maandag 24 augustus 2009

Columbia Radio Station Copy with Blue A on Label




Simon & Garfunkel in France



Simon & Garfunkel in France? But where and when? Possibly 1968.

woensdag 12 augustus 2009

1965

1965 brought 'The sound of silence' in an electric version on 45-rpm single.







The a-side label of this US Columbia release indicates that this song can be heard on the 'Wednesday Morning, 3 AM' album, which is incorrect. Only the acoustic version is to be found here and the 'Sounds of silence' album still had to be released in 1966. Also the songs is officially titled 'The sound of silence', which is without the 's' at the end of sound.
The b-side shows that 'We've got a groovey thing goin'' was arranged by Coleridge Perkinson. Which is left out on almost all other and later releases of this song. (For more information about Coleridge Perkinson I suggest to visit http://chevalierdesaintgeorges.homestead.com/Perkinson.html). According to the 1997 release by Legacy Recordings 'Old Friends' this song, togehter with 'Somewhere they can't find me' was already recorded on April 5th 1965, a couple of months before 'The sound of silence' was re-done. One wonders how much the style of Simon & Garfunkel suddenly could change shortly after the release of 'Wednesday Morning, 3 AM'!

Here is a picture of the label of the so-called 'Radio Station Copy':



which was released on red-vinyl:




In Canada, Columbia Records released the single too, but here with orange labels:





Columbia released the single in European countries through CBS Records. Not all countries at once, some clearly hooked on to the success in the beginning of 1966, when it was already a hit in the US. Most likely it was released in the US and Canada using a plain cover with company logo. This also happened from time to time in Europe, but the first Simon & Garfunkel single got a full picture cover sleeve in Holland, Germany, France and Italy.

Here's the CBS 1977 release from Holland:



CBS Italy clearly hooked on later, as the mention the fact that 'over a million sold in 2 months' and it has the same picture which was used for the 1966 album 'Sounds of silence':



..but then we are already in 1966!

Introduction

Welcome!

This blog is all about the releases of Simon & Garfunkel on vinyl-records.

I have started to collect them in the early 1970's, when Simon & Garfunkel decided to end their partnership. Had I a lot of catching up to do.....

It is the intention to show you as much releases as possible in this blog:

- labels (stereo, mono, radio station copies, mistakes, etc)
- covers (picture cover sleeves from all over the world)
- matrix information (when available)

And is divided per album where possible. You will find out that Columbia and CBS/Sony released many in a wide variety, coupling a-sides to b-sides or hits to hits.

If you feel you want and can contribute please feel free to do so.

Anyway, I hope you will enjoy it!