The 1981 Listening Post - Art Garfunkel - Scissors Cut

 Art Garfunkel - Scissors Cut

#367

By Robert Sliger

August 25 1981

Art Garfunkel

Scissors Cut

Genre: Singer without his songwriter (Allen)

Allen’s Rating: 3 out of 5

Robert’s Rating 2 out of 5

"Highlights":

In Cars

Bright Eyes (shoutout to the under-appreciated Watership Down movie)

There's an entirely unremarkable song by the entirely unremarkable pop-rock band Survivor titled "It's the Singer Not the Song." This title certainly describes the raison d'etre of Scissors Cut by Art Garfunkel—if not for Survivor's entire oeuvre. As one of America's most mellifluous pop voices, Garfunkel can elevate even the most maudlin of material. This is almost glaringly obvious on his 1981 release, where bland, shapeless ballads seem to drag down Garfunkel's enthusiasm even as the ten short tunes play out. 

It's not all bad (or, at least, slight). There's the minor whimsy of "In Cars" and a delicate reading of Mike Batt's "Bright Eyes" (from the under-appreciated animated film Watership Down). It's telling that the "hit" single from this record, "A Heart in New York," isn't on my highlights list. Because it's not. It's an album that feels phoned-in, perhaps because the songs fail to challenge Garfunkel to dig deeper and invest more of himself into them. Just spend 1 minute listening to any Simon and Garfunkel tune he sings lead on (especially "Kathy's Song") and watch what happens when he gets to work with prime material.  But I digress. It seems somehow fitting that the singer jumped from this record to a year-long reunion tour with his friend/antagonist Paul Simon right after this milquetoast album appeared, then quickly evaporated into the soft-rock mist of the 1980s. I would want to reconnect with the passion of my craft after half-dozing through my last project. One more digression: I went to that show at Dodgers Stadium, and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. 

The record's sound, co-produced and engineered by the legendary Roy Halee, is the real standout here. The large, complex production shines the otherwise bland material to a perfect pop sheen, with the multitudinous instruments and effects perfectly balanced underneath Garfunkel's angelic voice. This album fits right into the big-studio pop-ballad sound of the early '80s, exemplified by albums like Christopher Cross's first album and the hyperbolic Chicago 16 (or, for that matter, anything produced by David Foster in the 1980s). Its sound is smoother, less HUGE than Foster's work, and is all the better for it. 

Still, in the end, it turns out the Survivor ditty about singers and songs gives some context to the merit and demerits of this strained and unfocused album. It's a shame that Art Garfunkel, whose singular voice is still unmatched 50 years after his seminal work with Simon, never really found firm footing with material on his own records.

https://open.spotify.com/album/5mYYyQlk6ksUMhUZLRcOMU?si=_YwPYeDYTjaZGxr-39ZXAQ