The sixth album I am reviewing is Angel Clare. This is Art Garfunkel’s first solo album after the break up of Simon and Garfunkel, and is his most popular to date. It was released in 1973. The first track is Traveling Boy. It was a more orchestrated track and I liked that. Unfortunately, the music was soft and bland was well and reminded me of the group Bread (what an appropriate name for a white bread band). Next was Down in the Willow Garden. I thought this would be just another boring love song until halfway through the first verse when he kills the girl. The lyrics weren’t the only thing that seemed to contradict the style. The electric guitar, which was played throughout the song, seemed at times to be a bit out of place. Nevertheless, the track was interesting. The third track on the album was called I Shall Sing. The song was decent but the lyrics were just average. What I liked the most about this track was the bit of vocal polyphony heard towards the end of the song. Next was a song called Old Man. Immediately it reminded me of Simon and Garfunkel and was so far the strongest track on the album. Later on, the song builds up with orchestration similar to that of Bridge Over Troubled Water. The bittersweet lyrics are reflected in the ending of the song, which constitutes a picardy third. The fifth track is titled Feuilles-Oh/Do Space Men Pass Dead Souls On Their Way To The Moon? Unfortunately, the title is most interesting part of this mostly acoustic track. Overall it sounds like filler, inoffensive and largely forgettable.
The second half of the album starts off with a love ballad. Though there is plenty of production added to try and make the song interesting, it can’t save it and the track comes off as mediocre and boring. Track seven on the other hand, was a welcome change. It had a folkier sound to it and, true to style, the lyrics were story-like in their description. Another thing that I liked was the direct segue into the next track. Track eight was called Woyaya and was quite enjoyable as well. For starters, it included children’s voices with which you can’t go wrong. Couple this with its freedom/peace song feel and it sounds like a beloved folk group of mine; Peter, Paul, and Mary. The ninth track is a cover of the traditional Barbara Allen. With it simple but lush orchestration this track quickly became another favorite of mine. Last was a song called Another Lullaby. This relatively bland song sounded a lot like the others on the album. It didn’t interest me much until half way through the song when he hit a low note so solidly I had to smile. Reflecting the title of the song, the ending isn’t abrupt and doesn’t fade out, but rather calmly drifts off. On the whole, I would say that this album is okay. It isn’t anything earth shattering, but a few of the tracks are pretty solid. Alas for Art Garfunkel (and, to a lesser extent, even Paul Simon) his solo work never equaled the work he did when he was with Simon and Garfunkel.
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