Today I thought I’d share with you, dear readers (I hope), something that I got a few years ago; something that is wicked cool (to me anyway) and chaulk full of some of the best music from the 1960s.
It’s a small box that contains fifteen singles by Simon and Garfunkel called “All the Singles” (CBS Sony 80SP 601-15) that was released in Japan in 1982.
Now this particular set of singles is extremely rare at least here in the United States. The great thing about this set is that the majority of singles it contains feature the mono single mixes which have never been released on either LP or CD anywhere in the world to my knowledge.
And as I’ve said before, and which will soon become a mantra lol, is that the hit mono single versions of these songs sonically wipe the floor with the currently available stereo mixes which are on the Simon and Garfunkel’s albums in print on CD.
The first twelve singles in this set (all in mono) contain some of Simon and Garfunkel’s best songs – “The Sounds of Silence”, “Homeward Bound” “I Am a Rock” (very different and much ballsier in mono), “A Hazy Shade of Winter” (dazzling in this single version which is even hotter sounding than the mono LP version), “Scarborough Fair”, “Mrs. Robinson”, “The Boxer” (lovely and much denser and darker than the stereo version) and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
The last three singles in the set are in stereo and include the Simon and Garfunkel reunion hit “My Little Town” from 1975.
Truly, these Japanese pressings are so superb, so silent that you’d be hard pressed to know the CD I made from this set was mastered from vinyl sources.
I know you have to be a true vinyl head (or nutjob lol) to probably care about the mono mixes but for me they just sound right.
I’m sure some of the millions of people who heard these hit versions day after day when they were young would instinctively say “oh yeah, that sounds like I remember them” if they heard them again.
IF being the operative word as the Simon and Garfunkel mono mixes seem to MIA at least for now anyway.
Until Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are convinced, or at least give their blessing, to re-release their most famous work the way millions of fans heard and bought them, then this set will probably stand as the last word and best way to hear the proper hit versions.
As I had never seen this set before I bought it, I thought folks might enjoy a glimpse or two of the cover and insides of this little jewel (below).
To quote Mr. Paul Simon:
“Are you worried and distressed?
Can’t seem to get no rest?
Put our product to the test
You’ll feel just fine
Now
Buy a big bright green pleasure machine” …
Records, CDs and Music: 