Hearts and Bones
Studio album by
Paul Simon
ReleasedNovember 4, 1983
Recorded1981–1983
Studio
GenrePop, rock
Length40:53
LabelWarner Bros.
Producer
Paul Simon chronology
One-Trick Pony
(1980)		 Hearts and Bones
(1983)		 Graceland
(1986)

Hearts and Bones is the sixth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was released in 1983 by Warner Bros. Records.

Background

The album was originally intended to be called Think Too Much, but Mo Ostin, president of Warner Bros. Records at the time, persuaded Simon to change it to Hearts and Bones.[2] The album was written and recorded following Simon & Garfunkel's The Concert in Central Park in 1981, and the world tour of 1982–1983. Several songs intended for Think Too Much were previewed on tour, and Art Garfunkel worked on some of the songs with Simon in the studio,[3] with an intention that the finished product would be an all-new Simon & Garfunkel studio album.[4] The album, particularly the title song, was a reflection on Paul's relationship with actress Carrie Fisher, and Paul felt that it was too personal to be a Simon & Garfunkel album, instead deciding that it should be a solo album. This greatly annoyed Garfunkel and ensured that there would never again be another Simon & Garfunkel album. Garfunkel left the project and Simon erased all his vocals and reworked the material into a solo album.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
The Boston Phoenix[6]
Chicago Tribune[7]
Entertainment WeeklyB[8]
The Guardian[9]
PopMatters8/10[10]
Rolling Stone[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[11]
Uncut[12]
The Village VoiceB+[13]

Hearts and Bones charted for 18 weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 35,[14] although it is considered to be a relative commercial failure compared to Simon's other recordings.[15][10]

Don Shewey of Rolling Stone concluded that the album "is all about heart versus mind, thinking versus feeling, and how these dichotomies get in the way of making music or love." He went on to call the songs "subtle", but added that "the music has a certain playfulness that matches the album's cerebral self-consciousness."[4] In 1986, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice referred to the album as being "a finely wrought dead end."[16]

In retrospective reviews, William Ruhlmann of AllMusic called Hearts and Bones Simon's "most personal collection of songs, one of his most ambitious, and one of his best." Ruhlmann praised the lyrical handling of the subject of romance and the music's blending of doo-wop and rock and roll roots with contemporary styles.[5] David Bloom of PopMatters found the album to be "riskier, both musically and lyrically," than its predecessor, One-Trick Pony (1980), "and more engrossing for it." He observed that the album was "so tied to Simon's escalating preoccupation with physical and emotional remoteness that it's hard to imagine anyone being surprised when it failed to move a fan base waiting for the next 'Late in the Evening'."[10]

Track listing

All songs written by Paul Simon, except for closing of "The Late Great Johnny Ace", composed by Philip Glass.

Side one
  1. "Allergies" – 4:37
  2. "Hearts and Bones" – 5:37
  3. "When Numbers Get Serious" – 3:25
  4. "Think Too Much (b)" – 2:44
  5. "Song About the Moon" – 4:07
Side two
  1. "Think Too Much (a)" – 3:05
  2. "Train in the Distance" – 5:11
  3. "René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War" – 3:44
  4. "Cars Are Cars" – 3:15
  5. "The Late Great Johnny Ace" – 4:45
2004 CD reissue bonus tracks
  1. "Shelter of Your Arms" (Unreleased Work-in-Progress) – 3:11
  2. "Train in the Distance" (Original Acoustic Demo) – 3:13
  3. "René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War" (Original Acoustic Demo) – 3:46
  4. "The Late Great Johnny Ace" (Original Acoustic Demo) – 3:22

Personnel

Musicians

The uncredited horn section on "Allergies" and "Cars Are Cars" are Mark Rivera (saxophones), Jon Faddis and Alan Rubin (trumpets).

Technical
  • Paul Simon – producer
  • Russ Titelman – producer
  • Roy Halee – producer, engineer, mixing
  • Lenny Waronker – co-producer (1, 5, 10)
  • Lee Herschberg – additional engineer
  • Jason Corsaro – additional engineer
  • Mark Linett – additional engineer
  • Gene Paul – additional engineer
  • James Dougherty – additional engineer
  • Eric Korte – second engineer
  • Andy Hoffman – second engineer
  • Terry Rosiello – second engineer
  • David Greenberg – second engineer
  • Stuart Gitlin – second engineer
  • Ken Deane – second engineer
  • Dan Nash – second engineer
  • Jim Santis – second engineer
  • Greg Calbi – mastering
  • Tom Bates – digital engineer
  • Wayne Yurgelin – digital audio facilities
  • Julie Hooker – production assistant
  • Kimberly Boyle – production assistant
  • Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff – art direction
  • Paula Greif – art direction
  • Jeri McManus – design
  • E.K.T.V. – cover photo
  • Arthur Elgort – inner photo
  • David Matthews – horn arrangements (1, 9)
  • The Harptones – background vocal arrangements (8)
  • George Delerue – orchestration (8)
  • Philip Glass – orchestration (10)
  • Michael Riesman – orchestra conductor (10)

Chart positions

Chart (1983) Peak
position
Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart[17] 99
Canadian Albums Chart[18] 50
Dutch Mega Albums Chart[19] 14
French SNEP Albums Chart[20] 19
German Media Control Albums Chart[21] 51
Japanese Oricon Albums Chart[22] 30
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart[23] 3
Spanish Albums Chart[24] 27
Swedish Albums Chart[25] 11
Swiss Albums Chart[26] 25
UK Albums Chart[27] 34
US Billboard Top LPs[28] 35

References

  1. ↑ "Hearts and Bones".
  2. ↑ Marc Eliot (18 Oct 2010). Paul Simon: A Life. John Wiley & Sons. p. 181. ISBN 9780470433638. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  3. ↑ Jeffrey Perlah (30 May 1998). "Billboard review". Billboard. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 Shewey, Don (November 24, 1983). "Hearts and Bones". Rolling Stone. New York. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  5. 1 2 Ruhlmann, William. "Hearts and Bones – Paul Simon". AllMusic. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  6. ↑ Moses, Mark (December 20, 1983). "Off the record". The Boston Phoenix. Vol. 12, no. 51. sec. 3, p. 29. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
  7. ↑ Kot, Greg (October 14, 1990). "The Evolution Of Simon's Diverse Solo Career". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  8. ↑ Browne, David (January 18, 1991). "Rating Paul Simon's albums". Entertainment Weekly. New York. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  9. ↑ Sweeting, Adam (August 6, 2004). "Paul Simon, Hearts & Bones". The Guardian. London. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  10. 1 2 3 Bloom, David (January 13, 2012). "Paul Simon: One-Trick Pony / Hearts and Bones / Graceland / The Rhythm of the Saints". PopMatters. Archived from the original on January 14, 2012. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  11. ↑ Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Paul Simon". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 736–737. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  12. ↑ Torn, Luke (October 2004). "St Paul's Gospel". Uncut. No. 89. London.
  13. ↑ Christgau, Robert (January 24, 1984). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved April 29, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Paul Simon - Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  15. ↑ Disco, Punk, New Wave, Heavy Metal, and More: Music in the 1970s and 1980s. Britannica Educational. December 2012. ISBN 9781615309122.
  16. ↑ Christgau, Robert (September 23, 1986). "South Africa Romance". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  17. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  18. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-11-18. Retrieved 2011-10-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. ↑ "dutchcharts.nl Paul Simon - Hearts And Bones". dutchcharts.nl. MegaCharts. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  20. ↑ "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste : Paul Simon". infodisc.fr. Archived from the original on 2010-12-28. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  21. ↑ "Album Search: Paul Simon" (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  22. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  23. ↑ "norwegiancharts.com Paul Simon - Hearts And Bones". Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  24. ↑ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  25. ↑ "swedishcharts.com Paul Simon - Hearts And Bones". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  26. ↑ "Paul Simon - Hearts And Bones - hitparade.ch". Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  27. ↑ "The Official Charts Company - Paul Simon - Hearts And Bones". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  28. ↑ Allmusic - Hearts and Bones > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums
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