Paul  Simon is having a very good 70th birthday.

He released his 32-song retrospective Songwriter, a two-album set that includes music dating back from his Simon & Garfunkel days, all the way up to his 2011 album, So Beautiful or So What. Each song was chosen by the birthday boy himself.

Although this album does include some of Simon’s most popular songs — “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Peace Like a River,” “Graceland” and “Rewrite” — it is not his greatest hits album. Listeners who want a greatest hits compilation should check out the 2007 album, The Essential Paul Simon.

Aside from releasing Songwriter, his latest of 10 solo albums, Simon is also busy touring the country promoting So Beautiful or So What. Although the tour does not stop in Columbia, Simon will play in Kansas City on Tuesday, Nov. 8 and in St. Louis on the following Tuesday, November 15. Thanks to good performances on Saturday Night Live and at the Glastonbury and iTunes festivals, the tour has had no problem selling tickets to old and new fans.

His 70th year is slated to be just as busy as his 69th. On October 12, Simon announced that he will be reuniting with South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo for a 25th anniversary tour of his hit album Graceland. The album, which earned Simon a Grammy for Record of the Year, has sold more than 14 million copies to date. Dates and locations have not yet been announced for the Graceland tour, but it will be in 2012.

Simon will release a boxed set and concert documentary sometime next year during the tour.

Disc 1
1. The Sound Of Silence (Live at Webster Hall 2011) – new unreleased
2. The Boxer – Paul Simon – Live Central Park
3. Bridge Over Troubled Water – Aretha Franklin – studio version
4. Mother And Child Reunion
5. Tenderness
6. Peace Like A River
7. American Tune
8. Kodachrome
9. Something So Right
10. Late In The Evening
11. Train In The Distance
12. Hearts And Bones
13. Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War
14.Still Crazy After All These Years
15. Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes
16. The Boy In The Bubble
17. Graceland

Disc 2
1. Obvious Child
2. Further To Fly
3. The Cool, Cool River
4. Spirit Voices
5. Born In Puerto Rico
6. Quality
7. Darling Lorraine
8. Look At That
9. Senorita With A Necklace Of Tears
10. That’s Me
11. Another Galaxy
12. Father And Daughter
13. Rewrite
14. Love And Hard Times
15. So Beautiful Or So What