The Rhythm of the Saints (CD - 1990)

Personnel includes: Paul Simon (vocals, guitar); Vincent Nguini (guitar, bass, clave); Georges Seba, Martin Atangana (electric guitar); Ringo Star, Ray Phiri (guitar); C.J. Chenier (accordion); Charles Doherty (alto & tenor saxophones); Jude Bethel (tenor saxophone); Errol Ince (trumpet); Dave Bargeron (euphonium); Clifton Anderson (trombone); Greg Phillinganes (synthesizer); Bakithi Kumalo (bass); Grupo Cultural Olodum, Steve Gadd (drums); Mingo Araujo, Remy Kabocka, Ya Yo De La Nelson, Sidinho, Dom Chacal (percussion); Briz, Karen Bernod, Myrna Lynn Gomila, Kia Y. Jeffries, Florence Gnimagnon, Charlotte Mbango, Djana'd, Elolongue Mbango Catherine, Ladysmith Black Mambazo (background vocals).

Principally recorded at The Hit Factory, New York; Transamerica Studios, Impressao Digital Studios and Multi Studios Rio De Janiero, Brazil; Studio Guillhaume Tell, Paris, France.

Though he recorded the album's prominent percussion tracks in Brazil, Paul Simon fashioned The Rhythm of the Saints as a deliberate follow-up to the artistic breakthrough and commercial comeback that was the South Africa-tinged Graceland. Several of the musicians who had appeared previously were back, along with some of the New York session players who had worked with Simon in the 1970s, and the overall sound was familiar to fans of Graceland. Further, Simon's nonlinear lyrical approach was carried over: he continued to ruminate about love, aging, and the onslaught of modern life in disconnected phrases and images that created impressions rather than telling straightforward stories. But where Graceland had seamlessly merged its styles into an exuberant whole, The Rhythm of the Saints was less well digested. Those drum tracks never seemed integrated effectively into what had been dubbed over them; at the same time, they tended to lock the songs into musical patterns that reined them in from the kind of excitement the South African music on Graceland generated, making the melodies harder to grasp. At the same time, Simon sang his lyrics in a less involved way, which sometimes made them seem like collections of random lines rather than the series of striking observations Graceland seemed to contain. No Paul Simon album could be lacking in craft or quality, and The Rhythm of the Saints was a typically tasteful effort. But this time around, Simon hadn't quite succeeded in bringing the wide-ranging elements together; the album sold about half as many copies as Graceland (that is to say, a none-too-shabby two million), and that's about right -- where Graceland was an exotic adventure, The Rhythm of the Saints was more of an anthropology lesson. ~ William Ruhlmann

As singer/songwriter Frank Tedesso once put it, GRACELAND is the mountaintop and RHYTHM OF THE SAINTS is the mist around the peak. The latter certainly does seem to pick up where it's South African-flavored predecessor left off. Though RHYTHM OF THE SAINTS relies on the traditional musical forms of a different part of the world (Brazil), Simon uses a somewhat similar strategy. He wraps his very American voice and lyrics around the rhythms and harmonies of a culture much more dependent on polyrhythms. In the process, he creates a new paradigm that is simultaneously familiar and excitingly fresh.

A new development is the undercurrent of social protest in the lyrics, something that GRACELAND only hinted at. A running lyrical theme is the intrusion of science and civilization upon nature, and the catastrophic results. When he finds no solutions in the world of men, Simon turns to the divine. On "The Cool, Cool River," he supplicates himself, with the understanding that "these prayers are the memory of God." However close he may get to heaven, RHYTHM OF THE SAINTS definitely finds Simon treading a step or two north of the earth. minimize