‘It was a damn unicorn’: the pioneering, divisive power of Paul Simon’s Graceland at 40

On its anniversary, the author of a new book about the album explains the complex legacy and masterful musicianship of the 1986 classic It was the summer of 1984 and things weren’t going well for Paul Simon. The year prior, a blockbuster Simon and Garfunkel tour ended in bickering. Meanwhile, even though the 1980 single Late in the Evening reached the US Top 10, Simon’s last two albums had not sold very well, and his marriage to Carrie Fisher was starting to unravel. In the midst of all that ...

By Ethan Beck