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Paul Simon - Stranger To Stranger (2016)

Posted By: v3122
Paul Simon - Stranger To Stranger (2016)

Paul Simon - Stranger To Stranger (2016)
EAC | Flac(Image) + Cue + Log & MP3 CBR 320Kbps
Concord Records, 0888072398030 | ~ 329 or 129 Mb | Scans included
Folk Rock, World, Singer-Songwriter

“The werewolf’s coming,” Paul Simon cautions at the start of his 13th solo outing, Stranger To Stranger. That’s a menacing lyric coming from a guy who, at 74, undoubtably has a first-class window seat on the pop music gravy train. He helped ease fans through the tumult of the ’60s alongside Art Garfunkel. In ’80s, he did the seemingly unthinkable by turning African rhythm and world music influences into an outside-the-box mainstream smash. So what gives? What could possibly be eating at the timeless pop music icon this late into his historic career?

Nothing really, other than an innate need to continue to earn his keep. That might sound bizarre coming from someone who has said and done more in his career than most artists could ever hope to. But as Simon told Rolling Stone back in April, your past successes sometimes create more pressure to keep things fresh. “To get people to listen with open ears, you have to really make something that is interesting because people are prepared for it not to be interesting,” he said.

That’s a pretty tall order for someone with 50 years worth of tunes in his back pocket. But Stranger To Stranger sounds like the singer came into it energized by the challenge. Lyrically, Simon is shouldering a substantial chip. “The Werewolf” works as a metaphor for all of the social ills he perceives: murder, greed, politics, and people’s overall self-serving bad behavior. The song is soaked with Simon’s sour disposition, even as he sings over the kind of charming afro-pop that feels as warm today as it did on Graceland 30 years earlier. Still, some lines nail his overarching grievances dead to the wall: “Most obits are mixed reviews/ Life is a lottery a lot of people lose/ And the winners, the grinners with money-colored eyes/ Eat all the nuggets and they all got extra fries.”

Simon is in scrappy, fighting form here, and he’s clearly got no shortage of targets. Everything is ripe for skewering on Stranger To Stranger, from small issues like macho doormen (“Wristband”) to organized religion. “God goes fishing, and we are the fishes,” he sings on the funky “Street Angel”. “He baits his line with prayers and wishes.”

Lyrically Simon’s locked and loaded, but the singer doesn’t exhaust all of his creative touches on wordplay and symbolism. With the help of longtime friend/producer Roy Halee behind the boards, Simon again proves himself to be among the most sonically adventurous elder statesmen in pop music. Danceable pop drives the bus on cuts like “In a Parade” and “Street Angel”, which with its colorful effects and scratches sounds like a Graceland cut updated for 2016. When he’s not using studio trickery, his technical proficiency rains all over the folky, atmospheric “Proof of Love”. But Stranger To Stranger isn’t a front-to-back document of cranky artistry. There are also a few short instrumental interludes, including “In the Garden of Edie”, written in tribute to Simon’s wife, Edie Brickell.

Stepping outside the bounds of the record itself for a moment, it’s hard to fully appreciate Simon’s latest without putting it in the context of the current classic rock landscape. 2016 has been an unusually cruel year thus far. With Bowie, Glenn Frey, and Prince having left us in quick succession, we’ve been left with the somber reminder of how impermanent our heroes are. Stranger To Stranger is poof positive that Simon isn’t simply still here, but he’s kicking with gusto. In a year where good news has been fleeting for classic rock fans, Simon’s latest is worth grabbing onto with both hands.

BY RYAN BRAY, consequenceofsound.net
Paul Simon - Stranger To Stranger (2016):

Paul Simon - Stranger To Stranger (2016)

Tracklist:

01. The Werewolf (3:26)
02. Wristband (3:18)
03. The Clock (1:03)
04. Street Angel (2:11)
05. Stranger To Stranger (4:36)
06. In A Parade (2:22)
07. Proof Of Love (5:44)
08. In The Garden Of Edie (1:49)
09. The Riverbank (4:12)
10. Cool Papa Bell (4:03)
11. Insomniac's Lullaby (4:49)
12. Horace And Pete (2:30)
13. Duncan (Live) (4:43)
14. Wristband (Live) (3:29)
15. Guitar Piece 3 (1:08)
16. New York Is My Home (feat. Dion) (4:30)

Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 3. June 2016, 0:15

Paul Simon / Stranger To Stranger (Deluxe Edition)

Used drive : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GH24NSD1 Adapter: 0 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:25.50 | 0 | 15424
2 | 3:25.50 | 3:17.67 | 15425 | 30266
3 | 6:43.42 | 1:02.59 | 30267 | 34975
4 | 7:46.26 | 2:11.34 | 34976 | 44834
5 | 9:57.60 | 4:35.51 | 44835 | 65510
6 | 14:33.36 | 2:21.46 | 65511 | 76131
7 | 16:55.07 | 5:44.31 | 76132 | 101962
8 | 22:39.38 | 1:48.40 | 101963 | 110102
9 | 24:28.03 | 4:11.52 | 110103 | 128979
10 | 28:39.55 | 4:02.46 | 128980 | 147175
11 | 32:42.26 | 4:48.44 | 147176 | 168819
12 | 37:30.70 | 2:30.02 | 168820 | 180071
13 | 40:00.72 | 4:43.19 | 180072 | 201315
14 | 44:44.16 | 3:28.70 | 201316 | 216985
15 | 48:13.11 | 1:08.11 | 216986 | 222096
16 | 49:21.22 | 4:30.32 | 222097 | 242378


Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename H:\Paul Simon - Stranger To Stranger (EAC)\Paul Simon - Stranger To Stranger (Deluxe Edition).wav

Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 7.2 X
Range quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 4E4B1AF4
Copy CRC 4E4B1AF4
Copy OK

No errors occurred


AccurateRip summary

Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
Track 5 not present in database
Track 6 not present in database
Track 7 not present in database
Track 8 not present in database
Track 9 not present in database
Track 10 not present in database
Track 11 not present in database
Track 12 not present in database
Track 13 not present in database
Track 14 not present in database
Track 15 not present in database
Track 16 not present in database

None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database

End of status report

foobar2000 1.2.9 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-06-03 12:20:29

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Paul Simon / Stranger To Stranger (Deluxe Edition)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR7 -0.01 dB -8.39 dB 3:26 01-The Werewolf
DR6 -0.01 dB -6.93 dB 3:18 02-Wristband
DR10 -4.52 dB -20.58 dB 1:03 03-The Clock
DR11 -0.01 dB -12.53 dB 2:11 04-Street Angel
DR9 -0.01 dB -11.75 dB 4:36 05-Stranger To Stranger
DR7 -0.01 dB -8.94 dB 2:22 06-In A Parade
DR8 -0.01 dB -10.63 dB 5:44 07-Proof Of Love
DR11 -2.86 dB -18.37 dB 1:49 08-In The Garden Of Edie
DR7 -0.01 dB -9.69 dB 4:12 09-The Riverbank
DR8 -0.01 dB -8.92 dB 4:03 10-Cool Papa Bell
DR9 -0.01 dB -11.94 dB 4:49 11-Insomniac's Lullaby
DR10 -0.58 dB -13.99 dB 2:30 12-Horace And Pete
DR9 -0.50 dB -12.52 dB 4:43 13-Duncan (Live)
DR9 -0.01 dB -10.35 dB 3:29 14-Wristband (Live)
DR12 -0.40 dB -16.49 dB 1:08 15-Guitar Piece 3
DR9 -0.24 dB -11.19 dB 4:30 16-New York Is My Home (feat. Dion)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 16
Official DR value: DR9

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 825 kbps
Codec: FLAC

[CUETools log; Date: 03.06.2016 12:14:55; Version: 2.1.4]
[CTDB TOCID: lS.McBRt7p6EFFS_STyFrFu7FRw-] disk not present in database.
[AccurateRip ID: 001e51de-0171e3b1-e50c9f10] disk not present in database.

Track Peak [ CRC32 ] [W/O NULL] [ LOG ]
– 99,8 [4E4B1AF4] [249DBDA3] CRC32
01 99,8 [0EE816DE] [7767CE51]
02 99,8 [7333A100] [AD31D096]
03 59,4 [ADCD799F] [5EA30F6A]
04 99,8 [3511D231] [79435F5C]
05 99,8 [D53AB745] [69C81D8A]
06 99,8 [1ECF8DCD] [DF4F0D48]
07 99,8 [D6EA9088] [624D92AD]
08 71,9 [515FA24B] [4B74974C]
09 99,8 [2F12142C] [E7C4BAFA]
10 99,8 [672BA211] [D571FA48]
11 99,8 [05A09EE0] [DADDF681]
12 93,5 [5CFA7634] [B464D739]
13 94,3 [55133232] [4E52A2F2]
14 99,8 [C5462E90] [6D6B8BB2]
15 95,5 [8FE748F2] [45FC6213]
16 97,2 [E18EA129] [63BC42A4]

Paul Simon - Stranger To Stranger (2016)

All thanks go to the original releaser

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