The Concert in Central Park is a live album

Live album

A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

 by Simon & Garfunkel. On September 19, 1981 the folk-rock duo reunited for a free concert on the Great Lawn

Great Lawn and Turtle Pond, Central Park

The Great Lawn and Turtle Pond, Central Park, are inseparable features of New York City's Central Park.-History:The lawn and pond occupy the almost flat site of the rectangular, thirty-five-acre Lower Reservoir constructed in 1842, which was an unalterable fixture of the location of Central Park as...

 of New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

's Central Park

Central Park

Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...

, attended by more than 500,000 people. They released a live album from the concert the following March (Warner Brothers LP 2BSK 3654; CD 3654). It was arranged by Paul Simon

Paul Simon

Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...

 and Dave Grusin

Dave Grusin

David Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys...

, and produced by Simon, Art Garfunkel

Art Garfunkel

Arthur Ira "Art" Garfunkel is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and actor, best known as being a member of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel...

, Phil Ramone

Phil Ramone

Phil Ramone is a South-African violinist, composer, recording engineer, and record producer.-Biography:As a young child in South Africa, Ramone was a musical prodigy, beginning to play the violin at age three and performing for Queen Elizabeth II at age ten...

 and Roy Halee

Roy Halee

Roy Halee is an American record producer and engineer, best known for working with Simon and Garfunkel.Halee grew up on Long Island, New York. His father, also named Roy Halee, provided the singing voice for Mighty Mouse in late 1940s Terrytoons cartoons, as well as the voices of Heckle and Jeckle...

.

The concert was also shot on videotape

Videotape

A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...

, televised by HBO in 1982, and subsequently released on various home video

Home video

Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...

 formats. The VHS and DVD contain two songs that were omitted from the live album: "The Late Great Johnny Ace" and "Late in the Evening (Reprise)". "Johnny Ace" was disrupted by a fan rushing the stage and coming close to Simon and saying, "I need to talk to you". Coincidentally, the song is an elegy upon the murder of John Lennon nine months earlier. "The Late Great Johnny Ace" is not listed in the track listing, appearing between "A Heart in New York" and "Kodachrome".

In addition to hit songs they had recorded as a duo, they performed duet versions of several of Simon's 1970s solo hits, including "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard", "American Tune", "Late In the Evening", "Slip Sliding Away", and "Kodachrome", as well as Garfunkel's solo version of "A Heart in New York".

The 8-track tape version of this album has the distinction of being one of the few 8-tracks that is arranged exactly like the album, with no song breaks.

Reception

In his Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

review of the album, Stephen Holden wrote:

Even though a decade of solo projects had separated them, their musical relationship seemed essentially unchanged. Garfunkel's pristine, quivering folk-pop tenor filtered Simon's wry, angst-ridden musings into a romantic soft focus, and the duo's close harmonies transformed dark compositions of doubt into warm exchanges of feeling.

Track listing

All songs by Paul Simon except where noted.

CD

1. "Mrs. Robinson
   Mrs. Robinson
   "Mrs. Robinson" is a song written by Paul Simon and first performed by Simon & Garfunkel. When released as a single in 1968, it hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US, for their second chart-topping hit after "The Sound of Silence"...
   
   " – 3:52
2. "Homeward Bound
   Homeward Bound (song)
   "Homeward Bound" is an American folk song written by Paul Simon, performed by Simon and Garfunkel, produced by Bob Johnston and recorded on December 14, 1965. The song describes his longing to return home, both to his then girlfriend, Kathy Chitty in Brentwood, Essex, England, and to return to the...
   
   " – 4:22
3. "America
   America (Paul Simon song)
   "America", written by Paul Simon, is a song popularized by 1960s folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. It was included in their album Bookends, released on 3 April 1968, and is notable as one of the few rock records to have a completely unrhymed lyric....
   
   " – 4:47
4. "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
   Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
   "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" is a song by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon from his 1972 self-titled album.-Lyrical subject:The song is about two boys who have broken a law, although the exact law that has been broken is not stated in the song and has become a matter of some debate...
   
   " – 3:22
5. "Scarborough Fair
   Scarborough Fair
   "Scarborough Fair" is a traditional ballad of the United Kingdom.The song tells the tale of a young man, who tells the listener to ask his former lover to perform for him a series of impossible tasks, such as making him a shirt without a seam and then washing it in a dry well, adding that if she...
   
   " (traditional, arr. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel) – 3:52
6. "April Come She Will" – 2:37
7. "Wake Up Little Susie
   Wake Up Little Susie
   "Wake Up Little Susie" is a popular song written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant and published in 1957.The song is best known in a recording by The Everly Brothers, issued by Cadence Records as catalog number 1337...
   
   " (Felice and Boudleaux Bryant
   Felice and Boudleaux Bryant
   Felice Bryant and Boudleaux Bryant were an American husband-and-wife country music and pop songwriting team best known for songs such as "Rocky Top," "Love Hurts" and numerous Everly Brothers hits, including "All I Have to Do Is Dream" and "Bye Bye Love".-Beginnings:Boudleaux was born Diadorius...
   
   ) – 2:19
8. "Still Crazy After All These Years
   Still Crazy After All These Years
   Still Crazy After All These Years is the fourth studio album by Paul Simon.Recorded in 1975, the album produced four US Top 40 hits, "Gone at Last" , "My Little Town" , "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" and the title track . It won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1976...
   
   " – 4:04
9. "American Tune
   American Tune
   "American Tune" is a song written and first performed by Paul Simon. The song first appeared on There Goes Rhymin' Simon , Simon's second solo album following the breakup of Simon and Garfunkel...
   
   " – 4:33
10. "Late in the Evening" – 4:09
11. "Slip Slidin' Away" – 4:54
12. "A Heart in New York" (Benny Gallagher, Graham Lyle) – 2:49
13. "Kodachrome
    Kodachrome (song)
    "Kodachrome" is a song written and recorded by Paul Simon. It appeared on his 1973 album There Goes Rhymin' Simon.-Description:The song is named after the Kodak 35mm film Kodachrome...
    
    /Maybellene
    Maybellene
    "Maybellene" is a song recorded by Chuck Berry, adapted from the traditional fiddle tune "Ida Red" that tells the story of a hot rod race and a broken romance. It was released in July 1955 as a single on Chess Records of Chicago, Illinois. It was Berry's first single release and his first hit...
    
    " (Simon, Chuck Berry
    Chuck Berry
    Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
    
    , Russ Fratto, Alan Freed
    Alan Freed
    Albert James "Alan" Freed , also known as Moondog, was an American disc-jockey. He became internationally known for promoting the mix of blues, country and rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll...
    
    ) – 5:51
14. "Bridge over Troubled Water
    Bridge over Troubled Water (song)
    "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is the title song of Simon & Garfunkel's album of the same name. The single was released on January 26, 1970, though it also appears on the live album Live 1969, released in 2008. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on February 28, 1970, and stayed at...
    
    " – 4:48
15. "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
    50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
    "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" is a 1975 hit song by Paul Simon, from his album Still Crazy After All These Years. Backing vocals on the single were performed by Patti Austin, Valerie Simpson and Phoebe Snow.-Creation:...
    
    " – 4:23
16. "The Boxer
    The Boxer
    "The Boxer" is a folk rock ballad written by Paul Simon in 1968 and first recorded by Simon & Garfunkel. It was released as the follow-up single to their number one hit "Mrs. Robinson", and reached #7 in the US charts. It later appeared on their last studio album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, along...
    
    " – 6:02
17. "Old Friends / Bookends Theme" – 2:57
18. "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
    The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
    "The 59th Street Bridge Song " is a song by folk music duo Simon and Garfunkel, appearing on their 1966 album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. "59th Street Bridge" is the colloquial name of the Queensboro Bridge in New York City...
    
    " – 2:01
19. "The Sounds of Silence" – 4:13

VHS/DVD

1. "Mrs. Robinson"
2. "Homeward Bound"
3. "America"
4. "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard"
5. "Scarborough Fair" (traditional, arr. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel)
6. "April Come She Will"
7. "Wake Up Little Susie" (Felice and Boudleaux Bryant
   Felice and Boudleaux Bryant
   Felice Bryant and Boudleaux Bryant were an American husband-and-wife country music and pop songwriting team best known for songs such as "Rocky Top," "Love Hurts" and numerous Everly Brothers hits, including "All I Have to Do Is Dream" and "Bye Bye Love".-Beginnings:Boudleaux was born Diadorius...
   
   )
8. "Still Crazy After All These Years"
9. "American Tune"
10. "Late in the Evening"
11. "Slip Slidin' Away"
12. "A Heart in New York" (Benny Gallagher, Graham Lyle)
13. "The Late Great Johnny Ace
    The Late Great Johnny Ace
    "The Late Great Johnny Ace" is a song by Paul Simon, which appears on his 1983 Hearts and Bones album.-History:The song initially sings of the rhythm and blues singer Johnny Ace, who is said to have shot himself in a game of Russian roulette in 1954...
    
    "
14. "Kodachrome/Maybellene" (Chuck Berry, Russ Fratto, Alan Freed)
15. "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
16. "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"
17. "The Boxer"
18. "Old Friends"
19. "Bookends"
20. "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"
21. "The Sounds of Silence"
22. "Late in the Evening (Reprise)"

Personnel

• Paul Simon
  Paul Simon
  Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
  
   – guitars, vocals, triangle
• Art Garfunkel
  Art Garfunkel
  Arthur Ira "Art" Garfunkel is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and actor, best known as being a member of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel...
  
   – vocals
• David Brown – guitars
• Pete Carr
  Pete Carr
  Jesse Willard "Pete" Carr is an American guitarist. Carr has contributed to hit recordings by Joan Baez, Luther Ingram, Bob Seger, Joe Cocker, Boz Scaggs, Paul Simon, The Staple Singers, Rod Stewart, Barbra Streisand, Wilson Pickett, Hank Williams, Jr., and many more over the past four decades...
  
   – guitars
• Anthony Jackson – bass guitar
• Richard Tee
  Richard Tee
  Richard Tee was a pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger.Tee graduated from the High School of Music and Art and attended the Manhattan School of Music. Though better known as a studio and session musician, Tee led a jazz ensemble, the Richard Tee Committee, and was a founding member of the...
  
   – keyboards, piano
• Steve Gadd
  Steve Gadd
  Steve Gadd is an American session and studio drummer, notable for his work with popular musicians from a wide range of genres.-Biography:...
  
   – drums, percussion
• Grady Tate
  Grady Tate
  Grady Tate, , is a hard bop and soul-jazz drummer and singer.He has played with Lional Hampton, Jimmy Smith, Grant Green, Lena Horne, Astrud Gilberto, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Blossom Dearie, Chris Connor, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles, Cal Tjader, Peggy Lee, Bill Evans, Duke Ellington, Count...
  
   – drums, percussion
• Rob Mounsey
  Rob Mounsey
  Rob Mounsey is an award-winning composer, music producer, and musician. He was born in Berea, Ohio and grew up in Seattle, Washington and several Ohio towns. At the age of 17, he was awarded a BMI Student Composer's Award in New York. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston from 1971 to 1975...
  
   – synthesizer
• John Gatchell – trumpet
• John Eckert – trumpet
• Dave Tofani – saxophones
• Gerry Niewood
  Gerry Niewood
  Gerry Niewood was an American jazz saxophonist who worked closely with Chuck Mangione. Like Mangione, Niewood was born in Rochester, New York and graduated from the Eastman School of Music located there....
  
   – saxophones

Peak positions

Chart (1982-83)	Position
Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998...	5
Austrian Albums Chart Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann...	5
Canadian RPM Albums Chart RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...	9
Dutch Mega Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top...	1
French SNEP Albums Chart	1
Italian Albums Chart	5
Japanese Oricon LP Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...	2
New Zealand Albums Chart	1
Norwegian Norway Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...  VG-lista VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by...  Albums Chart	1
Swedish Albums Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....	5
UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	6
United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...  Billboard Pop Albums Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	6
West German Media Control Albums Chart	3
Chart (1988)	Position
Dutch Mega Albums Chart	9
Chart (1995)	Position
French SNEP Albums Chart	25
Chart (1999)	Position
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart	10

Year-end charts

Chart (1982)	Position
Australian Albums Chart	10
Austrian Albums Chart	5
Canadian Albums Chart	67
Japanese Oricon Chart	15
Italian Albums Chart	17
UK Albums Chart	43
U.S. Billboard 200	75

Certifications and sales

Certifications (Video and DVD)

Region	Provider	Certification Music recording sales certification Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,... (sales thresholds)	Date
Australia	ARIA	8× Platinum	2011
United States	RIAA	Gold	February 17, 1988
Germany	BVMI	Platinum	2004