Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel have had a pretty stormy relationship over the years, so that the title of this live album was presumably chosen with tongues firmly in cheek. On their recent reunion tour, however, they actually managed to turn it into a virtue, amusing their audiences with some witty banter about the petty rows that have dogged them ever since they were teenagers. Much of this dialogue has been preserved on Old Friends - which also, of course, contains some excellent performances from one of the greatest back catalogues in folk-pop history. Recorded in New York and New Jersey, it's a poignant reminder that so many of their classic songs were about ageing - and now that they really are old, they sound more moving than ever. True, the backslapping atmosphere gets a bit cloying at the times and there's a new studio recording ('Citizen of the Planet') that's every bit as awful as the title suggests. But on the whole, this is one live album that won't gather dust on the shelf after one play.

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