Homeward Bound

October 31, 2016
As Carlin (Bruce) points out in this often tuneless critical biography, Paul Simon has been chasing his musical muse since his childhood, when he first heard the Crows’ “Gee” on the radio. Drawing on a wealth of research as well as interviews with some of Simon’s friends and fellow musicians, Carlin nimbly chronicles Simon’s life and music. The saga starts with Simon’s youth, which might have foreshadowed Simon’s lifelong curmudgeonly personality—“There was a sadness about the boy from the beginning”—and childhood, in which he took on his father’s willfulness and sarcastic nature. He and Art Garfunkel formed the duo Tom and Jerry. Following their ascent to the musical stratosphere as Simon & Garfunkel in the late 1960s, their relationship became contentious, but his solo career was mostly successful. Carlin provides colorful details of the events surrounding the recordings of many of Simon’s albums, such 1973’s There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, which he recorded in the famed Muscle Shoals studio where so many of his favorite soul songs had been recorded. The book is lackluster, painting a portrait of Simon with which fans are already familiar: a creative genius whose reticence is often mistaken for misanthropy, whose gleeful humor is often mistaken for sarcasm, and whose desire to discover the perfect lyric or chord or hook is insatiable.

Narrator Adam Grupper gives an unflashy performance of this fact-driven biography, which traces Paul Simon from his roots to the work he's doing today. Simon's many relationships--romantic as well as his lifelong friendship/feud with onetime partner Art Garfunkel--are engaging enough without a narrator's embellishment, and Grupper's style helps listeners track the many names and places that feature in Simon's life. Grupper does set off quotes with a credible version of Simon's voice, as well as other familiar voices, adding to clarity. His skill also gives variation to a narrative that occasionally drags with unnecessary repetition and tangents. This solid biography will appeal to many music fans. A.F. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine