Bridge Over Troubled Water
| Simon & Garfunkel
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Bridge over Troubled Water is the fifth and final studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, released in January 1970 on Columbia Records. Following the duo's soundtrack for The Graduate, Art Garfunkel took an acting role in the film Catch-22, while Paul Simon worked on the songs, writing all tracks except Felice and Boudleaux Bryant's "Bye Bye Love" (previously a hit for the Everly Brothers). With the help of producer Roy Halee, the album followed a similar musical pattern as their Bookends, partly abandoning their traditional style to incorporate elements of rock, R&B, gospel, jazz, world music, pop and other genres. It was described as their "most effortless record and their most ambitious". -WIKIPEDIA
Critic Reviews
Show All-
Pitchfork
2011- DVD reissue with DVD- Simon & Garfunkel's 1970 swan song, Bridge Over Troubled Water, was both their most effortless record and their most ambitious.
-
RollingStone
2003 - It’s ironic that “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” a gospel-style song of reassurance and solidarity that Simon wrote as a vehicle for Garfunkel’s golden tenor, would be one of their final collaborations. But they exited on an exhilarating note.
-
American Songwriter
2011 - 40th Anniversary Edition - Columbia/Legacy’s new 40th anniversary release of Bridge Over Troubled Water doesn’t offer new music. Only the album’s original eleven songs are included. However, a lovely booklet tucked inside of the CD sleeve contains thoughtful essays on Bridge and on the 1969 tour documentary that is one of two films featured on the package’s DVD disc.
-
ALL MUSIC
Bridge Over Troubled Water was one of the biggest-selling albums of its decade, and it hasn't fallen too far down on the list in years since.
-
spunik music
2005 - The remastered CD edition contains two bonus tracks: a recording of traditional French ballad Feuilles-O and an early demo take of Bridge Over Troubled Water. The demo contains little more than the easily recognised piano, courtesy of Simon, which graces the completed recording and a slightly under-developed vocal from Garfunkel. Without the slight echo which embellishes the opening sequence; the same effect on Garfunkel's vocals; the horns and percussion which creep in almost unnoticed; and the stunning string arrangement which takes the song to its crescendo, the songs impact is minimal. What the arrangement adds is power, strength, pure hair-raising strength.
-
UCR
2016 - Their fifth LP, Bridge Over Troubled Water, would offer their most ambitious -- and most fully realized -- work. It would also spell the end of their partnership.
-
ENTERTAINMENT FOCUS
2008 - Bridge over Troubled Water continued Simon & Garfunkel’s move away from purely acoustic guitars with vocals to a fuller, more heavily-produced, richer sound that required the support of backing musicians. It is perhaps their most confident achievement, even if Simon wasn’t in the best place when he wrote it.
-
EXPRESS
2011 - It's been given the full fanfare re-release treatment with the original album plus a DVD covering the making of the album and the TV show Songs Of America. The songs are flawless: Cecilia, The Boxer, El Condor Pasa (If I Could), that title track and all sound, if anything, as lovely now as they ever have with those trademark S&G harmonies working like a dream, while the films are fascinating. Some things age beautifully.
-
The Guardian
This was an easy listening panacea for the Woodstock children and testament to the magnificent healing power of pop, even if the Simon and Garfunkel coalition would soon fall apart.
-
Record Collector
It’s already part of 25 million record collections, but this new edition offers an insight into the world of S&G in 1969, the year leading up to its making. A bonus CD captures the duo’s intimate live show (including a neat bit of Everlys harmonising on That Silver-Haired Daddy Of Mine), while the DVD includes a revealing TV documentary of them on the road and working on embryonic versions of the songs that would soon become classics.
-
EXPRESS
2011 - 40th Anniversary Edition -It's been given the full fanfare re-release treatment with the original album plus a DVD covering the making of the album and the TV show Songs Of America. The songs are flawless: Cecilia, The Boxer, El Condor Pasa (If I Could), that title track and all sound, if anything, as lovely now as they ever have with those trademark S&G harmonies working like a dream, while the films are fascinating. Some things age beautifully.
-
The Irish Times
2018 - It affected, maybe introduced the creative energy and the visual world that music gifts me, an energy that I hope I can return back into the world. This album will always fill my chest.
-
TREBLE
There’s a handful of rockers on Bridge, without which it would maintain a near-suicidal mood. For this reason they’re necessary, and they begin with “Cecilia” and “Keep the Customer Satisfied.”
-
NO DEPRESSION
2011 - 40th Anniversary Edition - the video disc is priceless and a fantastic bonus to celebrate this album’s anniversary.
-
the Audio Beat
it’s widely acknowledged to be among the best-recorded pop albums ever.
-
Only Solitaire
Not only is it just as jam-packed (and maybe even more) with hits and instantly recognizable tunes than the rest of their records, even the "lesser" numbers on here are strong and concisely written.
-
WAREHOUSE FIND
2018 - I don’t often listen to this album, but when I do it’s amazing how good it is.
-
Classic Rock Review
an album that captured lyrical, vocal and engineering mastery beyond measure.
-
CRYPTIC ROCK
Bridge Over Troubled Water offers the listener everything an all-time album should. It features a myriad of styles all played with ease, finesse, and inventiveness.
-
Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews
Much more eclectic than its predecessors, but just as tuneful and lyrically clever.
-
The New York Times
2003 - The songs Mr. Simon wrote for Simon and Garfunkel in his 20's were acutely conscious of time passing.
-
Mark Prindle
Great record. No wonder it beat Abbey Road to the Grammy! Sigh. Remember when the word "grammy" was actually used to describe a "good" album?
-
Vintage Rock
There’s never a bad time to go back and listen to Simon and Garfunkel; the 40th anniversary of Bridge Over Troubled Water makes it more than the right time to go back and listen and remember how powerful and large Art Garfunkel’s final delivery in the last stretch of the title track remains in the scheming quagmire of popular music.
-
SOME THING ELSE
2010 - In their fifth and final studio album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, the now legendary duo put their stamp on music history with one of the most profound records of a generation.
-
APHORISTIC ALBUM REVIEWS
2018 - The duo’s final album is half brilliant pop epics like ‘The Only Living Boy In New York’ and ‘El Condor Pasa’, and half charming throwaways like ‘Baby Driver’ and the cover of ‘Bye Bye Love’. Some of the throwaways work brilliantly too.
-
The MEZZANIME
2015 - The album is widely regarded as an incredible example of the genre and the inclusion of several styles, instruments and approaches on the album only lend it more strength.
-
BOOMERNET
an enduring classic.
-
Adrian Denning
'Bridge Over Troubled Water' became both their biggest album and single.
Rate This Album and Leave Your Comments