Performer Notes

Personnel includes: Paul Simon (vocals, guitar); Art Garfunkel (vocals);
Fred Carter, Jr. (guitar); Jimmy Haskell, Ernie Freeman (strings); Larry Knechtel (keyboards); Joe Osborn (bass); Hal Blaine (drums) Los Incas.
Producers include: Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Roy Halee.
Recorded between August 11 and November 15, 1969. Originally released on Columbia Records (9914). Includes liner notes by Bud Scoppa.
Personnel: Fred Carter, Jr., Paul Simon (guitar); Ernie Freeman, Jimmy Haskell (strings); Larry Knechtel (keyboards); Hal Blaine (drums).
Liner Note Authors: Michael Hill; Anthony DeCurtis.
Recording information: 11/01/1969-11/02/1969; 11/08/1969-11/09/1969; 11/14/1969-11/15/1969.
Photographers: Don Hunstein; Jim Marshall ; Peter Powell.
Bridge Over Troubled Water was one of the biggest-selling albums of its decade, and it hasn't fallen too far down on the list in years since. Apart from the gospel-flavored title track, which took some evolution to get to what it finally became, however, much of Bridge Over Troubled Water also constitutes a stepping back from the music that Simon & Garfunkel had made on Bookends -- this was mostly because the creative partnership that had formed the body and the motivation for the duo's four prior albums literally consumed itself in the making of Bridge Over Troubled Water. The overall effect was perhaps the most delicately textured album to close out the 1960s from any major rock act. Bridge Over Troubled Water, at its most ambitious and bold, on its title track, was a quietly reassuring album; at other times, it was personal yet soothing; and at other times, it was just plain fun. The public in 1970 -- a very unsettled time politically, socially, and culturally -- embraced it; and whatever mood they captured, the songs matched the standard of craftsmanship that had been established on the duo's two prior albums. Between the record's overall quality and its four hits, the album held the number one position for two and a half months and spent years on the charts, racking up sales in excess of five million copies. The irony was that for all of the record's and the music's appeal, the duo's partnership ended in the course of creating and completing the album. ~ Bruce Eder

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.112) - Ranked #51 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "...The partnership at its best..."

Rolling Stone (5/15/03, p.137) - 5 stars out of 5 - "...An album about the end--a casually ambitious look back at an expiring musical partnership (Simon and Garfunkel) and decade (the Sixties)..."

Q (1/00, p.140) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...[Their] final record is probably their best. It's certainly their most consistent....notable for the strength of its melodies, the force of its lyrics and the Abbey Road-style sophistication of its production."

Uncut (8/01, p.92) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...One of the biggest-selling albums in pop history..."

Record Collector (magazine) (p.96) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] reminder of just how important the album was...its introspective mood and lyricism articulating the uncertainty of the times through such landmark songs as 'The Boxer,' 'The Only Living Boy In New York' and the masterful title track."