Graceland (album)

Rare card · No. 31721

Graceland is the seventh solo studio album by the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was produced by Simon, engineered by Roy Halee, and released on August 25, 1986, by Warner Bros. Records. It incorporates multiple genres, including pop, rock, a cappella, zydeco, and South African styles such as isicathamiya and mbaqanga. In the early 1980s, Simon's relationship with his former musical partner Art Garfunkel had deteriorated, his marriage to the actress Carrie Fisher had collapsed, and his previous record, Hearts and Bones (1983), had been a commercial failure. In 1984, after a period of depression, Simon became fascinated by a bootleg cassette of mbaqanga, South African street music. He and Halee spent two weeks in Johannesburg recording with South African musicians. Further recordings were held in the US with American musicians, including Linda Ronstadt, the Everly Brothers, Rockin' Dopsie and the Twisters, and Los Lobos. Simon toured with South African musicians, performing their...

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