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What Is It All but Luminous
- Notes from an Underground Man
- Narrated by: Art Garfunkel
- Length: 5 hrs and 8 mins
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What Is It All but Luminous
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Summary
From the golden-haired, curly-headed half of Simon & Garfunkel - a memoir (of sorts): artful, moving, lyrical; the making of a musician; the evolution of a man, a portrait of a lifelong friendship and collaboration that became one of the most successful singing duos of their time.
Art Garfunkel writes about his life before, during, and after Simon & Garfunkel...about their folk-rock music in the roiling age that embraced and was defined by their path-breaking sound. He writes about growing up in the 1940s and '50s (son of a traveling salesman), a middle class Jewish boy, living in a red brick semi-attached house in Kew Gardens, Queens, a kid who was different - from the age of five feeling his vocal cords "vibrating with the love of sound"...meeting Paul Simon in school, the funny guy who made Art laugh; their going on to junior high school together, of being 12 at the birth of rock 'n' roll, both of them "captured" by it; going to a recording studio in Manhattan to make a demo of their song "Hey Schoolgirl" (for $7!) and the actual record (with Paul's father on bass) going to number 40 on the national charts, selling 150,000 copies....
He writes about their becoming Simon & Garfunkel, taking the world by storm, ruling the pop charts from the time he was 16, about not being a natural performer but more a thinker...touring; sex-for-thrills on the road, reading or walking to calm down (walking across two continents - the USA and Europe). He writes of being an actor working with directors Nicolas Roeg (Bad Timing) and Mike Nichols ("the greatest of them all")...getting his master's in mathematics at Columbia; choosing music over a PhD; his slow, unfolding split with Paul and its aftermath; learning to perform on his own, giving a thousand concerts worldwide, his voice going south (a stiffening of one vocal cord) and working to get it back...about being a husband, a father, and much more.
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Critic reviews
"Garfunkel reveals flashes of real insight about the transcendent power of music and the inner workings of a singer's life." (Publishers Weekly)
"Garfunkel's writing is a lot like lyrics, filled with rhymes and meant for the ear. His soft voice gives his words a gentle rhythm.... Garfunkel's stream-of-consciousness style is enjoyable from the beginning and becomes even better as it goes along and listeners get into the rhythm of his life." (AudioFile)
What listeners say about What Is It All but Luminous
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- mhamh
- 28-08-21
Utterly disappointing
For those looking to learn the history of this wonderful voice and the back story to Simon and Garfunkel, this isn't it !
It's a random rambling of poetic musings, very disjointed and after a while, boring. I muscled through it for 90 mins and then gave up. Stick to the music of one of the greatest musical partnerships ever.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 24-04-22
Absolutely Beautiful
Art Garfunkel you are one of the most beautiful, serene human beings. This book is beautifully written and narrated.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- a biscuit
- 19-11-21
Awful
Very odd. Difficult to follow and listen too. Disappointing. Lasted 1 hour before ears were bleeding.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Cybermatt18
- 08-07-18
Thank goodness Simon wrote the lyrics...
Self-indulgent tosh. One of the few audiobooks I haven't been able to finish, no matter how special it might be to hear the text in the author's now frail voice. No matter too how erudite and well-read the author might be the constant self-aggrandising is painful. If you are expecting a simple chronological narrative look elsewhere. This is stream of consciousness, wandering drivel. The pain of loss if off-set by the winging and envy.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mike Knight
- 10-01-22
Brilliantly narrated.
A very illuminating story about a legend. His life, loves and the ups and downs of a remarkable time.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ali G.
- 12-03-18
An absorbing ‘listen to read’
The fact that Art Garfunkel is reading his own memoir adds a further dimension to this absorbing ‘listen to’ read. It is brave in its honesty, and revealingly idiosyncratic and complex in its construction. It offers a real insight into the man along with a true sense of his personal journey. Definitely to be recommended – I will be listening to it again!
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1 person found this helpful