Simon and Garfunkel's Beloved Swan Song: Bridge Over Troubled Water Features Meticulous Production, Gorgeous Songwriting, and Healing Spirit
Sourced from the Original Master Tapes and Strictly Limited to 3,000 Numbered Copies: Mobile Fidelity's Hybrid SACD Brings You Closer to the Record Rolling Stone Named the 172nd Greatest Album of All Time
Unifying, soothing, comforting: Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge over Troubled Water quickly became the album of an era upon release in 1970, the benchmark set serving as a beacon of hope and hymn of reassurance during a time marked by polarizing changes, social unrest, uncertain politics, and the dawn of a new era. These uplifting reasons - to say nothing about the gorgeous songwriting, meticulous production, and watershed performances - attest to why it is more relevant than ever in our current climate. Bridge over Troubled Water simultaneously suggests and proves that music heals all wounds and lifts all boats.
Sourced from the original master tapes, housed in mini-LP gatefold-sleeve packaging, and strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's hybrid SACD elevates the sonic and emotional impact of this epochal album. You'll enjoy deep-black backgrounds, wide soundstages, pointillist details, and broad dynamics.
Not for nothing is Bridge over Troubled Water one of the finest-sounding albums ever made. Featuring instrumentation helmed by members of Los Angeles' fabled Wrecking Crew as well as multiple choral and string sections, songs took hundreds of hours to complete and involved pioneering recording techniques. Evoking Phil Spector's live 'Wall of Sound' approach as well as inventive effects, Bridge over Troubled Water is a triumph of texture, atmosphere, and architecture.
Mobile Fidelity's SACD brings the record's traits to the fore. Whether the reverberation generated by Garfunkel's cassette recorder on 'Cecilia,' echoing drums captured in a corridor heard throughout 'The Boxer,' automobile noises peppering 'Baby Driver,' layers of voices dotting 'The Only Boy Living in New York,' or echo-chamber percussion on the title track, everything comes across with audiophile-grade accuracy, clarity, and presence.
The best-selling record in the U.S. for several years running, and winner of six Grammy Awards - including nods for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Engineered Recording - Bridge over Troubled Water endures as a staple of accessible sophistication, angelic elegance, effortless singing, unhinged ambition, and therapeutic spirit. Simon and Garfunkel's collaborative ethos and soaring harmonies - combined with reflective narratives centered on the American experience, friendship, romance, and farewells - combine to turn the 11-track work into a paean to resolution, reconciliation, calm, and balance.
Home to the legendary title track graced by Garfunkel's pacifying solo lead vocals as well as the equally famous folk ballad 'The Boxer,' Peruvian-based 'El Condor Pasa (If I Could),' upbeat 'Cecilia,' and rock 'n' rolling 'Baby Driver,' Bridge over Troubled Water remains as renowned for it's musical diversity as it's lyrical poignancy. Moving beyond the templates they'd perfected on four prior albums, Simon and Garfunkel embrace a then-unimaginable swath of styles. Rock, pop, gospel, country, R&B, South American, and jazz strains course throughout the songs, each sparked with bold experiments yet grounded in a well-orchestrated melange of melody, rhythm, and classicism that makes each song feel personal, familiar, and warm.