HEAR Music/Concord

The last time Paul Simon recorded with veteran producer Phil Ramone it was in 1975 and they made an album about the pains of surviving divorce. Thirty-five years later, the pair reconvened to extol the virtues of Simon’s two-decade-long marriage to Edie Brickell with his strongest cache of songs this side of Graceland. On his first set of new material since 2006’s Brian Eno-helmed Surprise, the almost-septuagenarian steals back his Afro-pop mojo from Vampire Weekend ( “The Afterlife,” “Rewrite” ), jams with Grizzly Bear’s Chris Bear ( “Love Is Eternal Sacred Light” ) and name checks Jay-Z ( “Questions for the Angels” ). But its the romantic moments here that vault So Beautiful to the heavens, particularly the gorgeous paeans to his wife “Love and Hard Times” and “Dazzling Blue,” ensuring this collection’s rank among Simon’s very best.