Description
A Timeless Reflection on America and Ourselves: Simon & Garfunkel’s Bookends Asks Big Questions, Includes “Mrs. Robinson” and “A Hazy Shade of Winter”
Mastered on MoFi’s Renowned System and Limited to 4,000 Numbered Copies: Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 33RPM SuperVinyl LP Magnifies the Brilliance of the Original Sessions
1/4" / 15 IPS analog copy to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe
Concept album, career-making moment, industry-defying creation, years-long pursuit of perfection: Simon and Garfunkel’s Bookends adheres to all those descriptions and more, the record at once a defining statement of the late 1960s and salient reflection on relationships, identity, society, and mortality whose enduring relevance attests to its exceptional merit. Ranked by countless sources as one of the greatest records of all time, the 1968 work transcends styles, trends, and generations.
Mastered on MoFi’s renowned system at the label’s California studio, housed in a Stoughton jacket, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, and strictly limited to 4,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity’s 180g SuperVinyl 33RPM LP of Bookends presents the duo’s timeless effort in reference-quality sound. Benefitting from the inherent properties of the SuperVinyl formula — a nearly inaudible noise floor, superb groove definition, dead-quiet surfaces — this collectible reissue magnifies the brilliance of the extended production sessions that took place over the course of 18 months at Columbia’s iconic 52nd Street Studio.
Simon himself said that Bookends possesses “the most use of the studio” of any Simon & Garfunkel effort. The plain truth of his observation comes to fore on this audiophile LP. The full bloom and natural decay of notes; weight and impact of low-end frequencies; lushness, breathiness, and air of the omnipresent harmonies; separation and imaging of the wood, string, and brass instruments; timbres and in-the-room realism of Simon’s lead vocals — these critical traits and more are rendered with elevated accuracy, detail, and presence. Bookends has never sounded more transparent, lifelike, or balanced.
And that’s exactly what Simon, Garfunkel, and producer Roy Halee intended while taking as many as 50 hours to nail a single track. Envisioned from the start by Simon as a way to capture the age’s zeitgeist, and inspired by the broad strokes of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde, Bookends pairs its sonic flair — and diverse arrangements that incorporate folk, rock, jazz, pop, and baroque elements — with arresting lyrics that address restlessness, uncertainty, alienation, love, and heritage.
