Simon almost always crops up on my scheduled London Music Tours – I've been talking about him a lot this past week on tours in Hyde Park, The Troubadour and Denmark Street. One of my very favorite of his albums remains…
The Paul Simon Songbook (Columbia 1965)
This London classic was deleted for a number of years, but is now happily available again to download and stream and also on those old fashioned CD thingies.
Not that such matters trouble me – as you can see, my vinyl copy is still going strong. It's pictured above on my beloved 1965 Dansette Viva.
The album was recorded at Levy’s Recording Studio at 73 New Bond Street right here in London, and is a relic of Simon’s London exile of the mid 60s.
The girl in the sleeve picture is Simon’s then girlfriend Kathy Chitty, a native of Essex. Kathy makes her presence felt in the work of Simon and Garfunkel – notably in Kathy’s Song and America.
Over at The Troubadour in Earl's Court they still have a tribute to Paul Simon painted on the wall…
It was one of the many venues in Britain where Simon plied his trade on his first sojourn to London back in 1965.
I'll be singing a Paul Simon number (or two) on this Wednesday's Rock'n'Roll London Pub Walk with LIVE Music - a rock & pop history tour with LIVE music from your guide. Wednesday 16th October 2019 meet at Tottenham Court Road Tube (exit 1) 7pm
£10/£8 Pay on the day or book now…
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