Art Garfunkel

Pencil Portrait by Antonio Bosano.

Art Garfunkel Pencil Portrait
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The quality of the prints are at a much higher level compared to the image shown on the left.

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A3 Pencil Print-Price £20.00-Purchase

A4 Pencil Print-Price £15.00-Purchase

*Limited edition run of 250 prints only*

All Pencil Prints are printed on the finest Bockingford Somerset Velvet 255 gsm paper.

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Last update: 27/03/19

It’s the moment every singer dreads, and for Art Garfunkel that moment would come in January 2010.

Dining out with his son at the Palm restaurant in Nicaragua, the singer choked on one of the larger strands of lobster, and within a couple of days, his swallowing muscle was numb. Unable to converse in anything but a hoarse voice, a subsequent endoscopy would reveal noticeable problems with one of his two vocal cords, the engorged and more rigid appearance visual testimony to his present predicament.

Interviewed by ‘Rolling Stone’ in February 2014, Garfunkel recalled those worrisome days:

“As the weeks ensued, I saw that I couldn’t finesse my singing in the mid-range. I could do the high notes and the low notes. High notes are my stock in trade, thank God. But I couldn’t sing, “When you’re weary, feeling small.” I couldn’t do anything in the middle where you need that finesse. It’s indescribable. I was crude instead of fine.”

The halo of blonde curls may be long gone, but painstaking rehabilitative vocal work would pay dividends. Combining songs and prose poetry, Garfunkel would slowly ‘up his game’, working those vocal muscles through 49 low key shows in 2013. Now fully recovered, there’s talk of fresh recording sessions and another reunion tour with Paul Simon. Here’s to patience and perseverance…

Recommended listening

Breakaway (1975)

Artie’s second solo offering and his most artistically successful venture. Produced by Richard Perry, who was scoring platinum successes at the time with the likes of Carly Simon, Ringo Starr and Harry Nilsson, the abum would include three Top 40 singles: “I Only Have Eyes for You” (US #18, UK #1), “Break Away” (US #39) and the Simon And Garfunkel reunion duet, “My Little Town” which peaked at #9. “I Only Have Eyes For You” is noted also for being Garfunkel’s first #1 single in the UK.

My copy is on on vinyl which – for an all analogue recordings – is how the it should be heard. A major contributor is the singer-songwriter Andrew Gold who contributes fine guitar work on a number of songs, particularly the languid phased tones on “I only have eyes for you.” Elsewhere, Garfunkel wrestles “I Believe (when I fall in love it will be forever)” from its composer Stevie Wonder (no mean feat), provides a perfect deadpan delivery on Antonio Jobim’s “Waters of March,” and generates greatly welcomed songwriting royalities for Benny Gallagher and Graham lyle with a superb cover version. A personal favourite – Albert Hammomd and Hal David’s “99 Miles from LA” – is the perfect minor counterpoint to Nilsson’s “Everybody’s Talkin’”“

Dave Marsh’s original review in Rolling Stone magazine was less than complimentary, describing Artie as a production tool when compared to Simon’s artistic credibility. The diminutive one’s near simultaneous release “Still Crazy after all these Years” was a musical humdinger but again, as with all his releases, sadly lacking Garfunkel’s vocal input. The purity of his voice – and both Johnny Mathis and Joan Baez (Streisand to a lesser degree), would suffer from similar comparisons – leaves him teetering on the edge of permanent blandness.

All this of course, belies the essential point. “Breakaway” is an engaging platter, a perfect sunday morning ‘chill out’ and a classic of its kind. Relax Mr Marsh and let it wash over you…….