LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS

July 01, 2004

PAUL SIMON: "The Studio Recordings (1972-2000)" (Warner/Rhino)

4/4

Simon's music, both with Art Garfunkel and on his own, has never suffered from neglect, at least in terms of hits packages and career compilations. But his early solo material - his eponymous 1972 debut, the following year's "There Goes Rhymin' Simon" and "Still Crazy After All These Years" from 1975 - has never been remastered, and like Dylan's Columbia catalog, it cried out for such special treatment. Help has arrived with this nine-disc box, which collects all of Simon's solo albums, running up through 2000's sadly neglected "You're the One," adding two to four previously unreleased bonus tracks on each disc. The box, obviously, is for true believers; the albums will be available individually later this month. Taken together, though, they confirm Simon as one of the great songwriters of the rock era, his musical curiosity and lyrical brilliance as interesting today as when these recordings were made.

-- Glenn Whipp