Simon&Garfunkel "Bookends" CBS ?63101 A1/B1 UK 1st press Mono 1968

	£		30
	$		40

Simon & Garfunkel  ?"Bookends"  CBS ?63101  UK 1st press Mono Vinyl, LP, released in 1968.
The vinyl appears to have been lightly played and is in great shape. It played through beautifully on my elderly stereo - no hop, stick or jump. The sleeve is also in great condition, with minimal signs of wear - no rips or writing. The spine is intact and legible. Matrix / Runout  Side 1 : BPG 63101 A1 Matrix / Runout  Side 2 : BPG-63101 B1
"Bookends" is Simon & Garfunkel's fourth studio album. Produced by Paul Simon, Roy Halee and Art Garfunkel, the album was released on April 3, 1968, in the United States by Columbia Records. The duo had risen to fame two years prior with the albums "Sounds of Silence" and "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" and the soundtrack album for the 1967 film "The Graduate".
"Bookends" is a concept album that explores a life journey from childhood to old age. Side one of the album marks successive stages in life, the theme serving as bookends to the life cycle. Side two largely consists of unused material for The Graduate soundtrack. Simon's lyrics concern youth, disillusionment, relationships, old age, and mortality. Much of the material was crafted alongside producer John Simon (no relation), who joined the recording when Paul Simon suffered from writer's block. The album was recorded gradually over the period of a year, with production speeding up around the later months of 1967.
Initial sales for "Bookends" were substantial in the US, and the album produced the number-one single "Mrs. Robinson". The album sold well in the US and in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number one. "Bookends" was considered a breakthrough for the duo, placing them on the same level as artists such as the Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones at the forefront of the cultural movement in the 1960s. The album has continued to receive critical acclaim.
Reviews of "Bookends" upon its release in 1968 were largely positive. Allen Evans of the British publication New Musical Express (NME) gave the record four out of five stars and called it "inspiring, descriptive music," while noting the album is "Imaginative and at times confusing to know what the composer is getting at, if anything." Rival newspaper Melody Maker did not use a ratings system, but called "Bookends" a "thoughtful, clever and well-produced album." Reviewer Chris Welch criticized the songs as "not particularly tuneful," but performed with "Beatles fervour and Beatles conviction," praising the lyricism, opining that "The words capture part of America today, a lot of its sickness and tragedy." In the US, Rolling Stone reviewer Arthur Schmidt wrote that "The music is, for me, questionable, but I've always found their music questionable. It is nice enough, and I admit to liking it, but it exudes a sense of process, and it is slick, and nothing too much happens."
Later reviews were more positive. "In just over 29 minutes, "Bookends" is stunning in its vision of a bewildered America in search of itself", said AllMusic writer Thom Jurek, who gave it five stars out of five. Pitchfork Media's Stephen M. Deusner called "Bookends" the moment in which the duo "were settling into themselves, losing their folk revival pretensions and emphasizing quirky production techniques to match their soaring vocals". The A.V. Club called it the group's "most musically and conceptually daring album".
Disc jockey and author Pete Fornatale writes that "Bookends" represents "a once-in-a-career convergence of musical, personal, and societal forces that placed Simon & Garfunkel squarely at the center of the cultural zeitgeist of the sixties". Rolling Stone credited the record with striking a chord among lonely, adrift young adults near the end of the decade, writing that a lyric in "A Hazy Shade of Winter"—"Time, time, time, see what’s become of me..."—"defined the moment for a generation on the edge of adulthood". Many viewed "Bookends" as the band's most accomplished work at the time, a breakthrough in production and songwriting. ""Bookends" was our first serious piece of work, I'd say", said Simon in a 1984 interview with Playboy.
"Bookends" was the last Simon & Garfunkel album to be mixed in separate mono and stereo mixes, as manufacturing of mono LP's alongside concurrent stereo issues was in the final stages of being discontinued in 1968. The mono mix was released as a promo issue to radio stations and given a very limited run for commercial sale.