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Bookends | 
 enlarge | Artist: Simon & Garfunkel
Label: Sundazed Music Inc.
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $18.03
You Save: $0.95 (5%)
New (9) Used (1) from $12.99
Rating:  39 reviews
Sales Rank: 86848
Media: LP Record
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 12.4 x 12.4 x 0.2
UPC: 090771523310
EAN: 0090771523310
ASIN: B001EQP9UK
Release Date: October 28, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Bookends Theme | | • | Save the Life of My Child | | • | America | | • | Overs | | • | Voices of Old People | | • | Old Friends | | • | Bookends Theme | | • | Fakin' It | | • | Punky's Dilemma | | • | Mrs. Robinson (From the Motion Picture The Graduate) | | • | A Hazy Shade of Winter | | • | At the Zoo |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential recording
Track for track, this is Simon & Garfunkel's best album. By 1968, Simon had shed his more precious tendencies as a songsmith. Meanwhile, the duo and coproducer and engineer Roy Halee had become adept studio technicians. "America" and "Mrs. Robinson" displayed the kind of sonic breadth that would flower even more fully two years later with "The Boxer" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Bits of whimsy ("Punky's Dilemma," "At the Zoo") and melancholy ("Old Friends," "A Hazy Shade of Winter") complete this autumnal album. Ultradisc's 24-karat-gold version of this title offers superior sound quality for a higher price than the standard-issue CD. --Steven Stolder
Album Description
Simon and Garfunkel's classic album Bookends, released in 1968, marked the duo's emergence as both a brilliant creative force and one of their era's biggest-selling recording acts. Bookends, which arrived on the heels of Simon and Garfunkel's high-profile role on the soundtrack of the film The Graduate, is a brilliantly realized tour de force that captures the pleasures, tensions and fears of its era as vividly as any '60s album. Simon's literate, emotionally complex songwriting is matched by the ambitious production, which elevates the fiery folk-rockers "A Hazy Shade of Winter" and "Save the Life of My Child," the cinematic flights "America" and "Fakin' It," the intimate ballads "Old Friends" and "Bookends Theme," and the deceptively whimsical "Mrs. Robinson" and "At the Zoo." Sundazed's exact vinyl replica of this harmony-rich classic is sourced from the original stereo master tapes, making this release an essential component of any '60s pop/rock collection.
Album Description
Simon's literate, emotionally complex songwriting is matched by the ambitious production, which elevates the fiery folk-rockers 'A Hazy Shade of Winter' and 'Save The Life of My Child', the cinematic flights 'America' and 'Fakin' It' the initimate ballads 'Old Friends' and 'Bookends Theme' and the deceptively whimsical 'Mrs. Robinson' and 'At the Zoo'.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 34 more reviews...
 "How Terribly Strange To Be Seventy" - Paul Simon November 3, 2008
November 2, 2008
Simon and Garfunkel's Bookends was a perfect album, no cherry picking necessary. These songs written by Paul Simon are comparable to nothing crafted before he wrote them and I do not think will be possible to match at anytime in the future. Among perfect albums (every selection a strong keeper)I consider Sergeant Pepper, Sweet Baby James, Tapestry, Rumours,
Turnstiles, and Johnny Mathis Greatest Hits. Truthfully, you might be better served purchasing a Bookends CD than one of these modern day hits loaded with three songs to be proud of. Old Friends is so intensely metaphorical and descriptive that when I was a young man as Bookends was issued, I kept moving fast forward to a time in my life when I too would be sitting on that park bench like my father before me. "How terribly strange to be seventy", I'll never forget that Paul Simon line. At the zoo is a portrayal of Manhattan's Central Park Zoo, a cherished hideout for me many years ago when I lived on New York's Upper West Side. It hits me so emotionally when I hear Simon's lyric "You can take a crosstown bus when it's raining or it's cold". America is a startling remembrance of when I went cross country with my friends in an American Motors Rebel. flaming red, and hitting such memorable towns as Biloxi, Nogales, El Paso and finally a commune in Mill Valley, California. This song characterized my voyage as an inquiring youth with such uncanny precision as it weaved an enchanting and evolving tale. If you are young, it is possible you are not familiar with Simon and Garfunkel. Take my advice and start with Bookends, you decide where you will go from there.
Jay Adler, Music Critic
Bookends is top-shelf June 4, 2008
This is one remarkable recording done in 1968. The songs flow like a moving river. I recommend this for anybody that wants to get a good earful of Simon and Garfunkel.
Preserve your memories-- they're all that's left you December 26, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As has been stated repeatedly here, BOOKENDS (released in 1968) is the greatest of all Simon & Garfunkel albums, and one of the best records made in the 1960s.
Tonight, Christmas night, I've been thinking about Christmas of 1968-- I was 14 then. That was an awful year to live through for anyone, especially a kid. The Vietnam War, the assassinations of public figures, and seeing part of my city burn the previous summer during riots-- it was a lot to handle.
The song "Save The Life Of My Child" from BOOKENDS was in my head all throughout 1968. I identified with that frightened boy standing on the ledge, while a crowd below urged him to jump. His final thought as "he flew away" was "...I got no hiding place." That was exactly how I felt in those days.
What a powerful and unforgettable way to begin an album. The moods of BOOKENDS reflect so well the troubled times of the late '60s, with its anti-war sentiments (Punky's Dilemma), and its tales of love and love lost (America, Overs). The original first side of the record ends with the sad longing and fears of Old Friends, who sit on a park bench and reminisce together. But this bittersweet song has a deeper message. These old men were survivors-- if they were supposed to be elderly in 1968, then they made it through the Depression, and two world wars, and if they were the youth of 1968 projected into the future, well they too made it through trials by fire.
And so have I made it through! I'm in my 50s now and headed for that park bench one day. The fears and sadness of 1968 are long past, but a final memory remains:
As I lay in bed early that Christmas Eve, the colored glow of tree lights seeped into my room. Off in the distance were disembodied television voices of Apollo astronauts circling the moon-- they read passages from the book of Genesis, and wished well the "people of the good Earth." It was a peaceful and hopeful ending to a terrible year.
Very few albums truly encapsulate a moment in time. Even fewer connect deeply with listeners in ways they may not realize until decades into the future. Simon & Garfunkel's BOOKENDS is one of those rare examples. It is paradoxically timeless and a reflection of its time.
Definitely Their Best October 28, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I agree with Mr. Flaherty that this is a better album than Bridge. I got this album around the time it came out. I also got Bridge when it came out. I don't own Bridge any more but now have this one on cd. While Bridge had some good songs, I grew tired of it. Not so with Bookends. Just this morning, I listened to this cd and really got into it as I was commuting. At different times, certain songs on this cd appeal to me. This morning it was At the Zoo. I think PS's song comments on a lot of things. One, in particular is how we anthropomorphize animals with all sorts of human inventions: "Monkeys stand for honesty, Giraffes are insincere ... Zebras are reactionary, Antelopes are missionaries ... Hamsters turn on frequently." Yes, it's a gas.
Much more than just Mrs. Robinson to be discovered here... May 7, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have a couple of confessions here. My familiarity with Simon and Garfunkel has been incredibly shallow, first through their greatest hits album and then their placement of 'America' in Cameron Crowe's film 'Almost Famous' which sets the tone of the movie. I know The Bangles' version of 'Hazy Shade of Winter' from the soundtrack to 'Less Than Zero' (one of the principle films of my generation) and didn't realize until years later that it was an S&G song. My loss.
I picked up this album on vinyl in my local Goodwill to give it a listen. I had no idea these guys were so radical. While not overtly political, they were quite subversive and spoke out what people were genuinely feeling during the late 60s. We all think of the song 'Mrs. Robinson' from the film 'The Graduate' but we often miss the social jabs laced throughout. 'Where have you gone Joe Dimaggio?' is a profoundly disturbing question.
Long before Pink Floyd threw in their sound effects and voices on their albums, Simon and Garfunkel were experimenting with the same. Who ever heard of recordings of old people put right smack dab in the middle of an album? You'll realize just how outspoken they truly were, something easy to miss with Simon's beautiful guitar work and Garfunkel's harmonies.
The social commentary is not pretty and underneath the beauty of the songs is a sorrow, a deep longing for meaning and understanding from among the chaos. We often think of others of that era, from Bob Dylan to Marvin Gaye and other such troubadours, but for those who miss out on the deeper cuts of some of Simon and Garfunkel's work, it's to their loss. To get an understanding of the turmoil of this era, this album is a necessity. This is one of the best albums I've heard in a long, long time.
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