Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits, 14 tracks of folk rock music which speaks of themes of broken love, alienation, aching paranoia, and tender mercies, is now available in MP3 format from Amazon this month for only $5.00 as part of their monthly deals. (If you’d like a physical copy of the album, the CD is available for $5.99and is an AutoRip, which means with the CD purchase you’ll also get a FREE MP3 download of the entire album.)

The duo of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel has been in the collective consciousness of the music universe for almost 50 years now. Most of their songs, which for the most part simply contain the wonderfully contrasting vocals by the pair and Simon’s assured yet emotionally rabble rousing songcrafting and acoustical guitar, are considered hallmarks of the great American songbook. This Simon and Garfunkel hits collection, originally released in 1972, while not 100 percent complete for the purist, for sure will please any fan weaned on the band via the radio, cover versions, or by motion pictures or other visual and aural minutiae that have showcased these songs now and then. The body of work here will always harken back to a younger time in one’s generation when this kind of music played major parts in most people’s emotional and life growths and in some cases, still do for a lot of people. Paul Simon’s lyrics and his music, on tracks like “I Am A Rock,” “The Boxer,” “Scarborough Fair,” “The Sounds of Silence,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and many more included on the record, some performances even done live, have the sonic duality of cutting through to the bone, but applying an if you will spiritual tourniquet and gauze to the listeners soul, too. Also, there’s even songs of social commentary, like “Mrs. Robinson” and “America,” which offer reflection, gently applied cynicism and ideologies that remain personal yet universal.