(4&1/2 stars) I'm not sure why it took 35 years for this live recording to be released, but it turns out to be a marvelous document of the classic folk duo's magical chemistry. The sound quality is remarkable, a pristine environment that faithfully captures their inspired harmonies, Paul's acoustic guitar strumming, and even their occasional small boo-boos. (This was recorded live after all.) Hearing Art sing "For Emily" is always spine-tingling, but especially from this era when he was at the very pinnacle of his art. And of course all the hits reminded me yet again what a gifted songwriter Paul was, especially "Homeward Bound," "the Sound of Silence," and "I Am A Rock." The way Paul's harmony line on "Rock" stays on the same note for most of the first verse is such an amazingly subtle but effective idea.

Art's between-song patter is amusing, particularly his explanation of the album cover for the Wednesday Morning record. Anthony DeCurtis also provided some informative and well written liner notes.

Of course it's important (and obvious) to note that this concert occurred prior to some of their later hits such as "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "El Condor Pasa," but live versions of those can be heard elsewhere.

The music and performance is sublime, capturing Simon & Garfunkel on their home turf on the cusp of broadening fame. This same material has appeared on easy-to-find bootlegs in the past, but not with this crisp, clear sound quality. Skip the "deluxe" packaging offered on an alternative edition of this CD unless a cardboard digipak sleeve with a shiny finish is important to you; the contents are otherwise the same as the regular jewel-case edition.

The title for this review is from a Larkin poem about the beginning of World War I, but it applies as well to anyone who can remember 1967. This CD is of a live concert from that year when Simon & Garfunkel were stars but not (as the liner notes point out, superstars). The set list is based on their first 3 albums and thus represents their folk background. Long-time fans of the group will appreciate having live version of some of their more obscure songs. The two are backed only by Paul Simon's guitar -- this CD is further evidence that Simon has never gotten sufficient respect for his skills as a guitarist. The sound quality is extremely good, perhaps because of absence of amplified instruments. S & G show that their trademark harmonies are not merely a product of the studio (where I believe that they were double tracked so that most of the songs really had four voices on them), but could be performed live as well.

The liner notes point out that this was a special time, when the 60's still seemed boundless with possibilities, and before drugs, the increasing violence of political protest, and the increasing horrors of the Vietnam war had taken their toll. Still, the extremely high quality of the music and the performance make this far more than an exercise in nostalgia. It is certainly not a case of aging stars scraping the barrel to make a few more dollars out of their past. It's a shame that this recording wasn't released decades ago; we should be glad to have it now.

...when you're Simon and Garfunkel. And what reason does this duo have to be? Even as early as January 22 of 1967, when this concert was recorded, Paul and Arti were able to stack the setlist with three Top Ten selections ('Homeward Bound', 'I Am a Rock', and 'Sounds of Silence') and two other Top 40 numbers, 'Hazy Shade of Winter' and 'The Dangling Conversation', which Garfunkel introduces as their personal "favorite". Songs already in the works for later in 1967 included the likes of 'Fakin' It', 'Feelin' Groovy' and 'Scarborough Fair'. But chart success is far from what Simon and Garfunkel were all about at this most influential time in their careers.

Much is made in the liner notes by Anthony DeCurtis, and other reviewers here at Amazon, about the remarkable rapport between audience and performers on this disc. It's almost spellbinding in our day and age, when people come to concerts and all but ignore the performers, to hear the sounds of silence emanating from this reverant crowd at Philharmonic Hall in Philadelphia. Certainly not all 1967 performances were accorded such stature. It's hard to believe that the management of the auditorium went to the unheard of length of seating people on the stage behind the performers to accomodate the demand for tickets, and that Simon and Garfunkel would consent to such an unusual configuration for their performance. When listening to this disc, it is hard not to place yourself in one of these choice seats and imagine how it must have felt to hear these enigmatic performers unleash one poignant tune after another. I imagine you would be able to feel as though it was just you and them sharing these transcendent musical performances together.

And the music to this day remains glorious. Snippets of lyrical genius can be gleened with regularity from each and every song, and with each listen, some new image or combination of words or ideas will catch your attention. On one recent listen, 'Leaves That Are Green' left me with the brief aliteration "...and they wither with the wind", while 'You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies' emphasized its point by having each word in the title claim its own note. 'The Dangling Conversation' contrasts two people unable to connect with "we are verses out of rhythm, couplets out of rhyme, in sycopated time". 'Blessed' expands on the poor and the meek to include "meth drinkers" and the "groovy lookin'" before admitting "I've tended my own garden much too long". The writing of graffiti artists in 'Poem On the Underground Wall' is rendered as "a gently tapping litany". And in 'I Am a Rock', the self-isolated subject becomes "like a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow", capsulizing his unaffected and unaffecting nature. 'The Sounds of Silence' caress us with "a vision softly creeping" that "left its seeds while I was sleeping", while Garfunkels incredible vocal abilities illuminate images like "I kissed your honey hair with my grateful tears" from the first encore, 'For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her'. The pair sing "I won't be a slave anymore" in the heyday of the Civil Rights Movement, adding the defiant "you can burn down my churches, but I shall be free" in the second encore, 'A Church Is Burning'. Garfunkel tells the enthused crowd before the final number "Shut up, you've had your fun!", before performing the odd choice, 'Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.', the title song from their first disc, ending with "the morning is just a few hours away" before fading into an out-of-tune coda from Simon's frets. You could fill the auditorium with the lyrical gems that grace this concert with aural, literary, musical, cultural, and political and social import. While Simon was quite reserved regarding his vocal capabilities at this point in his career, his harmonies only enrich Garfunkel's leads, and his guitar work seems the perfect complement throughout, laced with both emotional expression and punctuation.

The recording is less than perfect. While everything that should be there is there, there is also an annoying buzz from the recording equipment (less pronounced after 'A Hazy Shade Of Winter', the middle track), but which cannot be ignored throughout the performance. Today's remastered, digital listener is less likely to be forgiving of such imperfections, but the perfection of these songs, performed live at the height of their influence demands that the good be taken with the bad. This is musical history, as well as a window into the best of what America was in perhaps its most turbulent and revolutionary of decades, save the 1770's and the 1860's. Even if you are not a Simon and Garfunkel aficionado, this concert should be taken in at least once to gain a better insight into who we were in the 1960's.

I don't have much to add in terms of the reviewing the music included on this disc. I think the performances are stirling, beautiful and timeless. Though I am disappointed that "Red Rubber Ball" was not included...this should a be a complete concert.

However, one word does need to be said regarding the deluxe packaging. Honestly, I can't see anything "deluxe" about a standard digi-pak case with faux-hologram type images. The copy I bought (hoping for something much more) has worn out almost immediately and I regret having made this purchase. I would have been far, far happier with the standard release.

So, stay away from the deluxe edition if you like to keep your CDs and sleeves in decent condition.