THE magic's still in there. Art Garfunkel's recovery from losing his voice, a condition that cost one of popular music's most recognisable singers two years or more of his career, still sounds like a work in progress at times, and yet he brought a near-capacity Glasgow Royal Concert Hall audience to its feet.
They forgave him for the notes he didn't quite reach, for the unevenness, especially in the opening half, for the phrases he avoided on Scarborough Fair, and for the truncated Bridge Over Troubled Water that preceded his parting prayer. They forgave those because when the voice is true, it's the same angelic tenor they remember from records and radio, except here it was in person, delivering a very human Sound Of Silence and a sweet, lovely Ninety-Nine Miles From LA, the fans' favourite from his Breakaway album.
It's possibly quite brave for Garfunkel to be onstage with just guitarist Tab Laven for company. He could work with a band and be less exposed, although Laven's expert playing offered hugely empathetic and, when required, forcible accompaniment. The intimacy of a duo feels like his natural habitat and allows him to indulge in recitations of memories written, apparently, on the fronts of envelopes. Some of them might have been more suited to the back of an envelope, but the best were, like Garfunkel himself, charming and insightful, not least his observations on "Paul" .
Art says he doesn't know what Paul thinks of him but a tenderly rendered Bright Eyes and a sincere reading of Randy Newman's Real Emotional Girl notwithstanding, Simon & Garfunkel is clearly the musical entity that resonates strongest here.
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