Not only was it a good ten years for movies; the 90's produced a heck of a lot of good music. 'Twas the heyday of the Barenaked Ladies, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Cranberries, the Tragically Hip, Oasis, Stereophonics, Radiohead, Collective Soul, Toad the Wet Sprocket - heck, even Our Lady Peace put out a good album in the 90's! But today, we're going to go right back to the beginning, to 1990 itself. For this was a very good year, the year that Paul Simon made and/or released his world music stunner, The Rhythm of the Saints.
Fusing Simon's trademark sound with South American and African sounds and recorded in Brazil, The Rhythm of the Saints is a little bit short but very, very sweet. With his equation of creative genius, technical skill, and the gift of writing lyrics like "I believe you've lost the love of friendship" in relation to an ex-lover, Paul Simon is an artist whose musicianship is rivalled by few in general, and, in his genre, perhaps only by Bob Dylan. I mean, what can you say about a guy who wrote stuff in the 70's that doesn't sound out of date today? There are only so few adjectives before the praise just gets inane.
I've known Paul Simon was great ever since I was about nine years old, but he still manages to surprise me in the best of ways. The Rhythm of the Saints is a potent, energized story that's reflective but never dull. It's so good, it makes installing baseboards fun.
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