The production, by Roy Halee, Simon and Garfunkel, was sparse yet warm, as it avoided any psychedelic tendencies of the era. The backing band was comprised of the finest session players of the era like drummer Hal Blaine, Joe Osborn on bass guitar and Larry Knechtel on keyboards. Robinson’ were all hits while the album itself, though relatively brief, held its own in the then emerging album sweepstakes as well. Songs like ‘At The Zoo,’ ‘America,’ ‘A Hazy Shade Of Winter,’ and ‘the aforementioned ‘Mrs. Though critics in the rock press, a fairly new occupation at the time, were mixed, fans loved the album, as do we here at The Summit, hence being more than happy to feature it as out Essential Album this week. Robinson,’ another number one.It had been a year since a proper S&G album had been issued, but that changed in the spring of 1968 with the release of ‘Bookends.’ In January of 1968 the soundtrack to the hit film ‘The Graduate’ was released and featured the hit ‘Mrs. Eight singles followed, half of which landing in the Top 20 and half in the Top 10. The Sounds Of Silence album was released at the start of 1966 with Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme’ following by years end. This turn of events helped Simon & Garfunkel establish themselves as more than an aspiring folk duo as Simon’s songs proved there was more there than some Dylan wannabe. The revamped version shot to number one on the Billboard charts when re-released almost a year later. Buried at the end of side on on their debut, ‘The Sounds Of Silence’ had gone unnoticed, but once Wilson called on some studio players to add a band backing to the acoustic tune, everything changed and everything clicked. In that downtime, a new sound had emerged called ‘folk rock.’ Led by the Byrds and Beau Brummels and followed by Sonny & Cher, the Turtles and others, it was a new exciting sound, and S&G producer Tom Wilson thought he may have a hit hidden on that first S&G LP.

That debut sank without a trace and Simon & Garfunkel went their separate ways, but not for long. Peter, Paul & Mary had a run of hits by then, the Kingston Trio were old news and the kingpin of the folk scene, Bob Dylan, had already released four albums and was a mere few months away from unleashing his ‘new electric sound’ on the world with ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues.’ These New Your City folkies, though sounding sharp as could be, were a little late to the party. Their debut album, the sparse acoustic offering ‘Wednesday Morning 3 A.M,’ saw the light of day in the fall of 1964. Add to that the fact that Paul was, seemingly, a natural born writer of great songs, and there was a winning combination waiting for the world. Each voice was a perfect balance for the other, with Art’s high range landing angelically above Paul’s more earthy tone every time they sang. Initially inspired by the Everly Brothers, the non-brotherly duo had that special vocal connection to produce sympathetic and wonderful harmonies. Those times were the music revolution that happened in the 1960s. Though their roots stretch back into the late 1950s, Simon & Garfunkel were a product of the times.

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