Art Garfunkel – Fate for Breakfast (1979)

I think it's quite clear that Paul Simon was the better musician of Simon & Garfunkel. I'm not really a huge fan of either chap's solo careers, but at least Paul Simon has made his mark in music history outside the duo as well. I don't think I had ever heard Art Garfunkel's solo stuff before I got this album from my grandma's place among many other vinyl albums. It's interesting that Garfunkel hasn't actually composed any of the songs on this album. Most of the songs on this album are incredibly cheesy. It is appropriately called soft rock by Wikipedia. There are various different album covers for this album, but in each one, Garfunkel is enjoying breakfast in his bath robe. I find it interesting how both Simon and Garfunkel stopped playing folk music after their duet years. They were undoubtedly one of the greatest folk acts ever and then they both replaced the amazing sound with cheesy crap.



The first thing that caught my eyes on the album cover when I got it was the mention of the hit song Bright Eyes. This was around the time when I had started listening to the band with the same name and I thought, perhaps this song inspired naming of their band. Then I heard the actual song and now I think it's very unlikely that would be the case. Where the band Bright Eyes is very rough around the edges Americana folk, this album sounds like super polished sugar-on-top adult soft rock. You can already hear the impact of the 80s very clearly in this album.

The album starts with strange video game-like blinging sounds and raunchy slow funky beat in the song In a Little While (I'll Be On My Way). The song itself sounds like the soul of the late 70s, but Garfunkel's delicate voice doesn't really carry enough to make a believable soul singer. Next up is the hit song Since I Don't Have You, which I first got introduced to played by Guns n' Roses on their flop album Spaghetti Incident back in the 90s. This performance kind of sounds like Sunday afternoon karaoke. And I Know takes things to even cheesier direction. The synth sounds in the background are incredibly plastic. This all continues in Sail on a Rainbow. Even the title oozes honey. The falsettos in the chorus are really something. Miss You Nights is just as cheesy as the other songs on the album, but the melody is sort of closer to Bridge Over Troubled Water, which makes this a bit better somehow. It says in the album cover that Bright Eyes is the hit song from the album. This song has some classical music elements in the style of Disney songs. The background kind of reminds me of The Moody Blues, but the delicate vocals are completely different. As far as vocals go, Garfunkel really gives his best in this one. Finally Found a Reason has a rolling country beat and slightly melancholic and dark melody, which makes this probably my favourite song on the album. I could see myself listening to an album with these kinds of songs a lot more. Beyond the Tears goes back to the cheesy land of fairytales. This song almost equals to the ballads of Lionel Richie. Oh How Happy, as the title suggests, is a happy song with upbeat tempo. Somehow this song feels like a jingle for a department store or something. When Someone Doesn't Want You is a heartbreaking song, but at the same time the mood is somewhat ruined by the incredibly cheesy organ sounds. The album ends with an electric guitar driven song Take Me Away, that seems to bring out the whole orchestra of tacky.

I don't know if this is actually a music video made for Bright Eyes, or if this song appeared in the cartoon version of Watership Down, or if someone just put the two things together, but they really do fit together really well. Watching little cartoon bunnies in green fields is exactly what it's like to listen to this album. Then again, there is some dark stuff in the video, bu I guess anything this cheesy has to have its dark side.

It's funny how many strange albums there are in my record collection gotten from relatives. I really do like listening to random albums with friends and laughing at them. So even if in real terms I don't appreciate some album at all, it can still bring me joy in a kind of ironic sense.

Listen to the album on Spotify.