| Miracle | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Willy DeVille | ||||
| Released | October 31, 1987 | |||
| Recorded | London | |||
| Genre | Rock, Soul | |||
| Length | 47:17 | |||
| Label | A&M | |||
| Producer | Mark Knopfler | |||
| Mink DeVille / Willy DeVille chronology | ||||
|
||||
Miracle is an album by Willy DeVille. Recorded in 1987, it was the first album that Willy DeVille recorded under his own name. Prior to Miracle, DeVille recorded six albums with the band Mink DeVille, the last four of which were really solo albums by Willy DeVille in that no members of the original band played on the four albums.
Miracle was recorded in London and produced by Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler, who also co-wrote the song “Spanish Jack” with DeVille. Dire Straits keyboardist Guy Fletcher, like Knopfler, played on all songs. Two highly regarded session musicians, guitarist Chet Atkins and drummer Jeff Porcaro, also played on the album.
DeVille told Leap in the Dark:
Contents |
The album includes what is probably the best known Willy DeVille song — “Storybook Love.” The song was the theme of the movie The Princess Bride and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1987. DeVille performed it at that year’s Academy Award ceremony.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [3] |
Trouser Press called the album’s production “bland and gimmicky,” but added, “DeVille's seasoned voice is as strong and colorful as ever, putting the snappy 'Angel Eyes,' romantic 'Nightfalls' and Van Morrison's 'Could You Would You?' in the album's plus column.”[4]
Thom Jurek of Allmusic wrote, "There is a notable difference in production style thanks to Dire Strait Mark Knopfler at the helm, softening the edges a bit and changing the focus to DeVille as a singer of fine pop ballads. The set yielded a surprise sideways hit in the tune 'Storybook Love,' which Knopfler borrowed for his soundtrack to The Princess Bride, but the album received little promotion or airplay. Too bad. The title track and the gorgeous 'Angel Eyes' offer great evidence for DeVille as a unique vocal stylist whose roots lay in the rock & roll of the Doc Pomus generation, and 'Could You Would You,' written by Van Morrison, is one of DeVille's finest cover songs."[5]
Miracle was the first Willy DeVille record in which no saxophone is heard.
About Miracle, DeVille told Sounds magazine, "This is the first album where I had left-overs. The doggy bag! I got good stuff on the record. I got good stuff off the record — 22 songs! I wrote and I wrote...it was a cakewalk. It was so easy. Of course we had some problems. It was so powerful, nothing could get in the way. We worked on the album for four or five months."[6]
DeVille said about the song "Heart and Soul": "It's a song about a couple who is very in love. They have no money, but someday they wanna get married in a big church and have a gold earring and new boots. And you wanna look so pretty for that girl... I think men always try to be so 'macho'... I think that's very stupid. There's nothing wrong with being a pretty man. In fact, I can't wait until tomorrow, I'm getting better-looking everyday."[7]
The song "Assassin of Love" was used in the British film version of The Rachel Papers, which helped make Willy DeVille better known in the UK. It was also played extensively as the "sound check" song before most of the concerts during the band U2's 360° North American tour in 2009.
The Raven Records CD re-issue of Miracle includes three Jack Nitzsche-produced songs recorded in 1980: "Heat Of The Moment," "Pullin' My String," and "It's So Easy." These songs were recorded for the soundtrack of the movie Cruising. "It's So Easy" is also on the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino's movie Grindhouse: Death Proof.
DeVille made the original recording of "I Call Your Name" for this album. It appeared on a CD single with the song "Miracle" (Polyldor POCD 891). DeVille recorded a second, lusher, string-arranged version of "I Call Your Name" for his album Backstreets of Desire (1992).
Mark Knopfler was a champion of DeVille's music and said of him upon hearing of his being diagnosed with cancer, "Ive been an admirer of Willy's since hearing his stunning voice on the radio for the first time. He has an enormous range, with influences from all corners of the country, from Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker and New Orleans music to Latin, folk-rock, doo-wop, Ben E. King style soul and R&B - all part of the New York mix. The songs he writes are original, often romantic and always straight from the heart. He can paint a character in a few words. When we worked on his Miracle album I enjoyed the occasional opportunity to offer a chord or two to go with his great lyrics"[8]
Unless otherwise noted, all songs by Willy DeVille.
|
||||||||||||||||||||