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Bruce Hornsby: The Way It Is

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: RCA Records
Released: 1986.12.20
Time:
 43:15
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): Bruce Hornsby, Elliot Schneider
Rating: ********** (10/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.brucehornsby.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 1992
Price in €: 14,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] On the Western Skyline (B. R. Hornsby/John Hornsby) - 4:50
[2] Every Little Kiss (B. R. Hornsby) - 3:45
[3] Mandolin Rain (B. R. Hornsby/John Hornsby) - 6:21
[4] The Long Race (B. R. Hornsby/John Hornsby) - 2:34
[5] The Way It Is (B. R. Hornsby) 3:56
[6] Down the Road Tonight (B. R. Hornsby/John Hornsby) - 4:11
[7] The Wild Frontier (B. R. Hornsby/John Hornsby) - 3:56
[8] The River Runs Low (B. R. Hornsby/John Hornsby) - 3:41
[9] The Red Plains (B. R. Hornsby/John Hornsby) - 4:39

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


The Range:
BRUCE HORNSBY - synthesizer, piano, accordion, hammered dulcimer, vocals, Producer
DAVID MANSFIELD - guitar, mandolin, violin
GEORGE MARINELLI - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals
JOHN MOLO - percussion, drums
JOE PUERTA - bass, vocals

Other musical assistance:
JEFF GERSON - enforcement
JOHN GILUTIN - synthesizer consultant
SEAN HOPPER - synthesizer consultant
HUEY LEWIS - harmonica, vocals on [6], producer

ELLIOT SCHEINER - Producer, Mixing
PAUL ATKINSON - Executive Producer
JIM GAINES - Engineer
ELLIOT SCHEINER - Engineer
EDDIE KING - Additional engineering, Mixing
JEFF NORMAN - Additional engineering
DAVID LUKE - Mixing
DON SMITH - Mixing
BOB HARLAN - Digital editing
STEPHEN MARCUSSEN - Mastering
IVY SKOFF - Assistant Producer
MARGE MEOLI - A & R Coordination
TIM NEECE - Management
TED RAESS - Art Direction, Design
KATHY HORNSBY - Art consultant
AARON RAPOPORT - Photography
ROBERT LOU LLEWELLYN - Photography

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Recorded at - Rumbo Recorders, Ocean Way Recording, Studio D (Sausalito), Kingsound Studios, Village Recorder, Capitol Recording Studios



One of the best collections of new songs released in the 1980s, performed to perfection by a versatile band led by a seasoned (if new to the listener) artist. The songs provide an American panorama, in terms both of landscape and social mores. This is smart, compassionate music for thinking adults...and you can dance to it, too. Includes "The Way It Is" and "Mandolin Rain."

William Ruhlmann, All-Music Guide



Bruce Hornsby kennt man heutzutage fast nur noch als Keyboarder der Grateful Dead und durch seine Arbeit an Projekten aus der Nach-Dead-Ära wie dem Further Festival. Hornsby ist ein unvergleichlicher Tastenzauberer, seine Fähigkeiten sind unbestritten. Dennoch wurde fast jedes seiner Alben hoffnungslos unterbewertet.

Den größten Erfolg konnte er 1986 verbuchen. Sein Debütalbum The Way It Is, zusammen mit seiner Begleitband The Range aufgenommen, verkaufte sich millionenmal und brachte drei Hitsingles hervor ("Mandolin Rain", "Every Little Kiss" und natürlich der Titelsong selbst). Alles in allem ist The Way It Is Hornsbys melodischstes, wenngleich auch nicht sein reifstes Album. Sein Werk hätte eine gründliche Neubewertung längst verdient.

Daniel Durchholz, Amazon.de



Bruce Hornsby is now best known for his stints playing keyboards with the Grateful Dead and for his involvement in such post-Dead projects as the Further Festival. An incomparable keyboard wizard whose skills are widely admired while his albums are consistently underrated, Hornsby's greatest commercial success is slipping rapidly into the past. His 1986 debut, The Way It Is (recorded with his band, the Range) is the high watermark of his career commercially, having sold several million copies and spawned a trio of hit singles, including "Mandolin Rain," "Every Little Kiss," and of course, the No. 1 smash, "The Way It Is." Overall, it's Hornsby's most tuneful album, though not necessarily his most accomplished work. His is a catalog that is long overdue for reevaluation.

Daniel Durchholz, Amazon.com
 

 L y r i c s


ON THE WESTERN SKYLINE

About this time of evening, out by the bay
They turn the roadlights on the bridge
A diesel rolls in silhouette, eastbound
Lovers glad the sun has set
I'm staring into the twilight
Wishing I could find someone tonight

I know she's out there somewhere
On the western skyline
Lonely women say a prayer
On the western skyline

The rooftops sag on second street
Bachelor's quarters, too much fun,
not enough fun
The kite's still hanging on the wire
Waiting on the wind
Too many dreams, not enough hope
Voices on my radio
Telling me where I should go

I know she's out there somewhere
On the western skyline
Lonely women say a prayer
On the western skyline

They'll set up on the bandstand
When the sailors hear the whistle blow
Underneath the streetlight
Violence in the afterglow

Give me a shiny Cadillac
Close your eyes past that city limits sign
He's got the admiral's daughter in the back
Trying to cross her battle line
As I'm staring into the twilight
Wishing I could be with her tonight

I know she's out there somewhere
On the western skyline
Lonely women say a prayer
On the western skyline


EVERY LITTLE KISS

Way out here, working on the docks
Everyone sees the long day through
Well what would I do without the nights
and the phone
And the chance just to talk to you
A thousand miles away
What I wouldn't give for only one night
A little relief in sight
Or someday when times weren't so tight

When the day goes down on the
water town
When the sun sinks low all around
That's when I know I need you now
You're what I miss
Every little kiss

Everybody here's a number, not a name
But I guess that's all right with me
As i sit alone after a long day
In the absence of company
Oh I let my mind wander...
A thousand miles away
What I wouldn't give for only one night
A little relief in sight
Or someday when times weren't so tight

When the day goes down on the
water town
When the sun sinks low all around
That's when I know I need you now
You're what I miss
Every little kiss


MANDOLIN RAIN

The song came and went
Like the times that we spent
Hiding out from the rain under the carnival tent
I laughed and she'd smile
It would last for awhile
You don't know what you got till you lose it all again

Listen to the mandolin rain
Listen to the music on the lake
Listen to my heart break every time she runs away
Listen to the banjo wind
A sad song drifting low
Listen to the tears roll
Down my face as she turns to go

A cool evening dance
Listening to the bluegrass band takes the chill
>From the air till they play the last song
I'll do my time
Keeping you off my mind but there's moments
That I find, I'm not feeling too strong

Listen to the mandolin rain
Listen to the music on the lake
Listen to my heart break every time she runs away
Listen to the banjo wind
A sad song drifting low
Listen to the tears roll
Down my face as she turns to go

Running down by the lakeshore
She did love the sound of a summer storm
It played on the lake like a mandolin
Now it's washing her away again

Listen to the mandolin rain
Listen to the music on the lake
Listen to my heart break every time she runs away
Listen to the banjo wind
A sad song drifting low
Listen to the tears roll
Down my face as she turns to go

The boat's steaming in
I watch the sidewheel spin and I
Think about her when I hear that whistle blow
I can't change my mind
I knew all the time that she'd go
But that's a choice I made long ago

Listen to the mandolin rain
Listen to the music on the lake
Listen to my heart break every time she runs away
Listen to the banjo wind
A sad song drifting low
Listen to the tears roll
Down my face as she turns to go


THE LONG RACE

It's a hazy winter's day
And I'm staring out on the southland
In the twilight distance on the bay
My mind sees you running through the marshland
All these years I've been waiting for you
Through the high tides and the low tides too
But if I stop now how could I ever be with you?

It's a long race
If I try I will surely finish
It's a long race
If I try I will surely win it
Some day some night with you

There's a village on the lower Eastern Shore
Where the watermen's boats are anchored
And they work so hard all day long
Showing me what you want to go after
All these years I've been pushing so hard
Through the high times and the low times too
But if I stop now
How could I know what I could do?


It's a long race
If I try I will surely finish
It's a long race
If I try I will surely win it
Some day some night with you


THE WAY IT IS

Standing in line marking time--
Waiting for the welfare dime
'Cause they can't buy a job
The man in the silk suit hurries by
As he catches the poor old ladies' eyes
Just for fun he says "Get a job"

That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them

They say hey little boy you can't go
Where the others go
'Cause you don't look like they do
Said hey old man how can you stand
To think that way
Did you really think about it
Before you made the rules
He said, Son

That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them

Well they passed a law in '64
To give those who ain't got a little more
But it only goes so far
Because the law another's mind
When all it sees at the hiring time
Is the line on the color bar

That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them


DOWN THE ROAD TONIGHT

There's a place
A local roadside shack
A poor man's Paris with a parking lot in the back
There's a girl there
She knows how to unwind
She don't talk much but she knows just how to act
I said - Don't tell me she don't love me
The money's just a mere formality

Every day, Every night
Somethings going on, something's going on
Down the road over yonder
Any place, any time when I'm fading
My love lies waiting
Down the road tonight

When I was younger
All the older boys
Would drive me way out past the county fair
They'd laugh and point out
This roadside trailer
And say something wild's going on over there
They said - What they're doing
Don't mean nothing to you now
But someday it'll mean everything

There were movies in the parlor
They were dealing one-eyed jacks
And when I said I loved her
She said - Just keep coming back


THE WILD FRONTIER

Here I am
I'm in a gaseous haze
Ten lanes and tall boys
Going both ways
El dorado riding on the fringe
Aztec princess take revenge
This ain't my style, this ain't my home
I'm going where it's safe to roam

Take me all the way back
To the wild frontier
Well I'm counting the miles
Seeing her smile in the wild frontier

Electric sun
Electric hair
Leather skin
Leather underwear
She said hey
I'm getting in the biz
Come on over
I'll show you where some action is

This ain't my style, this ain't my home
I'm going where it's safe to roam

Take me all the way back
To the wild frontier
Well I'm counting the miles
Seeing her smile in the wild frontier


THE RIVER RUNS LOW

The rain held back again
Haven't felt a drop since you went away
Outside of town, the hills are brown
I guess way out there you'd call 'em golden
Lines outside the welfare store
The clock is stopped at the bank next door
They yelled like hell when the boys left home
Now just like you they're all gone

The river runs low tonight
Eyes are closed on the waterline
The river runs low tonight
And you're always drifting through my mind
The river runs low tonight
And nobody waits for the tides to rise
But I'm gonna wait till you make
The river run high

The old man's gettin' on
Keeps the morning paper in his overcoat
It keeps him warm in the cold storm
And he told me today I look a little lonely
Up in the air they're heading south
The sky is light to the west of town
With a little cash I could get around
You know I'd come out there and find you

The river runs low tonight
Eyes are closed on the waterline
The river runs low tonight
And you're always drifting through my mind
The river runs low tonight
And nobody waits for the tides to rise
But I'm gonna wait till you make
The river run high

Up in the air they're heading south
The sky is light to the west of town
With a little cash I could get around
You know I'd come out there and find you

The river runs low tonight
Eyes are closed on the waterline
The river runs low tonight
And you're always drifting through my mind
The river runs low tonight
And nobody waits for the tides to rise
But I'm gonna wait till you make
The river run high


THE RED PLAINS

Four walls I built one winter
She came to share my name
For years we lived as lovers on the open plains
Far off the heat wave shimmers
Pipelines and the gasoline
One day it all came running like a bad dream
Fire, smoke-filled lungs
I hope I'll be standing when the day is done
We're

Staring out at the red plains
And we're hiding out from the smoke and the rage
A lifetime living on the red plains
Watching out as it all goes up in flames


Get up on Sunday morning
Repent for Friday night
Don't let 'em tell you it's gonna be a fair fight
I gave her clothes and a diamond
She loved the things that shine
But one day the gold and the silver get left behind
Fire, smoke-filled rooms
I hope I'll be standing when the day is through

Staring out at the red plains
And we're hiding out from the smoke and the rage
A lifetime living on the red plains
Watching out as it all goes up in flames

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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