NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

May 7, 2006

Paul Simon: "Surprise"

by Jim Farber

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what Paul Simon saw in the man who produced his latest CD.

For Simon's first solo album in six years, he selected as co-conspirator Brian Eno, a man who shares Simon's curiosity for music that roams the globe - as well as his bent for lyrics that plumb life's depths.

As it happens, Simon got even more out of Eno. As a master of eccentric soundscapes, Eno brought a finer sense of texture to this project than Simon has ever explored.

While the intersection of their two egos could have resulted in a mess of ambitions, instead they forged something focused and strong. In spirit, "Surprise" lands closest to Eno's work on prime Talking Heads albums like "Fear of Music," or his collaboration with David Byrne, "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts."

That could be bad news for old-line Paul Simon fans, who continue to pine for the linear melodies of his folk rock days. While Simon's last album offered a slight return to simple melody - if filtered through an Afro-pop sensibility - the new album goes for something more complex.

Restless and open, most of the tracks evolve as they go. A cut titled "Everything About It Is a Love Song" opens with a melody that floats for the first 30 seconds before gaining grounding through a small gallop of a beat. Next, a flickering guitar chimes in, wafting over a rash of sonic rustles, changing the song's whole tone.

In "Sure Don't Feel Like Love" a New Orleans funk rhythm straddles a Bo Diddley beat before moving into a lilting Afro-pop tune. In the most Talking Heads-like moment - "Another Galaxy" - African melodies receive a bracing update with modern electronics.

Simon's lyrics prove as encompassing and free-spirited. They're high-minded grapplings with the mysteries of nature and mortality. There's fear expressed here, but often with a wry shrug. Simon, who often sports a sour face, finally sounds like he's having fun again, using music and words as freely as fingerpaints. How refreshing to see a 64-year-old, with nothing to prove, still pushing himself.