The old master rolls back the years while recreating and improving on the exquisite harmonies we remember from the Sixties when Art was joined at the lip with Paul Simon.

This pacy, 13-track pop-jazz offering is a must if you love meaningful lyrics married to great music and delivered with style.

Sharp and Mondlock contribute more than the sublime harmonies around the studio mike: they collaborated with Garfunkel with song-writing and the seamless arrangements.

The stunning ease with which their voices meld together forces you to draw comparison with Art's long-gone days with Paul Simon and hits such as Homeward Bound and The Boxer. The chemistry between the three is magical.

But it is more, much more than that. Here is a singer turned songwriter with such a soporific delivery it should be available on prescription to tackle stress relief.

Since his well-documented fallings out with Paul Simon, followed by some patching up, Garfunkel has released 11 solo albums - but not one anything as good as this.

Much of the glittering success of this album is down to producer, Billy Mann. Art himself acknowledges Mann's contribution, saying: "All I knew about going into this was that I wouldn't be in the driver's seat. I wanted to find someone who could help me turn my prose poems into songs, and the answer to that search came in the form of Billy Mann."

Art's parting is getting wider, with wayward clumps sliding down the ear. But the man who this month has picked up a 2003 Lifetime Achievement gong with Paul Simon at the 45th Grammy Awards shows no signs that his awesome talent is on the wane.

All the poem/songs stand out, with The Thread even more so.

Updated: 08:52 Thursday, February 27, 2003