#253: Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Shaka Zulu (1987)

Emily: The only I (and probably most people) have heard of Ladysmith Black Mambazo is from Mean Girls. Cady is supposed to go to Madison with her parents for a concert and decides to throw her party instead and her mom gets mad and says, "But you love Ladysmith Black Mambazo!" And thus, when we came to this album I had to choose it. However, it seems that Cady made the right choice to skip the concert. Shaka Zulu can best be described as a cappella African folk music. It's certainly an acquired taste. I liked a couple songs, especially the hand-clap love song Hello My Baby, but overall I wasn't really a fan. The songs all kind of sound the same, but their simplicity could perhaps lead to interesting live interpretations and improvisation.
Favorite Tracks: Hello My Baby; Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain; King of Kings

Zack: Every time we’re due to cover a world music album, I try to send Emily three albums representing vastly different cultures and musical influences. She almost always chooses the salsa one, to varying degrees of success. So this time I forced her hand. I picked almost all African-oriented albums, and it seems to have blown up in my face. I really disliked this album. It was just so stripped down that I found it boring. I probably should have been prepared for that, given my aggressive apathy towards Graceland. But there was just no preparing for how simplistic each song was going to be. Maybe I’m just uncultured, but I just couldn’t wait to be done and move on.

Favorite Tracks: King of Kings; Hello My Baby; Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain 

#226: Paul Simon - Graceland (1986)

Emily: Paul Simon's musical style can best be described as "troubadour." He learns stories of people, places, emotions, and events, and retells them in song. He did it with Garfunkel by keeping the music minimalistic so the listener could focus on the story in the lyrics. Here, in his mid-'80s solo career, he takes a slightly different path. Inspired by apartheid-era South African township music, Simon broadens the scope of both his lyrics and his music. He draws from African pop music and instrumental styles and incorporates them with American pop and rock, creating a unique sound that tells a global story.
Favorite Tracks: Graceland; You Can Call Me Al; Crazy Love, Vol. II

Zack: This album featured not only Paul “I’m involved in 6 albums on this list” Simon, but a bunch of people who make appearances in the world genre of the 1001 Albums You Must Listen to Before Your Time on This Earth Ends. Because of that, I could see it being a great intro for someone who wants to get into sub-Saharan music but doesn’t just want to jump right in with some Fela Kuti. Considering it sold only like a billion copies, it clearly must be pretty accessible to Western audiences. But, for me, it was kind of underwhelming. I think a large part of that is that we play the lead single – You Can Call Me Al – at work so I’ve heard it enough times to like the song and then develop a burning hatred of it. Not even Chevy Chase could redeem this song in my ears. I probably need to listen to the album again to digest the lyrical complexities that Paul Simon is known for, but after a first listen I was kind of unimpressed.

Favorite Tracks: Graceland; All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints; Under African Skies

#38: Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends (1968)

Emily: This album is split into two halves - Part 1 is a concept album about aging, and Part 2 is unused songs from the soundtrack to The Graduate. Oddly enough, the outtakes are much more compelling than the new material. The concept part was just strange to me. I mean, there's an entire track of just old people talking. Although the second half is perhaps less cohesive than the first, the individual songs are strong enough to stand on their own as singles. Overall the tone is quiet and wistful, which is not too exciting but is the classic Simon and Garfunkel sound.  I much prefer when they up the tempo, adding musical interest to Paul Simon's clever lyrics.
Favorite Tracks: Mrs. Robinson; A Hazy Shade of Winter; Save the Life of My Child

Zack: My first inclination for this review was to have Emily’s and my own overlap in a beautiful harmony. But then I realized that that may be a bit hard on our readers because our words would be so soothing that when you doubled them up it would just be too much. When I think of Simon and Garfunkel, I think soothing. Well, that, and this clip from an episode of Futurama… Bookends is no exception. It will caress you down into a relaxed state and sing to you beautiful words that mean very little when actually contemplated. One of my favorite quotes of all time is from an interview between Paul Simon and Dick Cavett where Simon explains that the reference of Joe DiMaggio. “It's about syllables, Dick,” he said. “It's about how many beats there are.” The pair would later go on to claim that the shout-out was because they wanted to honor the great DiMaggio for his integrity, but we all know that the real answer is the simple one. Bookends ultimately comes down to simplicity. There is nothing terribly complex about it, and its beauty lies in that fact.

Favorite Tracks: Mrs. Robinson; A Hazy Shade of Winter; Old Friends