Paul Simon

One-Trick Pony's original release lacked several Paul Simon tunes (namely the classic "Soft Parachutes") that appeared in the movie of the same name. This was corrected for the 2004 reissue, which contains four bonus jams. Back in 1980, Simon -- the movie's star -- was floating between styles. No longer a folkie, he'd yet to become the world pop maestro found on Graceland. As a result, One-Trick Pony hints at both while focusing on an easy-flowing brand of jazzy pop and adult contemporary.

The soundtrack to a going-nowhere flick about an over-the-hill rocker that he scripted, starred in, and of course scored is also his first true album in five years, and while it's literate, tasteful, etc., it's also--self-evidently--the work of a man who thinks he's too big for music (at five-foot-two, gosh). So if individual songs don't stand out the way they have ever since "The Sound of Silence," maybe he doesn't work as hard at them anymore. Like so many aging folkies he's devolved into a vaguely jazzy pop, and except for the lead cut and the one with Ray Charles on it everything serves the excuse for a groove. (Grade: B-)