After a sour commercial era in the former half of the 1980s, Simon masterminded his comeback with Graceland - a trip to Johannesburg in South Africa and some playing with African session musicians yielded his newest musical direction, highly influenced by the music of the continent and infused with elements of pop, rock, new-wave, and zydeco. Graceland wasn't only a hit critically, but it was Simon's commercial revival - the album topped out at number 2 and yielded the top-40 hit of "You Can Call Me Al." Simon was back on top, and his next musical endeavor would continue down the path of his world-music obsession - this time, however, the sounds of South America and Brazil would be at the heart of the music. On first glance, The Rhythm of the Saints looks to have a lot of the same musical ideas and ambitions as Graceland, but look deeper and you see an album that is arguably more mature and reflective than Graceland ever was - Simon takes much of the album to reflect on love, humanity, hope, the natural world, and death. While it differs from Graceland in many aspects, including the music and subject matters, they both share one thing in common - both are brilliant artistic statements from one of music's greatest minds.
While The Rhythm of the Saints continues Simon's ambitions with world music, it's done differently than the African counter-rhythms and flavors of Graceland. While Simon keeps some key musicians from those sessions (including the powerful bassist in Bakithi Kumalo on some songs), Simon took much more influence from the ideas of Brazilian music with its rich percussive rhythms and instrumentation - the highly percussive styles of Batucada are certainly at the heart of more than a few songs, and the taste of samba bleeds through on some moments as well, but in a far richer manner than on "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard." It helps that, at many points, the production is just as good as on Graceland, if not better - there's a certain roughness to some of the songs that felt absent in Graceland's exceptional polish and gloriousness. That isn't to say that Graceland is overproduced, far from it actually, but I find the occasional roughness of some ideas on Rhythm of the Saints to sound a little more lively - ultimately, it depends on your preference for production styles. Perhaps some of that rawness is from Simon's lyricism and performance, too, especially on some of the more personal or disillusioned tracks. This is all to keep in mind that the album is still produced marvelously - from the rich textures of the frantic "Can't Run But" to the smoother feel of "Spirit Voices" to the punching energy of the album opener "The Obvious Child." Rhythm of the Saints manages to feel just as lively and textured as its predecessor, far from a retread of ideas.
On top of the brilliant sound and production on The Rhythm of the Saints, you should be accustomed to the idea that Paul is one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th century, and Rhythm of the Saints continues his seemingly new lease of life that he found on Graceland. Simon's lyricism on Rhythm is impactful, rich and textured, and often a little disillusioned with the world. The catchy and enduring "Can't Run But" speaks of humanities loss with nature, detailing a cooling system burning out the Ukraine or the thriving of the music industry while the music suffers - it speaks to a dissatisfaction with the modern world, a theme continued on the following song "The Coast," one of the richest moments on the entire album - the refrain "That is worth some money" is one of the most memorable on the albums. The song that speaks most to this disillusion is "Cool, Cool River," which brilliantly illustrates the tension and lack of change within the middle class of America - the rhythm is driving and intense, the bass foreboding, the lyrics poetically expressing the contempt that the working class feels for those who hold power above them; Anger, and no one can heal it. "She Moves On" feels like a final reflection on Simon's on-off relationship with Carrie Fisher, which finally switched off the same year as this album's release - "Maybe these emotions are as near to love as love will ever be" stands as one of Simon's finest lyrical gems. The album also carries a handful of reflections on life and death, from the confrontation of death on the album opener "The Obvious Child" to the reach out into the dark of the album's title track - a powerful final word.
I've seen a burgeoning sect of Paul Simon fans that not only insist that The Rhythm of the Saints is one of his most underrated releases, but that it is a better album than Graceland. While I'm not quite in the camp of people who see it as better than Graceland, I won't deny the possibility of that happening in the future, and I certainly don't think it's worse than Graceland. Simon followed up his comeback with an equally beautiful and triumphant artistic statement, and one that was still largely successful - it sold half of what Graceland did, sure, but that's tough love talk for "a nice even two million copies." Truth is, The Rhythm of the Saints is yet another artistic triumph in the midst of Simon's mid-career blossoming, ever bit as shining, lush, and brilliant as the album that precedes it. If there was any doubt to Simon's creative longevity after Graceland, this is proof against that notion - an affirmation of Simon's genius.
RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯
Listen to The Rhythm of the Saints.
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