''Against the Grain'' is the fifth album by singer-songwriter
Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; July 17, 1950 – April 26, 2011) was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs "San Francisco Bay Blues", "Poetry Man", "Harpo's Blues", and her credited g ...
, released in 1978.
Overview
At the time of the release of ''Against the Grain'', Phoebe Snow called it her "rockiest" album, "a deliberate turning away from the jazz influences" of her earlier recordings. Peter Reilly of ''
Stereo Review
''Sound & Vision'' is an American magazine, purchased by AVTech Media Ltd. (UK) in March 2018, covering home theater, audio, video and multimedia consumer products. Before 2000, it had been published for most of its history as ''Stereo Review''. ...
'' recognized the album's intent to "mark
now'sentrance into Outright Rock-&-Roll", dismissing it as "merely a paraphrase of real rock" and lamenting that "a singer who
...has shown a real flair for projecting a lyric with poignancy and feeling has made such an awkward and clumsy turnabout."
Rising no higher than #100 on the
''Billboard'' 200, ''Against the Grain'' became Snow's second album to seriously under-perform, ending her association with
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
. Snow would have one album release in the next ten years, which was ''
Rock Away
''Rock Away'' is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Phoebe Snow, recorded in 1980 and released in 1981.
Background/recording
Following her massively successful 1974 self-title debut album, Phoebe Snow had seen her fortunes dwin ...
'', touted as her move into "rock-&-roll". In interviews concurrent with the 1981 release of ''Rock Away'', Snow would label ''Against the Grain'' a "disaster": "
ttried to be a rock album but had too many opinions. Everybody who played, sang or cleaned up the studio produced that album
...Putting
Paul_McCartney">/nowiki>Paul_McCartney's_"Every_Night_(Paul_McCartney_song).html" ;"title="Paul_McCartney.html" ;"title="/nowiki> /nowiki>Paul_McCartney's_"Every_Night_(Paul_McCartney_song)">Every_Night".html" ;"title="Paul McCartney">/nowiki>Paul McCartney's "Every Night (Paul McCartney song)">Every Night"">Paul McCartney">/nowiki>Paul McCartney's "Every Night (Paul McCartney song)">Every Night" - which afforded Snow a hit in the UK and Australia - "was the one idea of mine that filtered through."[''Tampa Bay Time'' 10 June 1981 "Phoebe is Proud of Picking Her Hit Songs" by Mary Campbell p.58]
In a retrospective review for Allmusic, critic William Ruhlmann wrote of the album "The decision to add Barry Beckett as co-producer with Phil Ramone helped add an R&B depth and fervor, but 'Against the Grain' was just a more impassioned effort than its predecessor." Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
wrote of the album; "this time she dies on the non-originals...Paul McCartney's Every Night' shows up the hooklessness of almost everything else."
Track listing
Songs written by Phoebe Snow, except where noted.
Side One
# " Every Night" (Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
) – 3:31
# "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man
"Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" (also written "Do Right Woman — Do Right Man") is a song written by Chips Moman and Dan Penn, and made famous by Aretha Franklin. Her version was released on February 10, 1967. ''Rolling Stone'' listed it as numbe ...
" (Chips Moman
Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman (June 12, 1937 – June 13, 2016) was an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is known for working in R&B, pop music and country music, operating American Sound Studios and producing hit albums lik ...
, Dan Penn
Dan Penn (born Wallace Daniel Pennington, November 16, 1941) is an American songwriter, singer, musician, and record producer, who co-wrote many soul hits of the 1960s, including "The Dark End of the Street" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" wi ...
) – 4:08
# " He's Not Just Another Man" ( Clyde Wilson, Brian Holland
Brian Holland (born February 15, 1941) is an American songwriter and record producer, best known as a member of Holland–Dozier–Holland, the songwriting and production team that was responsible for much of the Motown sound, and numerous hit ...
) – 2:59
# "Random Time" – 3:39
# "In My Life" (Patti Austin
Patti Austin (born August 10, 1950) is an American R&B, pop, and jazz singer and songwriter.
Music career
Austin was born in Harlem, New York, to Gordon Austin, a jazz trombonist. She was raised in Bay Shore, New York on Long Island. Quincy ...
) – 5:02
Side Two
# "You Have Not Won" – 4:22
# "Mama Don't Break Down" – 3:06
# "Oh L.A." – 3:17
# "The Married Men" (Maggie Roche
The Roches were an American vocal trio of sisters Maggie, Terre and Suzzy Roche, from Park Ridge, New Jersey.
Career
In the late 1960s, eldest sister Maggie (October 26, 1951 – January 21, 2017) and middle sister Terre (pronounced "Terry", ...
) – 3:44
# "Keep a Watch on the Shoreline" – 4:39
Charts
Personnel
* Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; July 17, 1950 – April 26, 2011) was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs "San Francisco Bay Blues", "Poetry Man", "Harpo's Blues", and her credited g ...
– acoustic guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals
* Barry Beckett
Barry Edward Beckett (February 4, 1943 – June 10, 2009) was an American keyboardist, session musician, record producer, and studio founder. He is best known for his work with David Hood, Jimmy Johnson, and Roger Hawkins, his bandmates in th ...
– keyboards, acoustic piano, synthesizers
* Dave Grusin
Robert David "Dave" Grusin (born June 26, 1934) is an American composer, arranger, producer, jazz pianist, and band leader. He has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record w ...
– keyboards
* Richard Tee
Richard Edward Tee (born Richard Edward Ten Ryk; November 24, 1943 – July 21, 1993) was an American pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger, who had several hundred studio credits and played on such notable hits as "In Your Eyes", "Slip ...
– electric piano
* Steve Burgh – electric guitar, slide guitar
Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...
* Steve Khan
Steve Khan (born Steven Harris Cahn;
April 28, 1947) is an American jazz guitarist.
Career
Steven Harris Cahn was born in Los Angeles. His father, lyricist Sammy Cahn, "loved to hear any and all versions of his songs". He took piano lessons as a ...
– 12-string guitar
A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...
, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, guitar solo
* Hugh McCracken
Hugh Carmine McCracken (March 31, 1942 – March 28, 2013) was an American rock guitarist and session musician based in New York City, primarily known for his performance on guitar and also as a harmonica player. McCracken was additionally ...
– 12-string guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar
* Jeff Mironov – electric guitar, guitar solo
* Warren Nichols – pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...
* Will Lee
William Lee (born William Lubovsky; August 6, 1908 – December 7, 1982) was an American actor who appeared in numerous television and film roles, but was best known for playing Mr. Hooper, the original store proprietor of the eponymous Hooper' ...
– bass
* Hugh MacDonald – bass
* Doug Stegmeyer
Douglas Alan Stegmeyer (December 23, 1951 – August 25, 1995) was an American musician who was best known as the bassist and back-up vocalist for Billy Joel. Stegmeyer also performed as bassist for Debbie Gibson and Hall & Oates.
Biography
...
– bass
* Liberty DeVitto
Liberatori "Liberty" DeVitto (born August 8, 1950) is an American rock drummer. He is best known for his work as a drummer for New York singer-songwriter Billy Joel's recording and touring band. He has also been a session drummer on recordings of ...
– drums
* Rick Marotta
Richard Thomas Marotta (born January 7, 1948) is an American drummer and percussionist. He has appeared on recordings by leading artists such as Aretha Franklin, Carly Simon, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Paul Simon, John Lennon, Hall & Oates, Ste ...
– drums
* Ralph MacDonald
Ralph Anthony MacDonald (March 15, 1944 – December 18, 2011) was a Trinidadian and Tobagonian American, Trinbagonian-American percussionist, songwriter, musical arranger, record producer, steelpan virtuoso and philanthropist.
His compositions ...
– percussion
* Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of M ...
– saxophone, sax solo
* Jon Faddis
Jon Faddis (born July 24, 1953) is an American jazz trumpet player, conductor, composer, and educator, renowned for both his playing and for his expertise in the field of music education. Upon his first appearance on the scene, he became known ...
– flugelhorn
The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...
, flugelhorn solo
* Corky Hale – harp
The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...
* Margo Chapman – backing vocals
* Michael Gray – backing vocals
* Lani Groves – backing vocals
* Gwen Guthrie
Gwendolyn Guthrie (July 9, 1950 – February 3, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter and pianist who also sang backing vocals for Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Peter Tosh, and Madonna, among others, and who wrote songs made fa ...
– backing vocals
* Linda LaPresti – backing vocals
Production
* Barry Beckett – producer, mixing
* Phil Ramone – producer
* Burt Szerlip – engineer
* Steve Melton – remixing
* Ted Jensen
Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''.
Biography
Ted ...
– mastering at Sterling Sound (New York City, New York)
* Paula Scher
Paula Scher (born October 6, 1948, Washington, D.C.) is an American graphic designer, painter and art educator in design. She also served as the first female principal at Pentagram, which she joined in 1991.Scher, Paula." (n.d.): Oxford University ...
– design
* Benno Friedman – photography
References
{{Authority control
Phoebe Snow albums
1978 albums
Albums produced by Barry Beckett
Albums produced by Phil Ramone
Columbia Records albums