Ten Easy Pieces

Ten Easy Pieces
Album cover image of Jimmy Webb sitting on a couch
Studio album by Jimmy Webb
Released October 15, 1996
Recorded 1996
McClear Pathe Studios and Zoomar Studios in Toronto
Genre Popular
Length 43:58
Label Guardian Records
Producer Fred Mollin
Jimmy Webb chronology

Suspending Disbelief
(1993)		 Ten Easy Pieces
(1996)		 Twilight of the Renegades
(2005)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [1]

Ten Easy Pieces is the ninth album by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb, released in October 1996 by Guardian Records. The album consists of new arrangements of some of Webb's most popular songs.[1]

Critical reception

In his review for AllMusic, Bruce Eder called Ten Easy Pieces "the best and most accessible of all Webb's albums".[1] Eder continued:

His voice is more expressive than ever, and the performances are generally grittier, with more raw emotion than the better known hit versions display. The arrangements are generally very simple and straightforward, with Webb's piano the primary instrument, and several of the songs are performed in a deeply personal manner, more akin to home recording for Webb's own pleasure than to a commercial release—"Wichita Lineman", in particular, sounds here like the most personal and private of performances, filled with wrenching loneliness at which the Glen Campbell version only hints. The notes are very personal and revealing as well.[1]

The AllMusic website gave the album four and a half out of five stars.[1]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Jimmy Webb. 

No. Title Length
1. "Galveston"   4:49
2. "Highwayman"   4:30
3. "Wichita Lineman"   4:16
4. "The Moon's a Harsh Mistress"   3:53
5. "By the Time I Get to Phoenix"   3:54
6. "If These Walls Could Speak"   4:02
7. "Didn't We"   3:18
8. "The Worst That Could Happen"   3:41
9. "All I Know"   3:52
10. "MacArthur Park"   7:43
Total length:
 43:58

Personnel

Music
  • Jimmy Webb – vocals, piano, keyboards, Hammond organ, liner notes
  • Dean Parks – guitar
  • Fred Mollin – autoharp, acoustic guitar, background vocals
  • Steve Smith – pedal steel
  • Lesley Young – oboe
  • Paul Widner – cello
  • Steven MacKinnon – accordion
  • Pat Perez – soprano saxophone
  • Oliver Schroer – fiddle
  • Audrey King – cello
  • David Hetherington – cello
  • Matthew McCauley – string arrangements, background vocals
  • Michael McDonald – background vocals
  • Shawn Colvin – background vocals
  • Susan Webb – background vocals
  • Marc Cohn – background vocals
Production
  • Fred Mollin – producer
  • Jay Landers – executive producer
  • Glen Marchese – engineer
  • Bill Harwell – engineer
  • Brian Nevin – engineer
  • Jeff Wolpert – engineer, mixing
  • Greg Robertson – assistant engineer, mixing assistant
  • Denis Tougas – assistant engineer, mixing assistant
  • Greg Calbi – mastering
  • Robert Abriola – art direction
  • Carolyn Jones – photography[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Eder, Bruce. "Ten Easy Pieces". AllMusic. Retrieved October 26, 2012.