Fate For Breakfast
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Album Summary
Art Garfunkel brought his silken, heaven-sent tenor to Columbia Records in the late 1970s, and 'Fate For Breakfast' — released in 1979 — was the beautiful result of a man fully committed to the art of the pop ballad. Produced by the seasoned hand of David Kershenbaum, this record found Garfunkel working in a lush, orchestrated soft-rock and adult contemporary setting, laying down vocals in a style that only he could deliver — pure, aching, and impossibly warm. Recorded during a period when Garfunkel was carving out a serious solo identity, the album leaned into sweeping arrangements and heartfelt material, giving that voice of his every chance to soar the way listeners had come to expect from one of the most distinctive instruments in popular music.
Reception
- 'Fate For Breakfast' performed respectably on the charts in the United Kingdom, where Garfunkel had cultivated a deeply loyal following, reaching the upper tier of the album charts there and demonstrating that his appeal in Britain was no passing fancy.
- The album received mixed-to-warm critical notices, with reviewers acknowledging the sheer beauty of Garfunkel's vocal performances while some questioned whether the polished, orchestrated production left room for grit or emotional surprise.
- 'Miss You Nights,' one of the standout tracks on the record, had already been a beloved song among UK audiences, and its inclusion here reinforced the album's strong transatlantic connection.
Significance
- 'Fate For Breakfast' stands as a document of the late-1970s adult contemporary movement at its most refined — a genre that prized vocal elegance and emotional sincerity over flash, and Garfunkel was one of its undisputed patron saints.
- The album showcases Garfunkel's curatorial instinct as an interpreter, drawing on outside material and shaping it entirely through the emotional weight of his voice, a tradition rooted in the great pop vocalists of earlier decades.
- At a cultural moment when rock was fracturing into punk and new wave, 'Fate For Breakfast' made an unashamed case for the timeless power of a beautifully sung melody — a quiet act of artistic conviction that resonated deeply with a generation of listeners who needed exactly that.
Tracklist
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A1 In A Little While (I'll Be On My Way) —
3:27
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A2 Since I Don't Have You 66
3:38
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A3 And I Know 72
3:41
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A4 Sail On A Rainbow 127
3:45
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A5 Miss You Nights 145
3:45
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B1 Finally Found A Reason 98
2:38
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B2 Beyond The Tears 141
3:51
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B3 Oh How Happy 177
2:38
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B4 When Someone Doesn't Want You 131
3:32
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B5 Take Me Away 69
4:38
Artist Details
Art Garfunkel, that silky-voiced angel from Forest Hills, Queens, New York, rose to immortality alongside Paul Simon as one half of Simon & Garfunkel before stepping out on his own in the early 1970s with a tender, intimate sound that was pure folk-pop wrapped in the most heavenly tenor the world had ever heard. Together with Simon, he helped define the soundtrack of a generation through timeless records like The Sound of Silence and Bridge Over Troubled Water, earning a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and cementing their legacy as one of the greatest duos in American music history. As a solo artist, Garfunkel brought that same aching beauty to hits like All I Know, proving that voice of his was a gift that belonged to the whole world, not just one partnership.
