Too Thoughtful for Broadway
Patrick King | Exeter, NH | 06/24/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I picked this CD up for $1.99. I heard briefly of the failure of the Broadway play. Perhaps I thought at that time that Paul Simon's genius just didn't expand in that direction. But he's Paul Simon, so I got a nice red wine, turned off the lights and sat in the dark to give The Capeman a fair listen. What I heard altered my opinion of Broadway. This is simply one of the great early albums of the 21st Century. The songs are sumptuous blends of rhythm and style unique to this album, as you expect from every Paul Simon album. The cohesion of the story, though, brought me to tears and made me think about my lifestyle, my country, and my relationship to my community. The Capeman is not about something that happened in 1959. It's happening right now. This is a story about gang violence, it's cause, it's results. Agron was not a throw-away person. He proved that, but he proved it too late to save his life or those of his victims.
Sometimes the term "genius" is applied to people who sing or write songs rather glibly. Paul Simon is not only a great musician and lyricist, he's an important thinker with a large vision of the future. I hope his story of The Capeman is not relegated to a Broadway failure. This brilliant social commentary needs to be applied to a more elastic media where it can reach a smarter audience. It's not West Side Story or The King & I. It's much better than that."
An epiphany by the bodegas and the lights on upper Broadway
Chris L. | 02/08/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"No one was a more vehement critic of this album than I was. I got it as a gift for my 14th birthday back when I was just a casual Paul Simon fan, before his music had taken over and shaped my life. Needless to say it remained unopened for 12 years. I had seen the Storytellers show where he did quite a bit from this album and wasn't impressed with the music, 'Graceland' it was not. Then on the magical evening of Friday February 13th 2009, (Friday the 13th) my outlook of this album and the genius himself changed forever. I was sitting in the orchestra section of the newly renovated Beacon Theatre by the bodegas and the lights on upper Broadway during the intermission of Paul's triumphant concert, with my best friend, a casual Simon fan. When Paul Simon came back out after the intermission, he announced "Some Doo-Wop from the Capeman. After a heavy sigh, I leaned over to my friend and said, 'I should have brought my pillow'. Paul brought the original singers on and they did 'Satin Summer Nights', 'Bernadette', 'Quality' and 'Adios Hermanos' (arguably, the most commercial songs off the album). During Adios Hermanos, I had an epiphany about this album that I had loathed for so long. The next day, I removed the shrink wrap from the CD I had received 12 years prior and haven't stopped listening to it since. It would be a disservice for all of these self titled Paul Simon 'fanatics' and 'superfans' not to give this album the benefit of the doubt. While I don't care for every song, the positives outweigh the negatives."
Not a Cast Recording
Robert in NY | New York, NY | 08/17/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I love this show. The previous cd however is mostly sung by Simon, who cannot begin to convey the intensity or nuance of the Broadway production (1998) which he wrote. I saw it 4 times in its brief run back then, but there was no cast recording released.
Well, I saw the concert version in Central Park last week (08-14-2010), which caused me to search again for the cast recording. To my chagrin, I find it has in fact been available (only as a download), right here on Amazon -- see Capeman [Explicit].... its wonderful... hope this helps another lost soul find the real thing... and here's hoping the 3 night Central Park concert production leads to a revival, as happened 2 years ago with "Hair", following a similar "under the stars" run."
Track Listings (16) - Disc #1