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''Graceland'' is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. Produced by Simon and Roy Halee, the album released on August 25, 1986 by Warner Bros. Records. In the early 1980s, Simon's career hit a low point. Following a very successful but contentious reunion with former partner Art Garfunkel, Simon's marriage fell apart and his previous record, ''Hearts and Bones'' (1983), was a significant commercial disappointment. In 1984, after a period of depression, Simon became fascinated with a bootleg cassette of South African township music. He planned a trip to Johannesburg in the new year with Halee, where he spent two weeks recording with South African musicians. Recorded between 1985–86, ''Graceland'' features an eclectic mixture of musical styles, including pop, rock, a cappella, zydeco, isicathamiya, and mbaqanga. Simon created new compositions inspired by the recordings made in Johannesburg, collaborating with both African and American artists. Simon faced controversy for seemingly breaking the cultural boycott imposed by the rest of the world against South Africa because of its policy of apartheid. In addition, some critics viewed ''Graceland'' as an exploitive appropriation of their culture. Following its completion, Simon toured alongside South African musicians, combining the music of ''Graceland'' and their own music. Despite the controversy, ''Graceland'' was a major commercial hit, becoming Simon's most successful studio album. His highest-charting effort in over a decade, Simon's return to the forefront of popular music was considered a remarkable comeback in a fickle music industry. It attracted rave reviews from music critics, won the 1987 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and sold over 16 million copies worldwide. ''Graceland'' has been called one of the best albums of the 1980s with frequency, and is present on list of "greatest" albums by multiple publications. It was added to the National Recording Registry in 2007 for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important." ==Background== By the time he released his fifth solo studio album, ''Hearts and Bones'' (1983), Paul Simon began to encounter a difficult time personally.〔 Two years prior, he had reformed with former partner Art Garfunkel to perform at the hugely successful Concert in Central Park, in which the duo sang before half a million people, a record for the largest concert ever at the time. In response, the previously contentious duo set out on a string of concerts, but they once again clashed while on tour. Warner Bros. Records encouraged Simon to work with Garfunkel on his newest effort, and several vocal tracks were recorded for the album. Despite this, Simon chose not to include them upon the release of ''Hearts and Bones'', which became a sore point between them for many years. The album was unsuccessful commercially, receiving virtually no airplay on FM stations and representing the lowest sales of his career. Meanwhile, his marriage with actress Carrie Fisher collapsed. "I had a personal blow, a career setback, and the combination of the two put me into a tailspin," he would recall. In 1984, Simon began to emerge from his fallow period, and he became fascinated with a bootleg cassette tape loaned to him by Heidi Berg, a singer-songwriter who he was working with as a producer. It reminded him of 1950s rhythm and blues, and he made a habit of scat-singing melodies over it as the summer closed.〔 He instructed contacts at Warner to track down the artist responsible for the tape, titled ''Gumboots: Accordion Jive Hits, Volume II''. Through South African record producer Hilton Rosenthal, Warner confirmed that the music was composed by either the South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo or the Boyoyo Boys. "I first thought, 'Too bad it's not from Zimbabwe, Zaire, or Nigeria.' Life would have been more simple," he said at the time. Simon conferred with Rosenthal, who grew up in Johannesburg and booked the album's recording sessions, to see if he could plan a trip to the city. Rosenthal sent him dozens of records from South African artists, which piqued his curiosity and played into his decision.〔 Producer Roy Halee remembered that Rosenthal "knew everyone," and was able to assemble the variety of musicians that inspired ''Graceland''. Before leaving the States for Johannesburg with producer Halee, Simon was persuaded to contribute to the recording of "We Are the World", a charity single benefiting African famine relief organized by Quincy Jones and Harry Belafonte. Released in March 1985, the single became one of the top-selling singles ever released. Simon spoke with Jones and Belafonte on the decision to fly to South Africa to record, considering the region's charged political atmosphere, and they both encouraged him to make the trip. In addition, the black musician's union in the country voted to let Simon come, as it could potentially benefit their culture's music, placing it on an international stage.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Graceland (album)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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