I think you can divide Simon’s career into four phases. In his first, Simon & Garfunkel, phase, he wrote painfully earnest songs about America in the sixties which captured the idealism of the times and remain standards today. In the second phase, he went solo, watched America and personal relationships unravel, and wrote darker songs that are nonetheless classics (e.g., “Still Crazy After All These Years” and “Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover”). The third phase, in the eighties and nineties, was marked by the artistic and commercial success of “Graceland,” fallow periods, and some failures. The later “Surprise” and “So Beautiful or So What,” however, are poignant meditations on love, God, and mortality which captured the subtle joys and sorrows of old age almost perfectly.
His new CD, “Stranger to Stranger,” is fundamentally different than its two predecessors. Musically, it sounds more like “Graceland” than any of his other works. The best songs–“Wristband” and “The Werewolf”–were clearly prompted by contemporary events. There is some filler, even though it is less than 40 minutes long, but it is well worth a listen.
Is this the beginning of a fifth phase? Time will tell, but his greatness is assured.