Legends at work

Friday, June 25, 1999 | 12:38 p.m.

Who: Bob Dylan and Paul Simon

When: Saturday, 8 p.m.

Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Tickets: $40, $65, $90, $150.

Information: Call the MGM Grand, 891-7777, or TicketMaster, 474-4000.

For more than four decades they've serenaded the masses, alternately singing of knockin' on heaven's door, bridges over troubled waters, times a-changin', sounds of silence and the proverbial rolling stone.

They were born just months apart in 1941 and have adeptly navigated eerily parallel career paths. Each developed musical tastes rooted in the simplicity of the acoustic guitar. Both easily expanded their musical adventurism into electric amplification, synthesized sounds, complex orchestration and provocative lyrics that helped shape a generation.

Both are small in physical stature but giants in the evolution of popular music and considered two of the finest songwriters of the 20th century.

Even their names are syllabically symmetrical: Paul Simon. Bob Dylan.

The twin icons of the 1960s appear on the same bill Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena as part of a two-month, 32-city tour. Although the two have performed with countless famous co-pilots, they've never shared a stage or tour until now.

"This is an event," Rolling Stone music editor Joe Levy said during a recent phone interview. "These are two genuine giants."

What to expect at Saturday night's show? Dylan and Simon have taken turns opening and closing performances during their first 13 concerts. Dylan has been backed by a four-piece band and unleashed his most famous songs, including "Mr. Tambourine Man," "It's All Over Now," "Masters of War," "Highway 61" "All Along the Watchtower," "Blowin' In The Wind," and "Like a Rolling Stone."

Simon, supported by 11 musicians (including three drummers) has also performed familiar sing-alongs like, "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard," "The Boy in the Bubble," "Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes," "You Can Call Me Al," "Mrs. Robinson," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Late In The Evening," and "Still Crazy After All These Years."

Between sets, the two have collaborated on a four-song set that has shifted slightly from night to night. On Sunday night at the Anaheim (Calif.) Pond, they chose, "The Sounds of Silence," Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line," Elvis's "Blue Moon of Kentucky," and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door."

Combined, the two have recorded enough music to fill 65 albums (including live recordings and greatest-hits packages). Though not necessarily noted for their live performances, each has found new verve and nerve while performing on this year's nationwide tour.

One of the more eagerly awaited musical events of the year, the twin billing of pop legends has given music experts a chance to reflect on their respective careers.

Class acts

"Both are classic singer-songwriters, first of all," Levy said. "Everything they've accomplished is based on that principal. Both have made tremendous artistic contributions to rock 'n' roll, but in different ways and even in different periods."

Dylan was named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988; Simon two years later. Dylan's early-'60s influence has made it appear he's actually years older than Simon, and by nature Simon's mentor. By the time Simon and partner Art Garfunkel had their first major hit with "Sounds of Silence" in 1965, Dylan had already made his mark as the much-hyped "voice of a generation."

By then, Dylan had also shed his acoustic guitar and "gone electric," released the legendary albums "Freewheeling" and "Highway 61 Revisited," and exacted a powerful influence on the Beatles, among others.

Simon and Garfunkel, like many other '60s artists, were along for the ride.

"No one is on an equal plane as far as musical influence in the '60s as Dylan, except for the Beatles and Rolling Stones," Levy said. "The fusion of what Dylan was doing then -- the fusion of folk, blues, rock and country -- was really the driving force in rock 'n' roll."

But as Dylan's musical productivity waned for nearly a decade beginning in 1966 (prompted in part by a near-fatal motorcycle accident), Simon and Garfunkel had honed their folk/rock style and were selling records.

"Simon has done some extraordinary work in the studio," Levy said. "His last album with Garfunkel (1970's "Bridge Over Troubled Water") is one of my favorite records of all time. Simon was more of a voice of the '70s, especially the early '70s."

Different attitudes

Both Dylan and Simon arrived at success through dissimilar philosophies, Levy said. Dylan has always been more carefree and improvisational, and even reviewers of this tour have noticed varied and mutated versions of 30-year-old classics, as if Dylan is forever fine-tuning his tunes.

Or, as UNLV rock music Professor Tom Rodak noted, "Paul Simon tries to write every day. Bob Dylan writes when the muse hits him."

Levy concurs.

"Dylan operates in his own world according to his own whim," Levy said. "That's one of the perverse things about his career, not having to play by anybody else's rules. That's why his career has been so uneven in the eyes of a lot of people."

Levy cites the lackluster double-album "Self Portrait," Dylan's 1970 release, and the overproduced 1979 offering "Street Legal" as examples.

"Compared to what he'd been doing, 'Self Portrait' is seen as a bad record," Levy said. " 'Street Legal' wasn't any better. Dylan, in theory, has bottomed out so many times. He's had a lot of flat points."

Levy's diplomatic assessment of "Self Portrait" is much more tame than that of Rolling Stone critic Greil Marcus, who at the time snidely asked, "What is this (expletive)?"

Simon, by contrast, has experimented more within the parameters of commercial success, particularly in the years immediately following his breakup with Garfunkel.

In rapid succession, Simon hit big with "Mother and Child Reunion," "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard," and "Loves Me Like a Rock." His 1975 solo album, "Still Crazy After All These Years," gave Simon his second Grammy for album of the year ("Bridge Over Troubled Water" was his first).

"Almost anyone has been more attentive to the commercial side of the business than Dylan, and Simon is one who has," Levy said. "Simon is much more of a pop songwriter and is definitely hued to the commercial side of music.

"Paul Simon has sold many, many, many more records than Bob Dylan."

Return to glory

Each has also enjoyed a spirited, late-career revival. Simon's acclaimed "Graceland," now a 13-year-old collection of songs meshing native African music with a contemporary Western flavor, remains one of his brightest and most inspired moments.

" 'Graceland' is a great achievement," Levy said. "It's just beautiful. Everything that is great in his career is on that record. It's a beautiful fusion of sensibilities, and the tour that followed was a wonderful, wonderful thing."

"Simon has always been expansive, and he opened an ethnological bag for both the public and artists with 'Graceland,' " Rodak said. "It was a risk, but it turned out very well and it helped introduce world music and generate interest in native music."

Dylan perked up as well, finding a quirky nitch with the Traveling Wilburys (George Harrison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and the late Roy Orbison) in the late '80s, and grabbing Grammy glory with his 1997, "Time Out Of Mind." The album became his most critically acclaimed and best-selling album since 1975's "Blood on the Tracks."

"There has been a real palpable rejuvenation for Dylan," Levy said. "With 'Time Out Of Mind,' he proved he was still relevant as a studio artist and still had a message to be heard."

However, both Dylan and Simon have been beaten up with similarly styled artistic ventures. Simon's 1979 movie, "One Trick Pony," and accompanying soundtrack album proved disappointing. Dylan had even less success with 1978's "Renaldo and Clara," which he starred in, directed, produced, wrote and co-edited.

Of the two, Simon has been more adventurous in finding alternative outlets for his music.

"Even though he wasn't in 'The Graduate,' his 'Mrs. Robinson' was a major part of what turned out to be a classic movie and led him to 'One Trick Pony,' " Levy said. "He put a lot of faith in 'One Trick Pony' and unfortunately he struggled, because it's not really a remembered film or record."

Simon also dabbled futilely on Broadway with his 1998 musical "Capeman."

"It was not a great Broadway show," Levy said. "It's clearly a disappointment to put so much into a project and have the public not get it. But the public didn't get it."

Levy said it isn't difficult to cite the apex of either artist's career.

" 'Graceland' has to be it for Simon, I really believe," Levy said. "That's the highlight, the culmination of all of his inspired work in the studio."

Levy said Dylan's most recent stage performances have been most noteworthy, especially in light of a potentially fatal heart ailment Dylan suffered while touring Europe in 1997.

"He's come back with renewed vigor and delight," Levy said. "Some of his best work has been on the road, night-to-night, and he's seemed delighted to be on stage. He's traded jokes with the audience and just played the hell out of the music."

Rodak, who has taught rock 'n' roll history and philosophy at UNLV for six years and was known to hang out in New York's Greenwich Village during the musically fertile '60s, put the concert in lofty perspective.

"They are two true living legends," he said. "They are the two best songwriters of the '60s."

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