Paul Simon has developed into possibly the most perfect craftsman of songs on this planet. Even the later Simon and Garfunkel material included its share of dross, but though hardly prolific with his output, his subsequent solo career has been (artistically) virtually faultless….

A Greatest Hits compilation [like Simon's "Greatest Hits, Etc."] is pretty much guaranteed good value, and whatever combination of his solo work you come up with would make an outstandingly strong collection….

The biggest problem in such a compilation is in getting a representative balance, but though there are surprising omissions (notably "Gone At Last" and "My Little Town") it's a choice that will satisfy most people, covering all aspects of Simon's extraordinary talent.

We have the "Jamaican" Simon with "Mother And Child Reunion" and the Dixieland Simon ("Take Me To The Mardi Gras"), as well as the more basic and simple narrative of "Duncan...