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Bruce Hornsby: Hot House

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: RCA Records
Released: 1995.07.18
Time:
 59:13
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): Bruce Hornsby
Rating: *******... (7/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.brucehornsby.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 1998
Price in €: 14,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Spider Fingers (Bruce Hornsby) - 6:44
[2] White Wheeled Limousine (Bruce Hornsby) - 5:28
[3] Walk in the Sun (Bruce Hornsby) - 4:58
[4] The Changes (Bruce Hornsby) - 5:49
[5] The Tango King (Bruce Hornsby) - 5:48
[6] Big Rumble (Bruce Hornsby) - 4:40
[7] Country Doctor (Bruce Hornsby) - 5:57
[8] The Longest Night (Bruce Hornsby) - 5:22
[9] Hot House Ball (Bruce Hornsby) - 4:41
[10] Swing Street (Bruce Hornsby) - 4:36
[11] Cruise Control (Bruce Hornsby) - 5:03

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


The Band:
BRUCE HORNSBY - piano, accordion, vocals, Assistant mixer
JIMMY HASLIP - bass on [2]-[5], [7]-[9]
J.V. COLLIER - bass on [1], [6] and [10]
JOHN MOLO - drums
J.T. THOMAS - organ
DEBBIE HENRY - vocals
JOHN D'EARTH - trumpet
BOBBY READ - alto saxophone, tenor saxophone

Guests:
DERWIN COX - percussion
BÉLA FLECK - banjo
ORNETTE FOGELBERG - tambourine
JERRY GARCIA - guitar
DAVID HOLLISTER - vocals
RANDY JACOBS - guitar
CHAKA KHAN - vocals
LEVI LITTLE - vocals
PAT METHENY - guitar
LOUIS PRICE - vocals
LARRY SEARS - percussion
JOE WHITE - vocals
GLENN WILSON - baritone saxophone

WAYNE POOLEY - Engineer
JOHN CUTLER - Additional engineering
JEFF NORMAN - Additional engineering
TOM MAHN - Additional engineering
HEFF MORAES - Additional engineering
BRAD MADIX - 2nd engineers
KENO SNYDER - 2nd engineers
WAYNE POOLEY - Mixing
J.T. THOMAS - Mixing
JOHN MOLO - Assistant mixer
BOBBY READ - Assistant mixer
TED JENSEN - Mastering
ROBERT BROOKINS - Programming
JOHN PARIS - Programming
KATHY HORNSBY - Production coordinator
MELISSA REAGAN - Production assistant
SHERRY RETTIG - RCA liaison
AMANDA ARMSTRONG - RCA liaison
LEO SCHATZEL - Piano tuning
CAROLYN CHRZAN - Guitar tech. For Metheny
STEVE PARISH - Guitar tech. For Garcia
RIA LEWERKE - Art direction & design
NORMAN MOORE - Art direction & design
GARY KELLY - Cover illustration
WILLIAM CLAXTON - Photography
KATHY HORNSBY - Photography
STEVE LIPSON - Great time & good ideas

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Recorded at Bruce Hornsby's House. Additional recording at Club Front, Marin County & Soundmasters, LA.



...the playing is the real focus here, and on that front Hornsby is dazzling. It isn't just his pianistic prowess that dazzles...; what makes the music sizzle is the way he inspires the other players...

Musician (9/95, p.93)



...Hornsby might have invented concerned adult pop. [HOT HOUSE is] stinging proof that he's still good at it...

Q Magazine (9/95, p.116)
4 Stars - Excellent - "



Long considered among the finest and most distinctive piano players in rock, Bruce Hornsby's resume expanded even further when in 1990 he joined the Grateful Dead. Though many scoffed at the move, such a union made perfect sense: Hornsby's playing had long patrolled similarly unspecific musical waters as the Dead, lodged between the avant jazz-pop universe and the diverse traditions of musical Americana. The aptly-titled HOT HOUSE is thoroughly situated at this crossroads of experimental and folk styles.

The album clearly taps into the musical and sociological energy that life in a counter-culture sideshow exposed Hornsby to. "Spider Fingers" plays on the nickname that Deadheads developed for his flurried, behind-the-beat soloing style. As the song explodes with a brass- and organ-driven funk, then rides that energy like a wave, it is clear the Dead's unadulterated jamming has rubbed off. "The Tango King" uses New Orleans' percussive groove and a melody straight out of "Estimated Prophet" to marvel at the festival-like atmospheres of musical gatherings, while the duel between Jerry Garcia's guitar and Hornsby's piano propels "Cruise Control" on a soulful ride.

But the most important lesson that Hornsby picked up from his association with the Dead was to follow his muse into whatever quirky corners it drags him. Thus, HOT HOUSE veers from the musicianly swagger of "The Changes," a tune about "tunes" that walks with the same confident stride as "Cool" from the WEST SIDE STORY soundtrack, to the outer-space bluegrass of "White Wheeled Limousine," which wouldn't seem out of place on a Bela Fleck album.

SonicNet.com - © 2001 The MTVi Group, L.P.



When an artist has been honored with a Grammy, some say, his best days of pure "music" are long behind him. With his latest release, Hot House, Bruce Hornsby disproves that theory with a free flowing jazz album which draws the listener up and away.

Drawing on his more than 100 shows with the Grateful Dead (as guest keyboardist), Hornsby has seemingly mastered the art of recorded improvisation.

But whereas Hornsby was just learning to jam on his last release without the Range (Harbor Lights), Hot House shows a much more successful side of Bruce. The first single, "Walk In The Sun", strikes back to his initial days from The Way It Is - but other tracks, such as "White Wheeled Limousine" and "Spider Fingers" - allow Hornsby's piano skills to roll in synch with his jazz background. "Big Rumble" sounds like Aerosmith taking their first steps into jazz, and realizing that they like it. Guest musicians abound here, including Bela Fleck, Chaka Khan, Pat Metheny and, of course, Jerry Garcia.

This album is NOT something that should be gotten by a fan looking for a quick 4 minute single; nearly half the songs are more than 5 minutes. Hot House is meant to be savored, like a fine bottle of wine, not gulped like cheap beer.

Bruce Hornsby has come a long way since being a backing pianist for Sheena Easton's touring band in 1983. One Hornsby fan, upon hearing this record, said that it was like his last release, Harbor Lights, but taken to the next level - where the musicians sound like they're having fun, jamming and improvising as they go. I couldn't agree more. Expect the critics to rave about Hot House - and deservedly so.

Bob Gajarsky



On his last album, Harbor Lights, Bruce Hornsby tapped some of the brightest lights of the jazz scene to illuminate one of the most musically complex pop albums of the decade. Hornsby clearly learned some lessons in those sessions from the evidence on Hot House. Few songs pack the wallop of the radio breakout "The Way It Is," but Hornsby and his gaggle of star sidemen lope through one stellar track after another with astonishing high quality. As such, it succeeds more like a good jazz album than a pop record.

Nothing even remotely resembles a flop. Hot House is a full set, a rare thing in the store racks these days. Much of the album, often the same song, will satisfy fans of both classic rock and smooth jazz. Hornsby has almost unfailing ears, and Hot House is a showcase for his effortless eclecticism. From song to song, even within each tune, Hornsby et al may touch on several traditions and genres, from Swing to Thelonious Monk and post-bop electric jazz to the funky cousin of southern blues rock. "Hot House Ball" kicks off with a thick, stacked piano chord that is bumrushed by a horn section playing a clean reworking of the head to Monk's "Well You Needn't." If you're gonna name drop, do it this well.

Hornsby's instantly recognizable two-fisted polyrhythmic chordal style is in short shrift on the album, and his single line work only occasionally makes up for it. Hornsby instead offers searing horn charts and the recurring sound of Pat Metheny's guitar (he plays on five of the eleven tracks), a perfect match for Hornsby. The big, searching sound, the reliability of the solos, and the rhythmic sensibility are hallmarks of the work of both artists, albeit in different realms. Here they meet on the same turf with great success.

All the patented Hornsby songwriting is here; sincere vocals with just a twinge of hip detachment, passing note substitutions in the bass line, and the stories that have made his reputation. "Spider Fingers," the street-smart "The Changes" and "The Tango King" see the world from a musician's eyes; perhaps Hornsby was inspired to look back on what it took to get where he is now that he's made it. "Walk in the Sun" tells the story of a stripper bar doorman in love with one of the girls inside "I don't care much what they see/I know she saves it all for me." "The Country Doctor" tells the story of a young doctor who slowly poisons his wife, and "Cruise Control," which features one of Jerry Garcia's last recorded solos, was written after Hornsby's son was in an accident.

The album's only weak point is that the varied emotional palette of the lyrics is not always reflected in the music. Musically, this is a consonant, upbeat record, even if the stories Hornsby tells are often harrowing.

The hyper-kinetic "Spider Fingers," which opens the album, will likely get plenty of airplay, but it's far from the best music on the disc. Right away, the exotic, modal banjo intro (courtesy of Bela Fleck) of "White Wheeled Limousine," a song about a groom who spoils his wedding day with his promiscuity, puts to rest any hint of faux-jazz pandering. Check out the lyrics for this hint- the solos cut to Miles' "Nardis." Fleck and Metheny playing chase in unison?!?!

On "Tango King," Hornsby has clearly internalized some tricks learned playing with the Grateful Dead while composing the most tuneful, catchy song in 9/8 since Brubeck's "Blue Rondo a la Turk." Quite a bit of impressive (but not flashy) instrumental work is in evidence as Metheny and Fleck trade solos with the horn section.

Ed Hewitt - August 1, 1995
Music Wire



With 1993's Harbor Lights, Bruce Hornsby began abandoning the conventional pop/rock structures that had dominated his songwriting, turning toward an open-ended jazz-pop fusion. Hot House continues that direction, abandoning the three-to-four minute singles for longer pieces that showcases his musical skills. It's an impressive exercise that would be even more engaging if the actual songs had stronger melodies.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All-Music Guide



"Hornsbys Sound aus sanftem Rock und Elementen aus Soul, Blues und Jazz macht einfach Spaß."

J. Seibold in Audio 9/95



Wer sich gerne von den Vorzügen der Heimarbeit überzeugen möchte, ist hier richtig: Bruce Hornsby, der amerikanische Pianist mit der rauchig-kratzigen Stimme, hat seine neue CD zu Hause aufgenommen. Dabei hätte er sich gar nicht in den eigenen vier Wänden verstecken müssen: Hornsbys Sound aus sanftem Rock und Elementen aus Soul, Blues und Jazz macht einfach Spaß. Mit Hilfe seiner exzellenten Band (Pat Metheny, Chaka Khan) führt er wie auf dem Vorgänger Harbor Lights Moll-geprägte Akkordfolgen in entspannten Songs spazieren.

© Audio



Dies ist das zweite Album, das Bruce Hornsby in eigener Produktionsregie bei sich zu Hause aufnahm. Die auf dem Vorgänger "Harbor Lights" eingeschlagene Richtung der Verschmelzung von Popkompositionen mit jazzigen Arrangements wird beibehalten und führt in Songs wie "Spider Fingers" oder "White Wheeled Limousine" zu noch überzeugenderen Resultaten. Gerade letzterer Titel, den Hornsby schon zu Rob Wassermans "Trios"-Album beisteuerte, fasziniert durch seine hitverdächtige Melodie, die überraschend in Soli von Bela Fleck (Banjo) und Pat Metheny (Gitarre) mündet. Neben Hornsby und den oben Genannten brillieren die Bläser John D'earth und Bobby Read sowie der Organist J.T. Thomas. Zwei Titel, "Swing Street" und "The Longest Night", erinnern an die Songs des großen Sam Cooke, und mit "Walk In The Sun" gibt es wieder eine von Hornsbys wunderbaren Midtempo-Balladen.

© Stereoplay
 

 L y r i c s


SPIDER FINGERS

So nice to be here
With all you good people
Is anybody listening
To what we're doing tonight
Could you give us a chance
While you hit the sauce
Might try a little flash up here
Just to get oursleves across

Hit it
Let the spirit linger
Get up
And do the spider fingers

I could show you on a table
I could show you on a chair
I's best shown on the black and whites
I know I could take you there
It's just a little hand trick
A little prestidigitation
Better get out your Hanon
Practice and repitition
We better do something
Before they tell us to get lost
Sometimes you've just got to repeat yourself
Just to get your point across

Hit it, let the spirit linger
Get up, do the spider fingers
A little spider tongue

How long will we be here
Well babe I just don't know
Depends on fate, the luck of the draw
Or maybe a little flashy show

Hit it
Let the spirit linger
Get up
And do the spider fingers


WHITE WHEELED LIMOSINE

She walked into town in a long white gown
And the band played on with no one around
And the rice was gone oh hours ago
And the white wheeled limosine's standing alone

Well they met at the club where the brasses blow
Where the wine did flow oh he moved so slow
But finally one night as the wind stood still
He got up the nerve and she said "I will"

The day did come and the groomsmen arrived
Came a little early to go over their lines
As they walked to the church on the cobblestones
Was heard in the bushes a moan and a groan

Well she walked into town in a long white gown
And the band played on with no one around
And the rice was gone oh hours ago
And the white wheeled limosine's standing alone

She didn't want to think that she lived a lie
There was always talk of a wandering eye
He'd come to the club and he'd look all around
It took a fair minded man not to wonder aloud

Well she walked into town in a long white gown
And the band played on with no one around
And the rice was gone oh hours ago
And the white wheeled limosine's standing alone

And the father of the bride is drinking so slow...


WALK IN THE SUN

My name is Vernon James and I live to the south of town
I work my window watching the women go round and round
Some people come here for love
Some people come for fantasy
When two in the morning comes round
My baby comes around for me

Someone come, come my someone
Take the clouds from my eyes, my one
I know that sometime soon
One day we'll walk in the sun

I'm taking tickets and watching
the men always looking down
Sometimes I feel like an animal in
the zoo staring out
No one looks me in the eye
They save it for the girls inside
I don't care much what they see
I know she saves it all for me

Someone come, come my someone
Take the clouds from my eyes, my one
I know that sometime soon
One day we'll walk in the sun

Some people come here for love
Some come for curiosity
I know there will be a day
I know we'll figure out a way

Someone come, come my someone
Take the clouds from my eyes, my one
I know that sometime soon
One day we'll walk in the sun


THE CHANGES

The scene is set, everybody's in place
Two chairs filled for every five gone to waste
Pantsuit girl gives me a nasty gaze
She says play that on your own time
Walk to the bandstand blow my horn
Nobody knows what we're really here for
Let's take it out hard till they show us the door
It's us against them tonight

Play the changes
Make the changes
Hear the changes
Take it out hard till they show us the door

A girl with a nose ring said to me
She said where's the joy in your delivery
I said maybe there's not supposed to be
Any real joy at all here
She sat there with that plaster smile
As we sit jiving but in a little while
Holding her hair she joined the single file
And walked on down the hall


Play the changes
Make the changes
Hear the changes
Us against them tonight

The owner says he thinks we need some work
Got a place for you, got some roadwork
Laying asphalt on the interstate
Nobody cares and why should they
A white girl in a dashiki says you're all the rage
My friends and I think you're quite the sage
Wear a kofu and a finger guage
To see which way the wind blows today


Play the changes
Make the changes
Hear the changes
To see which way the wind blows today

Old friend Dave with the silver spoon
Says why don't you play those good old tunes
Give it up now you could fill the room
I say there's nothing like a good Trane tune
Changes
These things called changes
Where do we go from here?


THE TANGO KING

Parking lot's full, the crowd's here
All to see and hear the food and beverage seer
Bumpin' time, everyone side to side
Left allemand and do-pah-so time
Here she comes, coming round the bend
Been to the bathroom and she's going back again
Just to give a good cold shoulder next time

Been around town and we're going again
Hallelujah when you get to the end
Summer's come now don't you feel the sting
All going down looking for the tango king

Look at Pete, he's a lounge hand
All want to stand where he stands
Spin that girl neath the colored ball
Fancy plaid man's the envy of all


Been around town and we're going again
Hallelujah when you get to the end
Summer's come now don't you feel the sting
All going down looking for the tango king

All the sounds, and the truth is found with a
drink in hand
Kings of lounge, and button-downs are coming
back again
Coming back again

Been around town and we're going again
Hallelujah when you get to the end
Walk on cut glass wouldn't feel a thing
All going down looking for the tango king


BIG RUMBLE (ANTHONY J MERRIMAN)

Cocked and ready oh here I stand
Anticipating the laying on of hands
Might be frivolous, may be profound
But it feels like deliverance going down

Hey now, come on around
The big rumble is coming down
Go tell it on the mountainside
Over the hills and across the sky
Hey now, watch out, run
Big rumble is about to come
Go tell it to the people there
Over the hills and everywhere

The young girls screaming as the gym rat speaks
Might see some walk-on on a shooting streak
Big snake charmers and medicine men
Some like Daniels in the lion's den

Hey now, come on around
The big rumble is coming down
Go tell it on the mountainside
Over the hills and across the sky
Hey now, watch out, run
Big rumble is about to come
Go tell it to the people there
Over the hills and everywhere

A man with a ball as a saviour too
A strange conception of the holy truth
The biggest and the baddest of Moses too
Works for some, maybe me and you

Hey now, come on around
The big rumble is coming down
Go tell it on the mountainside
Over the hills and across the sky
Hey now, watch out, run
Big rumble is about to come
Go tell it to the people there
Over the hills and everywhere


COUNTRY DOCTOR

Deep down in the south county
Over where the paper mill runs
Lived a man, a young country doctor
With the perfect wife and sons
Well he worked his days
And Sundays he'd pray
And nobody knew
Why the wife slowly withered away

I saw the country doctor, to ask him what
was wrong with me
He was caught unaware, accidental and devil may care
Behind the curtain I see, two shadows in front of me
Oh nobody know the trouble I've seen

My guess, there was another woman
And with the kids and the money there was a lot to lose
He said she had an rare affliction
And he was doing all he could do
And we all believed him
Felt so sorry and then
I thought once he was a fine man
Now I don't remember when

I saw the country doctor, to ask him what
was wrong with me
He was caught unaware, accidental and devil may care
Behind the curtain I see, bottles unmarked in front of me
Whoa nobody knows the trouble I've seen

I saw the country doctor, in a place he didn't see me
Way out in the middle of the night where he thought
no one could see
Over there in the parlor room, making eyes,
hands roaming free
Someone soon must know, the trouble I've seen

Did you think about the young ones
One day they'll know it was you
And if they let you off one day
Who then will you turn to
And my wife remembers one thing
She said I remember kind of strangely
At a friends wedding one time
It was a look that he gave me


THE LONGEST NIGHT

Someone's dancing on the table
Someone's got an old book in the back
Some old jocks are sitting round their neighbors
Exaggerating their stats
Again
There's Mr. D.E. in the corner
Dancing with Miss Virginia former
I didn't think I'd really have a good time
But i don't remember you looking so fine

It's been a long dark night alright
I've been running on a low love light
Maybe the longest night
Maybe it's over, over tonight

Most everyone all around
Most have an intersting story
Even those who don't have much to say
Even interest me when they're just boring to him
And then there's Mr. B.M.O.C.
Talking so loud to Mr. P.E.
Someone said that his best days are past
But I know this first chance won't be the last

It's been a long dark night alright
I've been running on a low love light
Maybe the longest night
Maybe it's over, over tonight

Hey now Mr. D.J.
Keep those good songs coming
Cause I'm having such a good time tonight
Moving making up for so much long lost time
Not much going since the old days
One long solo ride
I came here just to live in the past
But maybe I'm seeing the future at last

It's been a long dark night alright
I've been running on a low love light
Maybe the longest night
Maybe it's over, over tonight


HOT HOUSE BALL

We've lived around here most all of our lives
Did most anything we wanted to do
We will celebrate every 4th of July
Just a little tamer than most of the rest of us do

Don't light a match, don't play with fire
Pull down easy on the gas lighter
There's a shelter down at the veteran's hall
Living in the shadow of the hot house ball

We can dance in the streets any night or day
The big ball men built such a nice old park
One day we'll celebrate every halloween
Our faces as masks everyone glow in the dark

Don't light a match, don't play with fire
Step real lightly round the barb wire
Keep the noise down to hear the meltdown call
Living in the shadow of the hot house ball

Temper's hot, better pray for rain
Better watch out now for the gamma rays
Party time at the government gate

Don't light a match, don't play with fire
Pull down easy on the gas lighter
There's a shelter down at the veteran's hall
Living in the shadow of the hot house ball


SWING STREET

I heard you say that tonight's the night
You say there's a party going on
I'm in the door lik an old 78 side
And I hear 'em out hitting on a Coleman song

My friend John with a mirror and spoon
Got a belt and a mainline scene
A couple getting off in the back room
Someone's collecting money for the friend in need

Sounds like a good time, a ball to me
Sounds like a place I'd like to be
Theres a little crowd you're gonna want to meet
Oh they got a thing going on swing street

Nice old man in the corner booth
Making time with Jive-time Stu
She makes her sting 'neath the table blue
Says she's an actor but she's hooking
as a sideline too


Oh sounds like a good time, a ball to me
Sounds like a place I'd like to be
Everybody rolls when it's time to meet
Oh they got a thing going on swing street
Got a good thing going down swing street

You say there's nothing but bums around here
Listen to the sound of the cymbal so clear

Cutting contest on the stand
Somebody's trying to blow you away
What makes him swing harder than you do
Oh better hit the woodshed for ninety days

Oh sounds like a good time, a ball to me
Sounds like a place I'd like to be
Theres a little crowd you're gonna want to meet
Oh they got a thing going on swing street
Got a good thing going down swing street
Got a good thing going down swing street

Got a thing going on on swing street
Got a thing going on

Got a thing going on on swing street


CRUISE CONTROL

It's been a long time coming, this feeling I've got
That things'll always go your way, such a long shot
Been so deep in the hole, never thought i'd come out
Anything can happen, I know that now

One slip, one fall
A turn of the head can change it all
A step ahead, a step behind
A blink of an eye at the wrong time

North, South, East and West
Spin the wheel and hope for the best
No regrets and it's on we roll
Put it in drive and set the cruise control

Walk tall and away you go
Wheels roll and the whistle will blow
Many miles oh I may roam
Put it in drive and set the cruise control

He was holding on, he trusted me, then he slipped away
He fell hard and now I've just got myself to blame
When he smiled at me finally I came around
you can't worry, you never know so don't beat yourself down

One slip, one fall
A turn of the head can change it all
A step ahead, a step behind
A blink of an eye at the wrong time

North, South, East and West
Spin the wheel and hope for the best
No regrets and it's on we roll
Put it in drive and set the cruise control

Walk tall and away you go
Wheels roll and the whistle will blow
Many miles oh I may roam
Put it in drive and set the cruise control

In my darkest hour, my longest day
Oh my mind was a prison
I could feel it taking me down to stay
Then I said "Forget this", it's out of your hands anyway

North, South, East and West
Spin the wheel and hope for the best
Many miles oh I may roam
Put it in drive and set the cruise control

Wheels roll and the whistle will blow
Walk tall and away you go
No regrets and it's on we roll
Put it in drive and set the cruise control

Put it in drive and set the cruise control

Oh where I go I'll go I just don't know
Pick myself up and roll, roll
Up ahead can't see it all
Take it slow, let the cards fall

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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