So Beautiful or So What

(pictured in 2009). For So Beautiful or So What, Simon reunited with record producer and former collaborator Phil Ramone, who previously worked with him on Simon & Garfunkel's 1982 live album The Concert in Central Park. Simon recorded the album at his small cottage in New Canaan, Connecticut. The recording sessions often consisted solely of Simon, Ramone, and engineer Andy Smith. Throughout the production of the record, the album's engineers would gradually make upgrades to the space during months off. As it was not acoustically designed or soundproofed, Smith often employed iZotope RX software to rid the recordings of extra noise, such as an oak tree above the home from which acorns fell, interrupting recordings. Like all of Simon's output from his 1997 effort Songs from The Capeman onward, the album was recorded digitally using Pro Tools. Additional recording took place at Simon's summer home in Montauk, New York on Long Island, but less so than his previous efforts. Home recording, as Ramone told Sound on Sound shortly after the album's release, required a certain discipline. Simon would often arrive in the morning and recording until nightfall. The cover art, titled "DNA Mutation", was designed by visual artist and NASA systems engineer Sven Geier. ==Music and lyrics==

So Beautiful or So What finds Simon returning to more harmonic-based compositions than rhythm-based. This was spurred from when he realized his favorite song on his 2006 effort Surprise, "Everything About It Is a Love Song", contained a chord progression he found particularly interesting. "The Afterlife" concerns a man dying and getting to heaven, where he waits in line to meet with God, where everyone is "filling out forms and waiting in line to catch 'a glimpse of the divine.'" It was written about a burned out Vietnam veteran imagining that he could rewrite his life, in order to give it a happy ending. Simon included the line to create a sharp transition from angels in Heaven to a downtown Brooklyn street. "So Beautiful or So What" contains what Simon once admitted is "one of [his] favorite Bo Diddley rhythms", and the song's title references Miles Davis's "So What". The title is a question Simon envisioned when facing the enormity of the infinite. The song almost became a collaboration with Bob Dylan; Simon felt two verses might be nice for him and sent him a message through their mutual manager. Although Dylan said that he liked the song, Simon did not hear back in sufficient time, as the album was on a deadline. ==Marketing and sales==

Many songs from So Beautiful or So What were made available in various forms before their release on the album. "Rewrite" and "Love and Hard Times" appeared in Simon's 2008 book Lyrics; 1964-2008, "Questions for the Angels" was included on the 2009 Starbucks compilation This Better Be Good, On April 5, 2011, So Beautiful or So What was available for streaming on the album's website of the same name for the week preceding its official release. It was released on formats including digital download, vinyl LP, and a CD deluxe edition with a DVD featuring footage of Simon's live performances at Webster Hall. Rolling Stone held a sweepstakes for fans to win a collector's edition box set, which was released in a limited amount of 1,000 copies and included the CD/DVD deluxe edition, a vinyl copy, and a 12' x 12' lithograph and replica notebook. In the first week of the album's release, it debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 and sold 68,000 copies in the United States. It was Simon's highest chart debut on the chart, In the United Kingdom, it debuted at number six on the British albums chart, selling 21,993 copies in its first week. It was Simon's ninth top-ten solo album in the UK. In April 2016, the album reached sales of 319,000 copies in the US. == Critical reception ==

So Beautiful or So What was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 85, based on 27 reviews. Many critics compared its diverse influences to the music of Simon's 1986 album Graceland. Reviewing the album for AllMusic, senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine said So Beautiful or So What sounded not only focused but "vivid, vibrant, and current in a way none of [Simon's] peers have managed to achieve". Los Angeles Times writer Margaret Wappler praised its "multiethnic landscape" of American folk and Afropop influences on an album that is his best since 1990's Rhythm of the Saints. In The New York Times, Jon Pareles took note of Simon's lyrics: "Sketches of individuals and moments are intertwined with grander pronouncements; unforced humor tempers gloomier reflections". Will Hodgkinson from The Times believed his meditations on the afterlife are informed by both youthful enthusiasm and the wisdom of old age, while The Guardians Maddy Costa said Simon "finds an answer to the ineffable in song". Writing for MSN Music, Robert Christgau found Simon's usual folk rock "graced with global colors that sound as natural" as his guitar and said his lyrics are imbued with gratitude for his wife's love and God, although he disagreed with Simon's view of God's benevolent nature. Some critics were less receptive. Pitchfork reviewer Stephen M. Deusner said the record "can be stodgy in its emotions and a bit too devoted to its motifs", and Simon "too preoccupied with the 20th century", although his down-to-earth lyrical allusions helped rescue the album from the "solemn, end-of-life affairs" of other albums by older musicians. Andy Gill from The Independent was more critical, finding much of Simon's ruminations on love, age, and mortality trivial. He named "Love Is Eternal Sacred Light" as a highlight but still felt its evocation of the singer's 1986 song "The Boy in the Bubble" made it seem predictable coming from Simon. At the end of 2011, So Beautiful or So What appeared on several top-ten lists curated by music publications. Rolling Stone named it the year's 3rd best record, while Mojo ranked it 15th. It was voted the 14th best album of the year in The Village Voices Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics nationwide. Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it 3rd on his year-end list for The Barnes & Noble Review. Years later, he said So Beautiful or So What and Simon's 2016 album Stranger to Stranger had remained the singer's "21st century prizes". ==Track listing==

All songs written by Paul Simon. • "Getting Ready for Christmas Day" – 4:06 • "The Afterlife" – 3:40 • "Dazzling Blue" – 4:32 • "Rewrite" – 3:49 • "Love and Hard Times" – 4:09 • "Love Is Eternal Sacred Light" – 4:02 • "Amulet" – 1:36 • "Questions for the Angels" – 3:49 • "Love & Blessings" – 4:18 • "So Beautiful or So What" – 4:07 Sample credits • "Getting Ready for Christmas Day" contains excerpts from the 1941 sermon of the same name by Reverend J. M. Gates with congregation. • "Love Is Eternal Sacred Light" contains excerpts from "Train Whistle Blues". • "Love & Blessings" contains excerpts from "Golden Gate Gospel Train", recorded by The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet in 1938. ==Personnel==

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. • Mary Abt – clarinet • Chris Bear – electronics • Edie Brickell – background vocals • Greg Calbi – mastering • Elvis Costello – liner notes • Sara Cutler – flute, harp • Desiree Elsevier – viola • David Finck – bass • Geoff Gans – art direction, art design • Sven Geier – cover image • Gil Goldstein – arranger • Steve Gorn – bansuri • Skip La Plante – gong, harp, wind chimes • Doyle Lawson – background vocals • Jeanne LeBlanc – cello • Diane Lesser – horn • Vincent Lionti – viola • Richard Locker – cello • Karaikudi R. Mani – ensemble percussion, vocal percussion • Elizabeth Mann – flute • Lois Martin – viola • Kevin Mazur – band photo • Vincent Nguini – acoustic guitar, electric guitar • Jim Oblon – bass, drums, electric guitar, slide guitar, percussion • Charles Pillow – clarinet • Phil Ramone – mixing, production • Mick Rossi – piano • Mark Seliger – photography • Steve Shehan – angklung, bass, brushes, crotale, cymbals, djembe, glass harp, resonator, saz, stick and talking drum • Lulu Simon – background vocals • Paul Simon – bells, composer, glockenspiel, lyricist, percussion, production, vocals, whistle, twelve-string guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, nylon string guitar • Yacouba Sissoko – kora • Pamela Sklar – flute • Andy Smith – engineer • Etienne Stadwijk – celeste • Joshua Swift – Dobro • Michael White – clarinet • Gabe Witcher – fiddle • Nancy Zeltsman – marimba ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==