Tico & the Triumphs

In the early '60s, Paul Simon (then using the pseudonym Jerry Landis for his compositions) cut a few singles as "Tico" of Tico and the Triumphs. One of them, "Motorcycle," did make number 99 on the Top 100, but generally they're evidence of what a long journey he would need to make before finding his voice in the mid-'60s with "The Sound of Silence." These efforts don't owe anything to folk-rock (which in any case had yet to be invented); they're trivial, formulaic early-'60s pop/rock, relics of Simon's attempts to break into the Brill Building crowd. Much of the Tico material has surfaced on unauthorized reissues. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi