Kind of a rainy afternoon with Simone

quick impressions of music

Simone. Kopmajer. An Austrian chanteuse with a cool style. She reaches the in-crowd that extends internationally from Europe to the UK to the United States to Japan and south east Asia including Thailand. Her SACD are on a Japanese label VENUS alongside other releases on CD on various labels. In her albums such as “My Favorite Songs” (which is her version of her hand picked greatest hits album) to “Christmas” (including Christmas time songs such as “Santa Baby” alongside carols sung in English and German), Simone sings in a boppy Marilyn manner with a Dionne Warwick tinge that would not be out of place alongside the canon of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. On other albums that cover the gamut of rock and popular, she has innovative approaches that can be quiet and intimate, bluesy or very swinging with the with it band. The talent on her discs are high calibre musicians that propel or indulge her as she engages with contemporary covers, classical songs and jazz standards with even a bit of Marvin Gaye. Her catalogue is worth the hunt as many of the titles are scarce or out of print.

Kind of au clair d’angel

some impressions of music


Angel Ciair
Art Garfunkel


There was a lot on the line when Art Garfunkel was coming out with his first solo album.

ANGEL CLARE
LP KC 31474 (1973) STEREO/CQ 31474 QUADRAPHONIC


1: TRAVELING BOY (Williams; Nichols)
2: DOWN IN THE WILLOW GARDEN (Monroe)
3: I SHALL SING (Van Morrison)
4: OLD MAN (Newman)
5: FEUILLES-OH (Trad) – DO SPACE MEN PASS DEAD SOULS ON THEIR WAY TO THE MOON? (J. S. Bach; Grossman)
6: ALL I KNOW (Webb)
7: MARY WAS AN ONLY CHILD (Hammond; Hazlewood; Milchberg)
8: WOYAYA (Amarfio; Osei; Tontoh; Bedeau; Richardson; Amao; Bailey)
9: BARBARA ALLEN (Trad)
10: ANOTHER LULLABY (Webb)

Art Garfunkel (vocals)
Larry Knechtel, Michael Omartian (keyboards)
Louie Shelton, Larry Carlton, Dean Parks (guitars)
Joe Osborn (bass)
Hal Blaine, Jim Gordon (drums)

Other musicians:
J. J. Cale, Fred Carter, Jerry Garcia, Paul Simon (guitars)
Carl Radle (bass)
Tommy Tedesco (mandolin/bouzouki)
Jules Broussard, Jack Schroer (saxophones)
Jorge Milchberg (charango)
Stuart Canin (violin)
Milt Holland (percussion)
Dorothy Morrison, Sally Stevens, Jackie Ward & St. Mary’s Choir (vocals)

Remastered from the original analogue tapes by Michael J. Dutton


The feel of the album is a voyage through time. Traveling Boy. Mary was an only child. Old Man from Randy Newman. The renaissance nature of Feuilles-on.

The calibre of musicians involved with the creation of this album is jaw-dropping. The names from the Wrecking Crew abound.

What drew me to acquiring this on SACD was the early foray into the SACD world and the modest price of the album. As a fan of Garfunkel with Paul Simon and owning a few of their albums along with solo recordings, I looked forward to hearing the voice of Garfunkel through SACD.

The most familiar track All I Know starts with a slow build and then absolutely soars. The moment did not let me down and for this makes the whole experience worthwhile.