Hearts and Bones

The album was originally intended to be called Think Too Much, but Mo Ostin, president of Warner Bros. Records at the time, persuaded Simon to change it to Hearts and Bones.{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/paulsimonlife0000elio |url-access= registration |title=Paul Simon: A Life|page=[https://archive.org/details/paulsimonlife0000elio/page/181 181]|author= Marc Eliot |publisher=John Wiley & Sons|date= 18 Oct 2010 |isbn= 9780470433638 |access-date=10 September 2012}} The album was written and recorded following Simon & Garfunkel's The Concert in Central Park in 1981, and the world tour of 1982–1983. Several songs intended for Think Too Much were previewed on tour, and Art Garfunkel worked on some of the songs with Simon in the studio,{{cite magazine |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fQ4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA28 |title=Billboard review |author=Jeffrey Perlah |magazine=Billboard |date=30 May 1998 |access-date=10 September 2012}} with an intention that the finished product would be an all-new Simon & Garfunkel studio album. The album, particularly the title song, was a reflection on Paul's relationship with actress Carrie Fisher, and Paul felt that it was too personal to be a Simon & Garfunkel album, instead deciding that it should be a solo album.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/paulsimonlife0000elio|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/paulsimonlife0000elio/page/180 180]|date=2010|author=Marc Eliot|title=Paul Simon: A Life|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn= 978-0-470-43363-8}} This greatly annoyed Garfunkel and ensured that there would never again be another Simon & Garfunkel album. Garfunkel left the project and Simon erased all his vocals and reworked the material into a solo album.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

On "Think Too Much (a)", Steve Ferrone was contacted by Nile Rodgers to attend a recording session at the Power Station to record drums. After the initial attempts at recording the song were met with silence from Simon, Rodgers experimented with various effects on his rhythm guitar, which made the instrument out of synch with the original drum track. Despite Rodgers' insistence that the effects would render it difficult to overdub a new drum track, Ferrone eventually achieved a satisfactory take.{{Cite magazine |last=Greene |first=Andy |date=21 October 2020 |title=Drummer Steve Ferrone on His Years With Tom Petty, George Harrison, Duran Duran, and More |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/steve-ferrone-interview-drummer-tom-petty-heartbreakers-1069570/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240510212849/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/steve-ferrone-interview-drummer-tom-petty-heartbreakers-1069570/ |archive-date=10 May 2024 |access-date=17 August 2024 |magazine=Rolling Stone}}

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/hearts-and-bones-mw0000650772 |title=Hearts and Bones – Paul Simon |website=AllMusic |access-date=July 20, 2012 |last=Ruhlmann |first=William}}

| rev2 = The Boston Phoenix

| rev2score = {{Rating|3|4}}{{cite news |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_boston-phoenix_1983-12-20_12_51/page/n92 |title=Off the record |newspaper=The Boston Phoenix |volume=12 |issue=51 |date=December 20, 1983 |access-date=February 25, 2022 |last=Moses |first=Mark |at=sec. 3, p. 29}}

| rev3 = Chicago Tribune

| rev3score = {{Rating|3|4}}{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-10-14-9003260625-story.html |title=The Evolution Of Simon's Diverse Solo Career |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=October 14, 1990 |access-date=January 22, 2018 |last=Kot |first=Greg |author-link=Greg Kot}}

| rev4 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev4score = B{{cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/article/1991/01/18/rating-paul-simons-albums/ |title=Rating Paul Simon's albums |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |location=New York |date=January 18, 1991 |access-date=February 17, 2016 |last=Browne |first=David |author-link=David Browne (journalist)}}

| rev5 = The Guardian

| rev5score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/aug/06/popandrock22 |title=Paul Simon, Hearts & Bones |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |date=August 6, 2004 |access-date=December 23, 2021 |last=Sweeting |first=Adam |author-link=Adam Sweeting}}

| rev6 = PopMatters

| rev6score = 8/10{{cite web |url=http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/152039-paul-simon-80s-remasters/ |title=Paul Simon: One-Trick Pony / Hearts and Bones / Graceland / The Rhythm of the Saints |website=PopMatters |date=January 13, 2012 |access-date=April 2, 2020 |last=Bloom |first=David |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114092406/http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/152039-paul-simon-80s-remasters/ |archive-date=January 14, 2012 |url-status=dead}}

| rev7 = Rolling Stone

| rev7score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/hearts-and-bones-101192/ |title=Hearts and Bones |magazine=Rolling Stone |location=New York |date=November 24, 1983 |access-date=January 22, 2018 |last=Shewey |first=Don}}

| rev8 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev8score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite book |chapter=Paul Simon |last=Sheffield |first=Rob |author-link=Rob Sheffield |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor1-link=Nathan Brackett |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |editor2-link=Christian Hoard |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |edition=4th |year=2004 |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/736 736–737]}}

| rev9 = Uncut

| rev9score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite magazine |title=St Paul's Gospel |magazine=Uncut |location=London |issue=89 |date=October 2004 |last=Torn |first=Luke}}

| rev10 = The Village Voice

| rev10score = B+{{cite news |url=http://robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv1-84.php |title=Christgau's Consumer Guide |newspaper=The Village Voice |location=New York |date=January 24, 1984 |access-date=April 29, 2013 |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau}}

}}

Hearts and Bones charted for 18 weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 35,{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/paul-simon/ |title=Paul Simon - Chart History |magazine=Billboard |access-date=December 14, 2022}} although it is considered to be a relative commercial failure compared to Simon's other recordings.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hd-bAAAAQBAJ&q=Hearts+and+Bones+commercial+failure&pg=PT66|title = Disco, Punk, New Wave, Heavy Metal, and More: Music in the 1970s and 1980s|date = December 2012|publisher = Britannica Educational|isbn = 9781615309122}}

Don Shewey of Rolling Stone concluded that the album "is all about heart versus mind, thinking versus feeling, and how these dichotomies get in the way of making music or love." He went on to call the songs "subtle", but added that "the music has a certain playfulness that matches the album's cerebral self-consciousness." In 1986, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice referred to the album as being "a finely wrought dead end."{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau |date=September 23, 1986|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/simon-86.php|title=South Africa Romance|newspaper=The Village Voice|location=New York|access-date=June 15, 2015}}

In retrospective reviews, William Ruhlmann of AllMusic called Hearts and Bones Simon's "most personal collection of songs, one of his most ambitious, and one of his best." Ruhlmann praised the lyrical handling of the subject of romance and the music's blending of doo-wop and rock and roll roots with contemporary styles. David Bloom of PopMatters found the album to be "riskier, both musically and lyrically," than its predecessor, One-Trick Pony (1980), "and more engrossing for it." He observed that the album was "so tied to Simon's escalating preoccupation with physical and emotional remoteness that it's hard to imagine anyone being surprised when it failed to move a fan base waiting for the next 'Late in the Evening'."

All songs written by Paul Simon, except for closing of "The Late Great Johnny Ace", composed by Philip Glass.

;Side one

1. "Allergies" – 4:37
2. "Hearts and Bones" – 5:37
3. "When Numbers Get Serious" – 3:25
4. "Think Too Much (b)" – 2:44
5. "Song About the Moon" – 4:07

;Side two

6. "Think Too Much (a)" – 3:05
7. "Train in the Distance" – 5:11
8. "René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War" – 3:44
9. "Cars Are Cars" – 3:15
10. "The Late Great Johnny Ace" – 4:45

;2004 CD reissue bonus tracks

11. "Shelter of Your Arms" (Unreleased Work-in-Progress) – 3:11
12. "Train in the Distance" (Original Acoustic Demo) – 3:13
13. "René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War" (Original Acoustic Demo) – 3:46
14. "The Late Great Johnny Ace" (Original Acoustic Demo) – 3:22

;Musicians

{{div col|colwidth=25em}}

• Paul Simon – lead vocals, background vocals, acoustic guitar (1, 2, 4, 5, 10), electric guitars (8), LinnDrum programming (9)
• Dean Parks – electric guitars (1, 4, 5, 7, 10), hi-strung guitar (2)
• Al Di Meola – guitar solo (1)
• Anthony Jackson – contrabass guitar (1–5, 7, 8, 9)
• Steve Gadd – drums (1, 2, 4, 5, 10)
• Steve Ferrone – additional drums (1), drums (3, 6)
• Greg Phillinganes – Fender Rhodes (1, 5, 10)
• Rob Sabino – synthesizers (1, 9), acoustic piano (8)
• Rob Mounsey – synthesizers (1), vocoder (5)
• Airto Moreira – percussion (1–4, 7)
• Richard Tee – Fender Rhodes (2, 7, 8), keyboards (3), acoustic piano (4), synthesizers (8)
• Mike Mainieri – vibraphone (2, 7), marimba (2, 4),
• Eric Gale – electric guitars (3)
• Tom Coppola – Synclavier (3–6)
• Marcus Miller – bass guitar (4, 7)
• Nile Rodgers – electric guitars (6, 9), LinnDrum programming (9)
• Bernard Edwards – bass guitar (6)
• Jeff Porcaro – drums (7)
• Jesse Levy – cello (7)
• Peter Gordon – French horn (7)
• Mark Rivera – alto saxophone (7)
• Wells Christie – Synclavier (8)
• The Harptones – backing vocals (8)
• Sid McGinnis – electric guitars (10)
• Michael Boddicker – synthesizer (10)
• Michael Riesman – synthesizers (10)
• Carol Wincenc – flute (10)
• George Marge – bass clarinet (10)
• Marin Alsop – violin (10)
• Frederick Zlotkin – cello (10)
• Jill Jaffe – viola (10)
• David Nichtern – Synclavier programming

The uncredited horn section on "Allergies" and "Cars Are Cars" are Mark Rivera (saxophones), Jon Faddis and Alan Rubin (trumpets).{{citation needed|date=December 2022|reason=Credits not included in liner notes must have a source.}}

{{div col end}}

;Technical

{{div col|colwidth=25em}}

• Paul Simon – producer
• Russ Titelman – producer
• Roy Halee – producer, engineer, mixing
• Lenny Waronker – co-producer (1, 5, 10)
• Lee Herschberg – additional engineer
• Jason Corsaro – additional engineer
• Mark Linett – additional engineer
• Gene Paul – additional engineer
• James Dougherty – additional engineer
• Eric Korte – second engineer
• Andy Hoffman – second engineer
• Terry Rosiello – second engineer
• David Greenberg – second engineer
• Stuart Gitlin – second engineer
• Ken Deane – second engineer
• Dan Nash – second engineer
• Jim Santis – second engineer
• Greg Calbi – mastering
• Tom Bates – digital engineer
• Wayne Yurgelin – digital audio facilities
• Julie Hooker – production assistant
• Kimberly Boyle – production assistant
• Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff – art direction
• Paula Greif – art direction
• Jeri McManus – design
• E.K.T.V. – cover photo
• Arthur Elgort – inner photo
• David Matthews – horn arrangements (1, 9)
• The Harptones – background vocal arrangements (8)
• George Delerue – orchestration (8)
• Philip Glass – orchestration (10)
• Michael Riesman – orchestra conductor (10)

{{div col end}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [https://open.spotify.com/album/6OuZ6jmIIVb7K7tdEVThkG Hearts and Bones] (Adobe Flash) at Spotify (streamed copy where registered)

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Category:Paul Simon albums

Category:1983 albums

Category:Albums arranged by David Matthews (keyboardist)

Category:Albums recorded at Sigma Sound Studios

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Category:Albums produced by Russ Titelman

Category:Albums produced by Roy Halee

Category:Albums produced by Paul Simon

Category:Warner Records albums