''Miracle Row'' is the ninth studio album by

Janis Ian Janis Ian (born Janis Eddy Fink; April 7, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter who was most commercially successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her signature songs are the 1966/67 hit "Society's Child, Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" an ...

, and her fourth for Columbia Records, released in 1977. In contrast to her previous three albums, ''Miracle Row'' was recorded in New York City with her recent touring band and lacked the orchestration. Following her previous album ''Aftertones'', Ian would spend much time in

Spanish Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...

with her mother, and aimed to capture that vibe on her new album.

Reception

''The Kingsport News'' gave the album "A" upon release, saying that Janis was "the best realist woman poet around today" and also one if its best vocalists. The ''Irving Daily News''’ Jason Christopher also praised the album, saying that Janis Ian "scored another triumph" and that the album was "highly recommended for rainy-day listening". Joe McNally writing for the ''

San Antonio Express The ''San Antonio Express-News'' is a daily newspaper in San Antonio, Texas. It is owned by the Hearst Corporation and has offices in San Antonio and Austin, Texas. The ''Express-News'' is the third largest newspaper in the state of Texas, with ...

'', said that Janis "did what she did very well" and the critic admitted that he was a sucker for what she did. ''Miracle Row'', despite these positive reviews, was substantially ignored by most critics, many of whom, for example Robert Christgau, did not review the album at all. ''Miracle Row'' proved a major commercial flop, failing to crack the top 40 of the '' Billboard'' pop albums chart, whilst none of its three singles would chart anywhere except for "Will You Dance?" being a top 40 hit in Japan. It proved to be Ian's last album to dent the top 100 in the United States, for her efforts to adopt a highly commercial pop sound on her subsequent Columbia albums would gain success only in Europe and Australia, and not do so consistently even there.

Track listing

Personnel

* Janis Ian – vocals, guitar, keyboards *

Rubens Bassini Rubens Bassini (January 26, 1933 in Rio de Janeiro – September 1985) was a percussionist, who played bongos and congas above all. He played together with the band Os Ipanemas: Astor Silva; (trombone), Marinho (bass), Wilson das Neves (drums ...

– conductor, congas, percussion * Claire Bay – vocals * Phil Kraus – bass, cymbals, percussion * Jeff Layton – guitar, guitar arrangements, horn * Barry Lazarowitz – drums, percussion * Stu Woods – bass

Charts

References

{{Janis Ian 1977 albums Janis Ian albums Columbia Records albums