Editorial Review:

Amazon.com essential recording:
Perhaps sensing that their Collected Works felt a bit skimpy with only tracks from their five studio albums included, this collection features 15 previously unreleased tracks including live material, demos, and studio outtakes previously unreleased, alongside a substantial number of the duo's hits. Early demos point up Paul Simon's excellent acoustic guitar fingerpicking and emerging songwriting. "The Sound of Silence" is featured in its original undubbed form and the later overdubbed band version that became the hit. The duo's strongest work is all here and the addition of several B-sides left off their collected works makes this a helpful collection to have around. --Rob O'Connor

Rating: - A visit with Old Friends
Having owned every LP (yea I'm that old) that Simon and Garfunkel ever produced and replaced them with CD's, it is nice to have a compilation of their entire collection on three CD's along with some interesting previously unreleased work. The collection comes in a nice hard booklet case with vintage photos and commentary, including frequent excerpts from past interviews. If you are as big a fan as I am, this is the ultimate collection. Although Simon and Garfunkel have long split (with an occasional ... Read More

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Rating: - Great music (duh!) but not a very good compilation
I mean, as far as state of the art compilations go, anyway. Check out the Coltrane Classic Quartet or Miles' 1965-68 Quintet compilations - these are real winners as far as I'm concerned. I was very disappointed by the lack of information on the recording sessions and their sidemen and with as fine a poet as Paul Simon, you would think that the lyrics for all of these tunes would have been included. Frankly, I'm also disappointed that the other reviews on the Amazon site (as of 1/08/07) are both five stars. ... Read More

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Rating: - A Thorughly Engaging And Captivating Set Of Songs. The Best Simon & Garfunkel Compilation Ever.
If you're looking for the ideal Simon & Garfunkel collection, your search is over. "Old Friends" is the ideal colletion for all the Simon & Garfunkel you need. These three discs contain 59 of the finest songs in the history of American music, including enduring classics like "The Sounds Of Silence", "I Am A Rock", "Homeward Bound", "The Dangling Conversation", "Scarborough Fair / Canticle", "The 59th Street Bride Song (Feelin' Groovy)", "Mrs. Robinson", "The Boxer" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" as well as more ... Read More

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Rating: - The Sound of Genius
This is arguably one of the best boxed-sets ever released by a band that has held sway over music for a very long time. There are probably only a small amount of people out there who truly understand the brilliance of S&G and this album will help bring out those smiles or tears. For casual listeners, this box set contains the common S&G masterpieces like The Sound of Silence, Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Boxer, Cecilia, etc. I recommend this album or any album of S&G to anyone out there who's sick of all the phony ... Read More

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Rating: - A Collector's Item
I am not really one for compilations generally unless they are comprehensive like the "Message In a Box" compilation for The Police, but this one is just something else. Not only are pretty much all of the best songs by S&G included in the album (at least all my favourites are here so I am happy) there is a clutch of unreleased and previosuly unheard stuff like "Hey Schoolgirl" form their 'Tom and Jerry' days (although a later live version), the original cut of "Sound of Silence" without the drums and the electric guitars ... Read More