What is the first album of the American folk rock duo Simon and Garfunkel?

The first album by American folk-rock duo Simon and Garfunkel is entitled Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.. Released in October 1964, it marked the beginning of the career of the famous duo made up of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. The album wasn’t an immediate success, but it laid the foundations for the unique style that would come to characterize Simon and Garfunkel.

Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. includes songs with traditional and contemporary folk influences. The album contains covers of traditional folk songs such as Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin’, as well as original compositions by Paul Simon. One of the album’s most notable tracks is The Sound of Silence, which didn’t attract much attention at first. However, after producer Tom Wilson added electric instruments to the original version, the song became a huge hit in 1965, topping the charts and propelling Simon and Garfunkel to stardom.

The success of The Sound of Silence led to a reissue of the album under the title The Sounds of Silence. The album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. is therefore often regarded as a crucial springboard for Simon and Garfunkel’s career, despite its limited initial success.

The album’s themes included love, social protest and personal reflection, subjects that would recur in their later works. With Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., Simon and Garfunkel began to define their distinctive sound, characterized by rich vocal harmonies and poetic lyrics.

In retrospect, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. is often celebrated for its contribution to the folk-rock genre, and for introducing the public to the duo that would become one of the most influential in the music of the 1960s and 1970s. Simon and Garfunkel’s musical journey, marked by hit albums such as Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme and Bridge Over Troubled Water, has its roots in this iconic debut album.