Simon And Garfunkel
GREATEST HITS
SONY LEGACY
Gary Walker
Completists will have been sated four years ago by Sony’s 6LP The Complete Albums Collection, which included this Greatest Hits as well as the duo’s five Columbia albums and the legendary Central Park live show. That set’s £135 price tag was too lofty for many, though, and this latest reissue of a stunning best-of package that sold 14 million copies in the US represents a more-than-adequate primer for any curious souls who don’t already own it. It seems churlish to single out individual cuts from this stellar collection: Mrs Robinson from The Graduate soundtrack and 1968’s Bookends; the absolute perfection of The Boxer’s plaintive response to Simon’s critics, famously taking 100 hours of studio time to record; and their pair of Billboard No. 1s – the exquisite pop-gospel Bridge Over Troubled Water and the haunting, chiming guitar of The Sound Of Silence. The latter spent 14 weeks at No. 1 after being remixed by producer Tom Wilson – a transformative moment in the career of one of pop’s most important duos.