Sold Date: December 30, 2023
Start Date: December 23, 2023
Final Price: $17.99 (USD)
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PAUL SIMON 'GRACELAND' FIRST US PRESSING 1986 'ICON' COVER  DMM  STERLING
PAUL SIMON  "GRACELAND" LABEL: WARNER BROTHERS 1-25447 ~ 9 25447-1 RELEASED: MID AUGUST 1986 FIRST U.S. PRESSING ~ EMBOSSED COVER ~ ICON ~ 'STORY' BACK  MASTERED BY:  GREG CALBI DMM (DIRECT METAL MASTERING) ~ MASTERING: ALLIED RECORDS MASTERING: STERLING SOUND ~ SHEFFIELD LABS ('△12646' IN MATRIX) PRESSING: ALLIED/SPECIALTY ('B-23620' 'AL-SP' IN MATRIX) RECORDED AT OVATION STUDIOS ~ JOHANNESBURG FEB '85- JUNE '86 ADDITIONAL RECORDING: The Hit Factory NYC, Amigo Studios L.A.                                                Abbey Road Studios London, Master Trak Studio Crowley, Louisiana PRODUCER: PAUL SIMON MATRIX (SIDE A): etched 12 5447-A RE2-SH1 B-23620-Re2-SH1 STERLING DMM Δ12646 3-6 AL-SP
CONDITION:  VINYL: VG++   INNER: EX   JACKET: VG++
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I've been going thru my massive vinyl record collection these past few weeks and pulling out some LPs that I thought that someone else would want for their collection. I've been collecting records for over 45 years and it's time to pass some of them on to the next generation of collectors.
This week on EBay I am offering up this fantastic sounding, clean, 1986 First U.S. Pressing of Paul Simon's epic 'Graceland' album.
This is my original copy, purchased back in the summer of 1986, shortly after it's release, that I've taken great care of for many years. See details on Condition below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the very First US Pressing, with the embossed Ethiopian Icon artwork on the cover. The Icon is from the Langmuir Collection housed at the Peabody Museum in Salem, Mass.
The back cover has the 'story' of the album and individual song comments written by Simon himself. Later pressings changed the Christian themed 'Icon' cover to a picture of Simon and replaced the 'story' on the back with pictures of soldiers.
This is a Direct Metal Master (DMM) pressing, mastered at Sterling Sound by Greg Calbi, which sounds amazing.
It comes with the original inner sleeve that lists full credits and contains all the lyrics.
A beautiful, clean First Pressing copy of this amazing timeless album.       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE FASCINATING STORY OF 'GRACELAND'
After the huge success of 1975's 'Still Crazy After All These Years' Paul Simon had reached the peak of his mid-70's singer/songwriter career and wanted to explore and branch out into different directions.
He went on to release several lackluster albums in the late 70s and early 80's, scoring an occasional hit, but mostly being ignored by fans and critics. To complicate matters, his relationship and marriage to Carrie Fisher was on the rocks.
Paul Simon’s 1983 release 'Hearts and Bones', the release prior to 'Graceland', was a total flop and a bitter commercial disappointment. Simon realized that he was no longer a popular, 'hip', important artist, and that his poor record sales were likely to continue.
Poor reception to his albums and his eventual divorce from Carrie Fisher sent Paul “tail-spinning” into depression. By 1985, he had hit rock bottom in both his musical career and personal life.   In the midst of this personal turmoil, to help cheer him up, Simon's friend Heidi Berg gave him a 'grey market' cassette tape of South African music called “Gumboots: Accordion Jive Hits” 
The tape didn't list any musicians or artists, but the music immediately captivated Simon, and he became obsessed with the fresh new sounds he was hearing. It reminded him of the early American ʼ50s raw R&B that he loved in his youth. 
He discovered that his favorite song on the tape, “Gumboots” was recorded by the Boyoyo Boys, and was a type of music called Mbaqanga, a style of music popularized in Soweto, one of apartheid South Africa’s Black townships.
Simon, needing a new approach to his life and music, and having nothing to lose, decided to travel to South Africa to find those musicians and embrace the culture.
Paul decided to take his friend and long time producer/collaborator Roy Halee on a voyage of musical discovery to South Africa.
Simon wanted to work with the musicians he heard on the tape, but the political climate surrounding the South African government’s racist regime made it very difficult to do so.
Simon intentionally skirted the United Nations' cultural boycott of South Africa in order to record with black musicians from that country. Most artists at the time refused to perform in the country, but Simon had the courage to take chances and go against the musical mainstream. His masterstroke was deciding to intentionally record Black South African musicians and blend their musical styles with Western pop stylings. Simon discovered all sorts of new sounds and new styles in Africa; mbaqanga, township jive, shangaan music, and zydeco, all played by their true authentic practitioners.
'Graceland' put a major dent in South Africa's apartheid system and showed the world that the faceless "blacks" of South Africa were real people, with real talents, aspirations, & feelings. 'Graceland' introduced the richness and depth of African music to Western youth. It put an emotional, human face on black South Africans for millions of listeners around the world.
~~~ Eventually Jam sessions with some of the groups he discovered in South Africa gave rise to all but a few of the songs on 'Graceland'. For most of songs, the groove came first, and the lyrics long after. 
Simon started writing songs with themes of dislocation, misplaced identity, cultural loss, and the meeting of different worlds. 
'Graceland' is basically an autobiography of Paul’s life at the time; the rejection of the music business, the people he left behind in New York, including his recently divorced wife, and the ecstatic, healing experience of discovering new music and a different attitude towards life in Africa.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   'Graceland' is a timeless masterpiece of ethno-folk-pop/rock that mixes wonderful rhythms, melodies, harmonies, instrumentation & stories to create a great album.
Graceland' is a perfect example of fantastic music that can be created when a talented musician strips away all commercial concerns and just lets his talent and instinct take over.
Graceland has some of the best pop rock written during the mid-80's. It resuscitated Simon's career, re-invented his sound, and is a near perfect pop rock album.
Simon told Harpers magazine: "My favourite record? This is it. This is the best I ever did. This is all perfect." I couldn't agree more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'Graceland' is an amazing album. Paul Simon brilliantly combines African folk rhythms, unusual instrumentation, western pop structures, and beautiful harmonic voices to take you on a unique, immersive, sonic journey from the poor townships of South Africa to the swamps of the Louisiana bayou.
American roots music, such as zydeco, is also represented, as well as the traditional South African vocal music of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, who were introduced to Western audiences by this album. 
This album still sounds frash and relevant today. Somehow it has refused to age. Each time I listen to it, I hear and appreciate something new, even after all these years. Not many records are able to do that.
~~ The South African instrumentation makes this such an excellent and creative album. It has seamless transitions between African drumming, bass, guitar, horns and voices. Vibrant and colorful. It's foreign sounding to your ears, but also somehow very familiar.
Although many of the songs have a 'core' of performers, Simon enlisted over 50 musicians and singers to perform on this album, most from South Africa and unknown to western audiences. 
The Primary 'Core' Musicians on this album include:
Paul Simon – Lead & Background Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Bass Ray Phiri – Guitars Bakithi Kumalo – Bass Adrian Belew – Electric Guitars, Synths Isaac Mtshali – Drums Ralph MacDonald – Percussion Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Vocal Ensemble
The slinky, funky, rhythmic 'Groove' that guitarist Chikapa "Ray" Phiri and bassist Bakithi Khumalo lay down is second to none.
Ray Phiri is an excellent guitarist and unlike Western players, who stick to one 'style' throughout a song, Phiri is able to alter his playing from verse to verse to emphasis the lyrics and feel of the songs.
Khumalo's fretless Bass playing has incredible fluency and personality to it. It's used as a lead instrument here, and his bass notes melodically, harmonically and rhythmically completely wrap around each song.
Their playing creates a 'groove' that requires you to dance, or at least tap your foot in acknowledgement.
This album has a lot of contrast between the music and Simon's lyrics. The music is generally upbeat, positive and full of joy and life, but listening to Paul Simon's intelligent, thoughtful, folk-inspired lyrics, you realize that the underlying 'story' behind the songs are full of the realities of life; loss, confusion, and desperation.
The lyrics were very important to Paul Simon, and they are printed in full on the album's inner sleeve.
~~~~ 'Graceland' is one of the best sounding records made during the 1980's, and this early Direct Metal Mastering First Pressing sounds phenomenal. 
The mastering and mixing on this album is stunning and amazing. It has a wide, deep, three-dimensional soundstage, powerful dynamics, and a fantastic, full, detailed, natural, warm sound, that feels very present and very alive. 
There's clarity and air between all the instruments and Paul's voice is very clear, focused, and in the middle of the soundstage, flanked by all the other instruments and voices. The bass and low end is superb, very tight and precise. 
A sonic masterpiece and a joyful listen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The songs on this great album include:
The Boy In The Bubble Graceland I Know What I Know Gumboots Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes You Can Call Me Al Under African Skies Homeless Crazy Love, Vol. II That Was Your Mother All Around the World (or Myth of Fingerprints)
The album's opening track, "The Boy in the Bubble", is a rhythmic declaration, a clear indicator that this album is something new and something different. It sets the tone for the rest of the album. 
It's an upbeat track, with bass, percussion, and fine accordion riffs, played by Forere Motloheloa. It's Paul Simon's statement about the obvious 'destruction' of local culture in the name of ‘progress’ and ‘colonization.’
It ties together themes of technological progress, terrorism, surveillance, inequality, and superstition around a central theme, or metaphor, of a terrorist bomb explosion.  
The bomb, hidden in a baby’s stroller, shatters through the town, causing devastation all around it; symbolic of the destruction that Western settlers have done to many other places around the World, in their desire for ‘progress’ and dominance.
Later in the song, Simon's lyrics describe a conversation between a woman crying over being forced to lose her culture, and a ‘civilized’ colonizer who is trying to tell her how ‘lucky' she is, and how she’s ‘never had it so good,’ with the introduction of Western industry and technology.
~~ 'Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes,' is an upbeat, breezy, totally hypnotic song.
The song tells the story of a poor young African boy who feels uncomfortable about being attracted to a girl so rich and out of touch with reality, that she flaunts her riches in the most decadent of ways - by wearing diamonds on the soles of her shoes. It's Simon's comment on the imbalances in plain sight in Apartheid South Afica.
The song introduces the popular South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, who sing the intro in Zulu, before it breaks into an up-tempo, jazzy melody with a danceable beat. 
Bassist Khumalo plays some amazing rhythms on this song. One of the best songs on the album.
~~ 'You Can Call Me Al' was another of this album's 'hits'. It's a catchy, upbeat song and was an MTV staple back in the day.
It's the most western, 80's, Pop song on the album, but also includes the unique African musical qualities found on the rest of the record.
The lyrics describe someone (Paul?) going thru a mid-life crisis, trying to reach out to a friend and partner to form some sort of a protective ‘pact’ to look after each other against all of their worst fears. The music, again, is joyous and upbeat, going against Simon's bleaker lyrics.
The musicianship is fantastic and includes a penny whistle solo by Morris Goldberg and a bad-ass palindromic bass solo by Bakithi Kumalo. 
~~~ The title track, 'Graceland' first suggests a tribute or celebration of Elvis, but deep down it's about the loss of identity and the feeling of helplessness that the breakup of a marriage can cause.
This song is clearly about Paul's divorce with Carrie Fisher.
Paul uses a visit to Graceland, the home of his childhood hero, as a vain attempt to recapture his youth, find the 'American Dream,’  and to try and get some meaning back into his life at a time of loss and confusion. He finds himself spiritually lost along the way.  
As another nod to his youth, Simon uses his childhood musical heroes, the Everly Brothers to sing backing vocals on this track. Many years earlier, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel would spend hours trying to master the harmonies of Phil & Don Everly for their own music, which they pulled off amazingly well.
Again, this is an upbeat, funky, pop song, and Ray Phiri’s great guitar playing drives the rhythm right along. Paul Simon would later say that this was the best song he ever wrote. 
~~~~ 'I Know What I Know' is the most unfiltered African sounding song on the album.
It's another fun, upbeat song with lyrics that poke fun at Simon's own inadequacy with finding and dating women as a middle aged man.
~~~~~ 'Gumboots' is another fun sounding, joyful and fast-paced accordian-driven song, named after the song on the cassette tape that inspired his trip to Africa, the whole project, and the final album.
It's another song about an older, rather pathetic character, trying to stumble his way through the dating scene, and awkwardly trying to find love in his thirties.
The song is musically fantastic, combining ’50s-style American doo-wop with African mbaqanga stylings, topped off by a killer saxophone solo. A great song.
~~~~ 'Under African Skies/Homeless'. On this song, and the one after it, Simon looks less at his own life story, and more at the hardships and cultural pride of the different African people he has met along his journey.
He sings a beautiful heartfelt duet with Linda Ronstadt on the calm, thoughtful 'Under African Skies', while ‘Homeless’ is a heartbreaking acapella song, sung by the beautiful voices of Ladysmith Black Mambazo mostly in the Zulu language.
~~~ 'Crazy Love (Volume II)' is another somber song about the loneliness and de-individualization of modern life. The song's main character, ‘Fat Charlie the Archangel’ is a spiritually lost person, with no strength of character, determination, or convictions. 
~~~~ 'That Was Your Mother' returns the listener to the world of American roots music. This is a joyous, Zydeco style song inspired by Louisiana cajun music.
Paul Simon saw the local band 'Rockin’ Dopsie and the Twisters' perform at a small club in Lafayette, Louisiana, after he returned to the States from Africa, and thought their accordion-driven music fit right in with the other South African-inspired songs on the album.
He recorded them locally and added their song to this masterpiece of an album.
~~~~ 'All Around the World' or 'The Myth of Fingerprints' This is the most upbeat and commercial sounding song on the album, and a great, fun, uplifting way to close out the record.
Simon used the East L.A. band Los Lobos as the backing band for this song. It's a funky, upbeat song, almost a celebration, that sort of sums up the great exuberant experience that making the entire album had been for Paul Simon. 
A perfect closer for the album.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONDITION: I tried to show good hi-resolution photos of the cover, labels and vinyl in my pictures.
I purchased this copy back in the summer of 1986, 35 years ago, and have taken great care of it since.
VINYL: The vinyl looks excellent. Clean and bright. Basically flawless. No serious scuffs, palpable scratches, or dings. It looks fantastic and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it.
The Deadwax has one of the most complex and longest matrix stamps I think I've ever seen. It has the DMM stamp, the Sterling/Sheffield mastering stamps, the Allied pressing numbers and the Warner stamps. Busy and complicated. See the full Matrix numbers above.
I tried to show some close-up pictures of the vinyl to show how good it looks. I'm sure you'll be very pleased with it.
I haven't messed with it or cleaned it, other than my trusty 'DiscWasher' brush, in 35 years, since Ronnie Reagan was in office. It could use a good deep cleaning to make it even bettter looking and better sounding than it already is.
LABELS: This is pressed with the 'classic' 80's Warner Brothers 'shield' labels. The labels are clean and bright. No marks or damage. The spindle holes are still sharp and clean, suggesting minimal playing and my careful handling over the years.
JACKET: As you can see from my pictures, this still looks very nice for a 35 year old OG copy. 
This all white jacket is notorious for showing ringwear, dirt, scuffs and damage, but this copy is still quite nice. Very tiny, minimal ringwear at the top and very clean and bright. A very mild 'crease' in the bottom left, but overall beautiful. This has the embossed Icon on the front.
The artwork is bold and bright, the corners are sharp, and the original gloss is still present.
The inner sleeve is clean and crisp. The spine is straight. A nice survivor.
Overall, I'll call the whole record VG++, as I almost never call an unsealed album EX, but the vinyl is very clean and sounds amazing.
This record has been sleeved and stored properly for decades, and is still quite nice for an original pressing, as you can see from my pictures.
This copy is all original, and a real gem. I'm sure you'll love it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** NOTE: I'm selling this rare 'Collector' record "AS IS" and "NO RETURN". It's rare and as described and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I’m recently retired and downsizing and letting go some gems and rarities from nearly 45 years of vinyl record collecting. Check out the many other fantastic 45s and 33s coming soon to my page!
All records have been carefully evaluated and graded by me. I visually inspect all records under bright light, personally gently clean them with a soft cloth and then, if unsure, play them on a modern high-end turntable to get a true picture of condition. Please look at all the high-resolution pictures I added. They are all my own and are of the actual record being sold. The pictures are part of the description and can show small details, label variations, and condition better than I can put into words. 
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU AND YOURS AND WE WISH YOU MUCH PEACE AND PROSPERITY IN THE YEAR TO COME!!
THANK YOU for looking and reading if you got this far.  -- JOHN