Only his 12th studio album in a 40 year solo career and his first in over five years, Paul Simon (who hits 70 later this year) teams up with his long-time producer Phil Ramone for what is widely seen as a return to his earlier, more melodic style. And while there certainly are sumptuous melodies and well turned-out tunes aplenty, the results nonetheless feel just a tiny bit too familiar.
There’s certainly no shortage of Afro pop rhythms and the kind of exotic world music percussion shuffles that have underpinned every one of his releases since Graceland. The title track, a syncopated shuffle with some stellar electric guitar, recalls the driving rhythms of the Graceland track ‘The Boy In The Bubble’, while ‘Love And Hard Times’ boasts a melody not a million miles away from ‘Still Crazy After All These Years’.
One departure is Simon’s sampling of early American figures, as on ‘Getting Ready For Christmas Day’, the jaunty album opener, where he uses snippets of a sermon from the Rev. JM Gates – apparently, a widely recorded preacher in the early part of the 20th century. The gospel harmonies of the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet can be heard in ‘Love And Blessings’, while elsewhere a harmonica solo from bluesman Sonny Terry is featured on the gospel tinged, ‘Love Is Eternal Sacred Light’.
Lyrically, Simon is clearly contemplating his own mortality. ‘The Afterlife’ contains some hilarious ruminations on the great beyond, while ‘Questions For The Angels’ – a gorgeous soft ballad that recalls ‘Rene And Georgia Magritte With Their Dog After The War’ – also finds him exploring his destiny. So Beautiful Or So What is a really good album – but I was hoping for something undeniably great.