DVD Review: Classic Albums–Graceland

The music and story behind Paul Simon’s masterful album Graceland is captured in great detail in the recently released DVD Classic Albums: Graceland. The documentary manages to cover both the political and musical implications of the album in a lean 75 minutes.

The idea for Graceland came from two events in Simon’s life around 1985 – his marriage to Carrie Fisher, and the commerical bomb that was the album Hearts and Bones. It seems that Paul needed to get as far away from his problems as possible, and South Africa seemed like a great place. The DVD tracks Simon’s recording of Graceland in South Africa, which was still operating under the injustices of apartheid. Many of the tracks played during the film are accompanied by visuals of life in South Africa at the time.

The various musical and vocal groups that Simon used to create the album are interviewed as well, and provide interesting insight into their experience working with Paul Simon. As one of the musicians says, the South Africans never felt as though their were being used by Simon in a negative way. In fact, they felt they used him to help spread the reach of their music to all parts of the world.

Paul Simon spend a great deal of time during the film behind the mixing board or with his guitar providing very detailed and interesting insight into the creative process. As Simon raises and lowers certain tracks to isolate different instruments or vocal performances, he points out that he sang many of the vocal tracks, only to lay them one on top of the other afterward. The music is layered in many ways as well, providing a very robust, but delicate listening experience. He talks extensively of his love for the title song from the album, which he said was, “The best I ever did.” Significant time is also given to "Boy in the Bubble" and "You Can Call Me Al," including the hilarious video that Simon did with Chevy Chase.

The Classic Albums series succeeds in providing the sort of detail that both hard core fans and newcomers can appreciate and learn from.

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Article Author: Matt Freelove

Matt Freelove and Brian St. Brian are the braintrust behind The BM Rant, covering good music, bad celebrities, and the city of Philadelphia.

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