You're the One [Bonus Tracks] [Digipak] [Remaster] (CD - 2000)

Personnel: Paul Simon (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, sitar); Vincent Nguin (acoustic & electric guitars); Mark Stewart (electric & pedal steel guitars, banjo, dobro, sitar, cello, tromba doo); Larry Campbell (pedal steel guitar); Jay Elfenbein (vihuela, vielle); Dan Duggan (dulcimer); Steve Gorn (wooden flute); Evan Ziporyn (bass clarinet, soprano & tenor saxophones); Andy Snitzer (soprano & tenor saxophones); Alan Mallet (harmonium, Wurlitzer piano); Howard Levy, Skip La Plante (harmonica); Clifford Carter (celeste, keyboards, glockenspiel); Abraham Laboriel, Bakithi Kumalo (bass); Peter Herbert (upright bass); Steve Gadd (drums); Jamey Haddad, Steve Shehan (percussion).

Recorded at The Hit Factory, New York, New York.

YOU'RE THE ONE was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Album Of The Year.

Includes three live bonus tracks.

Personnel: Paul Simon (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, sitar); Paul Simon; Mark Stewart (electric guitar, dobro, banjo, sitar, cello); Larry Campbell (pedal steel guitar); Alain Mallet (piano, Wurlitzer piano, reed organ, pump organ, Wurlitzer organ); Peter Herbert (double bass, upright bass); Abraham Laboriel, Sr., Bakithi Kumalo (bass guitar); Steve Sheham (percussion); Vincent Nguini (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Dan Duggan (dulcimer, hammer dulcimer); Skip La Plante (harp, pipe, bowls); Jay Elfenbein (vielle, vihuela); Steve Gorn (bamboo flute); Howard Levy (harmonica); Evan Ziporyn (bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Andy Snitzer (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Clifford Carter (celesta, keyboards, glockenspiel); Steve Gadd (drums); Jamey Haddad, Steve Shehan (percussion).

Audio Mixer: Andy Smith.

Audio Remasterers: Dan Hersch; Bill Inglot.

Recording information: Hit Factory, New York, NY; The Hit Factory, New York, NY.

Photographer: Lynn Goldsmith.

Unknown Contributor Role: Dan Duggan.

Arranger: Stanley Silverman.

If you discount his musical theater endeavor THE CAPEMAN, as many are quick to do, YOU'RE THE ONE ended a 10-year silence in the recording career of Paul Simon. The wait was not in vain; this album unites GRACELAND's effervescence (guitar and bass chores are handled by Simon's South African accomplices from that era), RHYTHM OF THE SAINTS' free-floating poetry and languid cool, and the mix of humor and introspection that made HEARTS & BONES Simon's most underrated album.

"Darling Lorraine" is a devastatingly poignant portrait of a turbulent relationship, where language and melody are somehow simultaneously liquid and cutting. "Old" finds the pushing-60 Simon casting a humorous eye on humanity's relative age in the universe, over backing that mates South African fluidity with the '50s rock & roll of Simon's youth. Throughout the album, Simon continually manages to wring new emotional truths out of words and music without ever sounding labored; the mark not only of a seasoned vet, but also of a true artist in full flower.

If you discount his musical theater endeavor THE CAPEMAN, as many are quick to do, YOU'RE THE ONE ended a 10-year silence in the recording career of Paul Simon. The wait was not in vain; this album unites GRACELAND's effervescence (guitar and bass chores are handled by Simon's South African accomplices from that era), RHYTHM OF THE SAINTS' free-floating poetry and languid cool, and the mix of humor and introspection that made HEARTS & BONES Simon's most underrated album.

"Darling Lorraine" is a devastatingly poignant portrait of a turbulent relationship, where language and melody are somehow simultaneously liquid and cutting. "Old" finds the pushing-60 Simon casting a humorous eye on humanity's relative age in the universe, over backing that fuses South African fluidity with the '50s rock & roll of Simon's youth. Throughout the album, Simon continually manages to wring new emotional truths out of words and music without ever sounding labored--the mark not only of a seasoned vet, but also of a true artist in full flower.

The disaster of The Capeman hit Paul Simon particularly hard, so he decided to quickly record a new album, his first proper collection of songs since 1990's The Rhythm of the Saints -- his first album in ten years, really. Nevertheless, if this album has a relative, it's 1982's Hearts and Bones, since it's a deliberately low-key, insular record, especially when compared to the sweeping worldbeat explorations of Graceland and Rhythm. But where Hearts and Bones was a singer/songwriter album, no two ways about it, You're the One illustrates the influence of its predecessors, but it's not showy about it. The African and South American rhythms are as much a foundation of Simon's music as folk is, and his compositions reflect it, boasting surprisingly tricky rhythms that carry through to his melodies themselves. That, combined with Simon's determination to meet aging head-on, makes You're the One a bit of an acquired taste, especially since its compositions are never overtly accessible and melodic -- they're all tone poems, driven as much by tone and lyric as song itself. This all results in a record that may be a little too deliberately low-key and elliptical for most tastes, especially since it demands full concentration even from serious fans. But this does reward close listening, and even if it doesn't shine as brilliantly as Hearts and Bones (his most underappreciated record), it does share some similarities in that it's an unassumingly intellectual record that feels like it was made without an audience in mind. Which means it's more interesting than successful, but interesting can have its own rewards. [In 2004, Warner Strategic Marketing reissued Simon's studio albums as remastered editions with bonus tracks, packaged in cardboard digipacks. Like the other Simon reissues in this series, the remastering is excellent. You're the One contains three bonus tracks, all taken from the live home video You're the One: In Concert: "That's Where I Belong," "Old," and "Hurricane Eye."] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine minimize