Simon & Garfunkel - The Concert in Central Park (Live) (1982)

Simon & Garfunkel - The Concert in Central Park (Live) (1982)

Tracklist front / back album covers

"Mrs. Robinson"

"Homeward Bound"

"America"

"Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard"

"Scarborough Fair" (Traditional, arr. by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel)

"April Come She Will"

"Wake Up Little Susie" (The Everly Brothers (Felice and Boudleaux Bryant))

"Still Crazy After All These Years"

"American Tune"

"Late in the Evening"

"Slip Slidin' Away"

"A Heart in New York" (Benny Gallagher, Graham Lyle)

"The Late Great Johnny Ace"

"Kodachrome/Maybellene" (Simon/Chuck Berry (Chuck Berry, Russ Fratto, Alan Freed))

"Bridge over Troubled Water"

"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"

"The Boxer"

Encore

"Old Friends / Bookends Theme"

"The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"

"The Sound of Silence"

Encore

"Late in the Evening" (Reprise)

Simon & Garfunkel Band Members / Musicians

Paul Simon – vocals, guitar

Art Garfunkel – vocals

Pete Carr, David Brown – guitar

Anthony Jackson – bass guitar

Richard Tee – keyboards

Steve Gadd, Grady Tate – drums

Rob Mounsey – synthesizer

John Gatchell, John Eckert – trumpet

Dave Tofani, Gerry Niewood – saxophone

Album release

A recording of the concert was released five months later, on February 16, 1982. The audio tracks were processed in postproduction, but Rolling Stone magazine wrote that they were not completely polished, and preserved the roar and the fuzziness of live rock music heard through a loudspeaker. Two songs were not included on the album: the interrupted "Late Great Johnny Ace", and the encore reprise of "Late in the Evening". The album was an international success. It peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 chart, and was certified 2×Multi-Platinum with sales of over 2 million copies in USA. The album sold more than 1,270,000 copies in France, where it was certified Diamond. It was also successful in seven other countries, including New Zealand. The album was released as a double LP and as a single Compact Cassette. In 1988 it was issued as a single CD. Various reissues in different formats have occurred, including, alongside the DVD, a 2-CD-release also containing the two missing songs from the original album. The Concert was recorded by Roy Halee on the Record Plant NY Black Truck with David Hewitt Director, assisted by Phil Gitomer, Steve Barash and John Mathias.

Track listing

The song "The Late Great Johnny Ace" and the reprise of "Late in the Evening" were not included in the original release of the album but are on the DVD.

Side One

1. "Mrs. Robinson"   3:52

2. "Homeward Bound"   4:22

3. "America"   4:47

4. "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard"   3:22

5. "Scarborough Fair"   3:52

Side Two

1. "April Come She Will"   2:37

2. "Wake Up Little Susie"   2:19

3. "Still Crazy After All These Years"   4:04

4. "American Tune"   4:33

5. "Late in the Evening"   4:09

Side Three

1. "Slip Slidin' Away"   4:54

2. "A Heart in New York"   2:49

3. "Kodachrome/Maybellene"   5:51

4. "Bridge over Troubled Water"   4:48

Side Four

1. "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover"   4:23

2. "The Boxer"   6:02

3. "Old Friends"   2:57

4. "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"   2:01

5. "The Sound of Silence"   4:13

Video release

The concert was filmed for television broadcast and the home video market. It was produced by James Signorelli, and directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, a specialist in music documentaries who had worked on The Beatles' film Let It Be, and executive produced by Lorne Michaels, who had recently departed the NBC-TV comedy/variety series Saturday Night Live. Simon himself financed the US$750,000 cost of the staging and the video recording. It is unknown how much HBO paid for the television and video rights of the recording; US$1 million according to some sources, over US$3 million according to others. The film includes the two songs that had not appeared on the album, and at 87 minutes, runs 12 minutes longer.

HBO televised the film, Simon and Garfunkel: The Concert in Central Park, on February 21, 1982, five days after the album was released. The film was later released for sale in VHS, CED Videodisc, Laserdisc, and DVD formats. It sold more than 50,000 copies in the US, where it earned Gold certification for a music longform video. It was broadcast on PBS on August 22, 1988, and again on August 8, 2015.