“Surprise” is right: Sounding more like a spiritual and sonic brother to 1990’s fantastic Wrong Way Up, by Brian Eno and John Cale, Surprise hardly sounds like a Simon album at all. And that’s what seemed to have long-time fans scratching their heads — the odd instrumentation and textures, not to mention Simon’s take on modern lyric writing, didn’t add up to the man they knew. But for Eno fans and open-minded listeners in general, this wound up being a fantastic, fun little album.
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