song ended the first set and I have the songs in their correct spots. But if anyone knows of the correct, complete set list for the show, please let me know. It's also possible that other songs were played that didn't get bootlegged. For instance, the review of the show from the night before that I quoted above mentioned two more encores after "Bye Bye Love," which is not the case here.
This show was rather unusual in that four songs from the still unreleased "Bridge Over Troubled Water" album were played, as well as an original, "Cuba Si, Nixon No," that never got released, plus a cover of a relatively obscure song, "That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine." (One song on that album, "The Boxer," had been a big hit as a single already.) So the audience was in for some surprises. The biggest was the song "Bridge Over Troubled Water." This future classic was only played in concert for the first time a week earlier. The audience was totally amazed, as you can tell from the lengthy applause when the song ended.
This concert is an hour and ten minutes long. I cut out a little bit of dead air between songs, but not much, maybe a minute or two in total.
As an aside, the band members were all part of the famous "Wrecking Crew" that played on the recordings of hundreds of hits in the 1960s and 70s, including drummer Hal Blaine.
01 Homeward Bound (Simon & Garfunkel)
02 talk (Simon & Garfunkel)
03 At the Zoo (Simon & Garfunkel)
04 America (Simon & Garfunkel)
05 talk (Simon & Garfunkel)
06 Song for the Asking (Simon & Garfunkel)
07 A Poem on the Underground Wall (Simon & Garfunkel)
08 talk (Simon & Garfunkel)
09 For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her (Simon & Garfunkel)
10 talk (Simon & Garfunkel)
11 Overs (Simon & Garfunkel)
12 A Most Peculiar Man (Simon & Garfunkel)
13 Mrs. Robinson (Simon & Garfunkel)
14 talk (Simon & Garfunkel)
15 Fakin' It (Simon & Garfunkel)
16 The Boxer (Simon & Garfunkel)
17 talk (Simon & Garfunkel)
18 So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright (Simon & Garfunkel)
19 Why Don’t You Write Me (Simon & Garfunkel)
20 talk (Simon & Garfunkel)
21 That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine (Simon & Garfunkel)
22 Cuba Si, Nixon No (Simon & Garfunkel)
23 Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel)
24 The Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel)
25 Bye Bye Love (Simon & Garfunkel)
Good color photos of Simon and Garfunkel in concert in the 1960s are surprisingly hard to find. The problem with the one I chose for the cover is that I have no idea where or when it's from. However, I saw some black and white photos from the tour, and they looked basically like that. (Simon would grow his hair longer shortly thereafter, and grow a mustache for a little while too.)
Thanks for this live S&G !
ReplyDeleteAs usual, Norton keeps blocking this. An alternative suggestion?
ReplyDeleteGet rid of Norton.
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