Disc 1, May 10th, 1982:  Mrs. Robinson, Homeward Bound, America, Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard, Scarborough Fair, My Little Town, Wake Up Little Susie, Still Crazy After All These Years, Bright Eyes, Late In The Evening, Slip Slidin' Away, El Condor Pasa, Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover

Disc 2:  The Late Great Johnny Ace, American Tune, Kodachrome/Mabellene, Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Boxer, Old Friends/Bookends, 59th Street Bridge Song, Sounds Of Silence, Late In The Evening

Disc 3, May 11th, 1982:  Mrs. Robinson, Homeward Bound, America, Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard, Scarborough Fair, My Little Town, Wake Up Little Susie, Still Crazy After All These Years, Bright Eyes, Late In The Evening, Slip Slidin' Away, El Condor Pasa, Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover, American Tune

Disc 4:  The Late Great Johnny Ace, Kodachrome/Mabellene, Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Boxer, Old Friends/Bookends, 59th Street Bridge Song, Sounds Of Silence, Late In The Evening

Disc 5, May 12th, 1982:  Mrs. Robinson, Homeward Bound, America, Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard, Scarborough Fair, My Little Town, Wake Up Little Susie, Still Crazy After All These Years, Bright Eyes, Late In The Evening, Slip Slidin' Away, El Condor Pasa

Disc 6:  Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover, American Tune, One Trick Pony, Kodachrome/Mabellene, Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Boxer, Old Friends/Bookends, 59th Street Bridge Song, Sounds Of Silence, Late In The Evening

Bonus cdr,  Simon & Garfunkel, McGovern Benfit "Come Home America", Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY - July 14th 1972:  Mrs. Robinson, El Condor Pasa, The Boxer, medley: Cecelia / Mother & Child Reunion / Bye Bye Love, Paul's mc, Scarborough Fair, Feelin' Groovy, America, Bridge Over Troubled Water

Bonus cdr, Art Garfunkel, Lefty At The Dome, Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan - July 24th, 1982:  The Sounds Of Silence, When A Man Loves A Woman, All I Know, So Much In Love, If I Keep My Heart Out Of Sight (James Taylor cover), (What A) Wonderful World, If Love Takes You Away, Homeward Bound (Nicky Hopkins solo), Texas Girl At The Funeral Of Her Father, Scarborough Fair, Eyes For You, Skywriter, Cecilia, Bright Eyes, A Heart In New York, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Cecilia

After the immence Concert In Central Park signaled a reunion of Simon & Garfunkel they began a long tour of Europe, Japan and North America.  The plans ultimately fell apart, but it produced some great performances and their first shows in Japan.  They played a total of five shows in Japan, two in Osaka and three at the Korakuen baseball stadium.  This was their first time every playing in the country and the first two concerts have been issued before but At Korakuen on Zion is the first time all three have been released at the same time in a massive set spread over six discs.  All three were taped by the same person with the same equipment in similar positions for each evening so all three shows are in very similar sound quality.  The three concerts are complete and are very good to exellent stereo audience recordings.  There is a predominance of clapping and some conversations throughout the shows but nothing too disturbing.  Zion applied some mastering to the tape to increase the higher frequencies resulting in some minor distortion in louder passages which is particularly noticable surrounding the hand claps close to the recorder producing a "sizzling bacon" effect that can be annoying.  But the music is very clear and enjoyable.     

The first two discs cover the first show on May 10th.  This tape was used before on  Korakuen First Night (Masterport-025) May 10th show with "One Trick Pony" from the May 12th show.  This comes from much closer to the master tape and is a bit longer with a twenty second introduction as the band take the stage to opening applause.  A tape flip after "Late In The Evening" is the only cut present.  Of the three shows this one is the most perfunctory.  The speed of the opening numbers betrays the anxiety of the group and it isn't until late in the set, before "American Tune", when Paul addresses the crowd by saying "we're very happy to be here.  We've waited a long time to come here."  The set list is divided between classic Simon & Garfunkel songs plus solo numbers from their respective careers including Simon's unreleased John Lennon tribute "The Late Great Johnny Ace" in the first two.  "Late In The Evening" is played twice in each concert, in the middle of the set and as the final encore.  "Kodachrome" is segued with Chuck Berry's "Mabellene" to form a short, fast paced medley and "Sounds Of Silence" is played at all three shows as a duet with only Simon's acoustic guitar as accompaniment and sounds powerful with its pristine beauty.  

Discs three and four cover the May 11th show which was released before on The Concert In Korakuen Stadium (PM-068/069) on the Private Masters label.  Private Masters might have used a different tape source than this.  Although this is the noisiest of the three with ocassional tape handling noise, it is very clear and enjoyable.  There is a faint beeping sound in the distance like the noise a truck makes as it is backing up between the first two songs.  Paul Simon sings a bit of  "Sakura" after "America" before saying how long they've wanted to come to Japan and this being a "big thrill".  The backing group included session drummer Steve Gadd who plays a short drum solo in "Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover".  He played on the sessions for this song and is responsible for the well known drum rhythm in the song and for the entire 1970's "disco beat" (he also played on "The Hustle").  Before "Late Great Johnny Ace" Simon engages in a bizarre monologue, "here's a new song...I'd like to have a conversation...let's have a conversation here...let's see...I'm at a loss for words...how about the parachoots, are they still going?...'Soft Parachutes'?  Somebody who's seen One Trick Pony...be quiet now!  Just kidding".  In general this show is much more confident than the first.   

The May 12th concert, the final of the Toyko shows and of their Japan tour, makes its debut on a commercial release with At Korakuen.  The taper sounds somewhat slightly more distant from the stage and there are some volume adjustments made during "Mrs. Robinson".  By the middle of the first song things the sounds clear up and this becomes a somewhat more dull and unbalanced at times (like during the first "Late In The Evening" where the drums dominate the sound) but enjoyable recording.  Gerry Niewood gives a good saxophone solo on "Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard".  This evening's rendition of Garfunkel's "Bright Eyes" is gorgeous and the best of the three nights as the audience is in rapt attention to the song that recalls the animated rabbits from the film Watership Down.  This show contains the only variation in the set list with "The Late Great Johnny Ace" being dropped in favor of another Simon solo tune "One Trick Pony", the title track from his 1980 film and the fast pace fits in well with the following "Kodachrome" and "Maybellene" medley.  "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is another classic performance and there is palpable emotion in the air as the show reaches its climax.  Of the three the final night delivers the best overall performance by the band.   

Bonus McGovern Benefit front

The first of two bonus cdrs is a direct copy of the vinyl Come Home America.  Vinyl surface noise is present, there are numerous cuts and the tape is just bearly listenable but the performance is fantastic.  This is a document of their first reunion performance on July 14th, 1972 at Madison Square Garden.  This event was organized by "actor Warren Beatty ... at Madison Square Garden for the presidential campaign of anti-war candidate Senator George McGovern (Democrat of South Dakota).  The show reunited various popular acts from the past on a one-time-only basis, including the comedy team of Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Simon and Garfunkel, and for the first time in nearly two years, Peter, Paul and Mary.  This along with other shows organized by Beatty, raised $1.5 million for McGovern, who went on to win the Democratic nomination, but lost the election to Richard Nixon in November."  Simon & Garfunkel play accompanied only by acoustic guitar as they sing their hits plus Simon's solo number "Mother & Child Reunion".  This show contains one of the all time greatest versions of "Bridge Of Troubled Water", which Garfunkel described as "almost biblical" and is sung as a duet.  It is a shame the recording is incomplete and poorly recorded as this sounds like a phenomenal performance.

Bonus Lefty At The Dome front

The second bonus for this release is a solo performance by Art Garfunkel from The Tokyo Dome on July 24th, 1988 titled Lefty At The Dome.  This is the first time he visited Japan as a solo artist and is another audience recording that is distant with signficant echo but captures the atmosphere beautifully.  The album Lefty and this tour were somewhat of a comeback after retiring for several years after the previous reunion with Paul Simon turned into a disappointment.  He was joined onstage by Nicky Hopkins on piano, Mick Woodmansey on drums, Micky Feat on bass, Jeffery Jones on guitar and Rob Sabino on keyboards.  Three songs from the new album, "When A Man Loves A Woman", "So Much In Love", and "If Love Takes You Away" are included in the set list.

The Zion label has been a bit quiet this year but have released a fantastic set.  The six discs of the Korakuen shows come in a six way fatboy jewel case with color glossy inserts with various pictures from the gigs over a panoramic picture of New York City on the inside.  The two bonus cdrs come in single slim jewel cases with the one insert duplicating the artwork from the respective vinyl releases.  The front cover of At Korakuen is the exact same picture Private Masters used for The Concert In Korakuen Stadium with a photo on the back taken from the same show with track listings and a summary of the touring band.  The market for releases from the duo has been limited to cdr releases from their more recent collaborations.  The last silver pressed title was At Osaka Stadium with the May 8th, 1982 Osaka show also on the Zion label released December, 2004.  With the two bonus cdrs this is a massive eight disc set covering some fascinating points in their career and rivals some of the massive box sets from years past for other artists.  For the asking price this turns out to be reasonably priced and is well worth investigating even for those who are merely casual collectors.