Paul Simon is releasing an album of reworked songs to celebrate his farewell tour.
Earlier this year (18), the former Simon & Garfunkel star announced his new trek would be his last, and he kicked off the Homeward Bound - The Farewell Tour, in Vancouver, Canada in May (18). Simon will be wrapping up his run of shows on 22 September (18) with a grand finale at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, New York, and now he has announced In the Blue Light will be released on 7 September.
The record will feature "fresh perspectives on 10 of the artist's favorite (though perhaps less-familiar) songs."
"This album consists of songs that I thought were almost right, or were odd enough to be overlooked the first time around," a statement from Simon reads. "Re-doing arrangements, harmonic structures, and lyrics that didn't make their meaning clear, gave me time to clarify in my own head what I wanted to say, or realize what I was thinking and make it more easily understood."
"It's an unusual occurrence for an artist to have the opportunity to revisit earlier works and re-think them; to modify, even completely change parts of the originals," the album's liner notes add.
Simon collaborated with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, guitarist Bill Frisell, drummers Jack DeJohnette and Steve Gadd, and others on the album.
"Happily, this opportunity also gave me the gift of playing with an extraordinary group of musicians, most of whom I hadn't recorded with before," the notes add. "I hope the listener will find these new versions of old songs refreshed, like a new coat of paint on the walls of an old family home."
