consensus in central park

Simon & Garfunkel's concert album The Concert in Central Park is a personal favorite.  I was twenty months old in September 1981, but having four older siblings, I have a distinct sense for that time and that music.  A weird little duo birthed and transformed by the '60s and wilted by the ;70s, now back in the corporate '80s for a paycheck and a little bit of stage lighting.  But everything aside, it's a fun album, a fun lineup of songs and the repartee between the New York audience and the performers is unparalleled in my very limited knowledge and experience.  The backing band and arrangements for this concert, a Burt Bacharachish light whimsical twang to even the heaviest of songs -- "The Boxer", etc, is pure early '80s candy.

This album got me through medical school during so much memorization of facts and algorithms and then I for whatever reason tucked it away for most of this past ten years.  And now I'm listening to it almost every night again.  I think, in a time when it's a wonder that I can think at all, that albums like this will save my soul if not my sanity.  I recommend that you check this album out of your local library and give it a spin or a download.  And if the freedom and light-heartedness of this album is too lefty for you, then take solace in the fact that two of the songs are named "America" or "American Tune".  Perhaps you can argue with your neighbor about which one is more American.