Art Garfunkel - 7 Albums Collection (2012) {Columbia Sony Music Japan Mini LP Blu-spec CDs}

Cardboard sleeve reissue from Art Garfunkel featuring the high-fidelity Blu-spec CD format (compatible with standard CD players) and 2012 DSD remastering. Part of a six-album Art Garfunkel Blu-spec CD cardboard sleeve reissue series featuring albums "Angel Clare," "Breakaway," "Watermark," "Fate For Breakfast," "Scissors Cut," and "Lefty." The Singer info: Greatest hits album release from Art Garfunkel including two new songs recorded in 2012. Features the high-fidelity Blu-spec CD format (compatible with standard CD players).

Garfunkel (he was billed without his first name here) had a lot riding on his debut solo album, and Angel Clare, named after a character in Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles, lived up to the heightened expectations for the man who had sung "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and other Simon & Garfunkel favorites. Garfunkel took no chances, issuing as the first single Jimmy Webb's "All I Know," which was arranged in a similar style to "Bridge" and made the Top Ten. Elsewhere on the record, Garfunkel took a more spirited approach, notably on a version of Van Morrison's "I Shall Sing" that was reminiscent of Simon & Garfunkel's "Cecilia" and made the Top 40. Certainly, there was enough firepower on the record, which featured guitarists Jerry Garcia and J.J. Cale. But much of it was filled with stately, orchestra-laden ballads, sung by Garfunkel in his naïve, breathy tenor. If Simon & Garfunkel had been the thinking man's Everly Brothers, Garfunkel alone turned out to be the thinking man's Johnny Mathis.

The second time around, Art Garfunkel turned to pop producer Richard Perry, who liked to record in studios rather than cathedrals and who replaced the angelic style of the first album with a lush pop approach. The result was Garfunkel's best-selling album. The title track and a cover of "I Only Have Eyes for You" reached the Top 40 (the latter topped the U.K. charts), though the most prominent song was the Simon & Garfunkel reunion single "My Little Town." But the album was full of wise pop choices, among them Bruce Johnston's "Disney Girls," Stevie Wonder's "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)," and Hal David and Albert Hammond's "1199 Miles from L.A." Perry proved that, given the right material and production, the problem of the relative sameness of Garfunkel's vocal approach could be overcome.

The original idea was for Art Garfunkel to record an album of songs written by Jimmy Webb. But when the leadoff single, "Crying in My Sleep," failed to make the charts, Columbia Records withdrew the album and induced Garfunkel to put together a cover of Sam Cooke's "(What A) Wonderful World" with Paul Simon and James Taylor harmonizing. The single and a revised version of the album then made the Top 40. But Watermark is still a Garfunkel-Sings-Webb album, except for one song. And the initial idea was a good one: Garfunkel handles Webb's wistful pop songs well, and he has made good choices from Webb's songbook, dating back to the '60s, though avoiding his big bits. The result is Garfunkel's most cohesive solo album.

For his fourth solo album, Art Garfunkel opted to make a light contemporary pop record on the order of Breakaway, but for the most part the material was mediocre and the backup slick and unfeeling. "Since I Don't Have You" was an obvious choice for a singer who had scored with a similar '50s oldie, "I Only Have Eyes for You," but it was the album's only chart single, and Fate for Breakfast was as disappointing at the cash register as it was on the turntable.

After the disappointment of Fate for Breakfast, Art Garfunkel returned to old friends for his fifth solo album, co-producing with Roy Halee, who had worked with Simon & Garfunkel and on Garfunkel's debut album, Angel Clare, and singing several songs written by Jimmy Webb, who had written nearly all the songs on Garfunkel's third album, Watermark. But though Scissors Cut came closer to the sound of a good Garfunkel album, material remained a problem. "A Heart in New York," the LP's sole American chart single, was second-rate, as were many of the other compositions, Garfunkel scored a surprise number one hit in Great Britain with the Mike Batt-written and produced "Bright Eyes," the theme from the movie Watership Down, but that wasn't enough to make the album on the whole a success, Garfunkel then re-teamed with Paul Simon for a world concert tour, and it was five years before he was back in record stores with the seasonal release The Animals' Christmas and nearly seven years before his next regular solo album, Lefty.

Art Garfunkel's first regular studio album in nearly seven years was a pleasant enough exercise that did nothing to arrest his commercial or artistic decline. The idea of covering "I Have a Love" from West Side Story was a good one, the obligatory '50s cover, "So Much in Love," was well performed, and "Love Is the Only Chain" was a good piece of material, even if better performed by authors Pam Rose and Mary Ann Kennedy (who joined Garfunkel on this recording). The version of "When a Man Loves a Woman," so far away from Percy Sledge's emotional original, served to illustrate Garfunkel's detached approach to his material. But much of the album consisted of second-rate songs, frequently written by Stephen Bishop.

Legacy's 2011 collection of Paul Simon's solo recordings was called Songwriter, so logic dictates that the companion two-disc set of Art Garfunkel solo material should be dubbed The Singer. Then again, what else could it be called? Garfunkel never was a writer; he was only a singer, and even at his best he wasn't exactly an interpreter – he sang the songs as they were written, always to the best of his abilities. This comprehensive but non-chronological 34-track retrospective does a superb job of rounding up Art's highlights, beginning with the heavy-hitters from Simon & Garfunkel ("Bridge Over Troubled Water," "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her," "Scarborough Fair/Canticle," "Kathy's Song," "The Sound of Silence," "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright," "April Come She Will," "My Little Town") and running through many of his hit singles ("All I Know," "I Only Have Eyes for You," "Break Away," "[What A] Wonderful World," "A Heart in New York"), adding deep album cuts and a couple of new recordings for good measure. At two discs, this can be a lot to digest in one sitting – there's variety in the production but it's all soft and sweet – but The Singer remains a thorough testament to Art Garfunkel's unique gifts.