Music: You're The One: Paul Simon

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Literate pop has all but perished amid today's escapist fare. But in surrendering its poetry, pop ceded much of its authority. So it's almost revelatory to hear Simon, on his first solo album in a decade, delivering 11 graceful songs full of rich, pointed free verse. "The oldest silence speaks the loudest," he sings on Hurricane Eye, a tune about race and America and selective memory. It's pure Simon--and a reminder of what pop can be.

--By David E. Thigpen