It's an odd time to evaluate Paul Simon's solo career in light of his successful 2004 reunion tour with Art Garfunkel. But maybe all that boomer nostalgia needs a little levity, and the sweep of his solo work proves Simon has never dwelled on the past. The Studio Recordings 1972-2000 is that rare bird—an attempt to collect an artist's entire oeuvre.
Originally released in September 1969, left Beck's second album read like a superstar summit meeting, but for the guitarist it was just another day at the office. He'd already replaced Eric Clapton in The Yardbirds, supported The Beatles in Paris, and appeared in Antonioni's movie Blow-Up, livening up the psychedelic club scene with some extreme axe-mangling GBH.
Don't be deceived by the enticing claim that this "complete and unauthorised documentary" contains "exclusive and in-depth interviews". They're not with anybody who was ever actually in Zeppelin but with the likes of former Yardbird Jim McCarthy and even a tribute band called Letz Zep. This motley crew relate the familiar story well enough—but you can't help wondering what the point was. Approach with extreme caution.
This late John Wayne movie has The Duke as a Chicago cop trailing his man to London, while a hitman seeks to fulfill a contract on Wayne's life. It's middling, fish-out-of-water fare, the kind of bawdy, roustabout stuff Wayne did far too often, but by way of compensation you get Richard Attenborough as Wayne's finicky Scotland Yard sidekick.
