''The Wichita Train Whistle Sings'' is the ''de facto'' first solo album by

Michael Nesmith Robert Michael Nesmith or Mike Nesmith, (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as a member of the pop rock band the Monkees and co-star of the TV series ''The Monkees'' (1966� ...

, although the artist credited on the initial release is actually "The Wichita Train Whistle". It was recorded while Nesmith was still a member of

the Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conc ...

, and it peaked at No. 144 on the Billboard Pop Albums charts. The album comprises instrumentals performed by a full orchestra. All but one of the songs were also recorded by the Monkees (although a few of them weren't released until the Monkees' '' Missing Links'' albums.)

Background

The album was made over a two-day session on November 18–19, 1967 at the RCA studios in Hollywood, and it featured the best musicians in Hollywood (including many of the key members of " The Wrecking Crew"), including ten trumpets, ten trombones, ten saxophones, two drummers, five percussionists, four pianos, eight basses, seven guitars. Because it was the weekend, all musicians were paid double time and the session was catered by Chasens, the finest restaurant in Hollywood, and Nesmith provided an open bar, with the predictable result that most of the normally highly disciplined cadre of studio musicians were drunk by the time the session finished. It all cost $50,000. Nesmith explained to Hal Blaine that he was about to pay a similar sum in tax and he would rather spend it on the sessions and write it off than give it to the IRS. The recording is also notable for the famous incident that occurred at the end of the sessions: the

lead sheet A lead sheet or fake sheet is a form of musical notation that specifies the essential elements of a popular song: the melody, lyrics and harmony. The melody is written in modern Western music notation, the lyric is written as text below the ...

for the final track recorded ("Don't Call On Me") included an instruction that called for the players to improvise a cacophony of sound; as the track concluded, to the astonishment of his colleagues, renowned guitarist

Tommy Tedesco Thomas Joseph Tedesco (July 3, 1930 – November 10, 1997) was an American guitarist and studio musician in Los Angeles and Hollywood. He was part of the loose collective of the area's leading session musicians later popularly known as The Wrec ...

took off his Fender guitar (which was still plugged into the amplifier), threw it high into the air, and the instrument crashed to the floor and smashed to pieces. According to a 2000 interview with Hal Blaine, Tedesco's wife later collected the pieces and had them framed. The album was initially released with the title ''Mike Nesmith Presents The Wichita Train Whistle Sings'' on both the sleeve and record label. The label credited the recording artist as "The Wichita Train Whistle". In 1977, Nesmith re-released ''The Wichita Train Whistle Sings'' through his multimedia company,

Pacific Arts The Pacific Arts Corporation, Inc. is a company formed by Michael Nesmith circa 1974 to manage and develop media projects. History Pacific Arts Corporation, Inc. began as Pacific Arts Productions, Inc. when incorporated on October 18, 1974, as ...

(PACB 7-113). Unlike the original

Dot Records Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1956, the company moved ...

black background album cover, the Pacific Arts cover had a white background and was dominated with only the album title, which now did not include the ''Mike Nesmith Presents'' notation. However, although Nesmith's name did not appear on the front cover of the re-release, the artist credit on the actual record label now read "Michael Nesmith", and not "The Wichita Train Whistle". Subsequent re-issues also credit Nesmith as the artist.

CD Release

When Nesmith released "Wichita Train" on CD, he recorded the album onto digital from a phonograph. As he explained in the liner notes, the album was intended to be played on vinyl, and this, therefore, was an attempt to capture the album's true essence. In 2008, the album was remixed from the original multi-track tapes, re-sequenced (by Nesmith), and re-released on the Edsel label alongside his ''Timerider'' movie soundtrack. The Wichita Train Whistle Sings and Timerider re-release review on Allmusic./ref>

Track listing

All songs by Michael Nesmith except where noted. # "Nine Times Blue" # "Carlisle Wheeling" # "Tapioca Tundra" # "Don't Call on Me" # "Don't Cry Now" # "While I Cried" # "Papa Gene's Blues" # "You Just May Be the One" # "Sweet Young Thing" (Nesmith,

Gerry Goffin Gerald Goffin (February 11, 1939 – June 19, 2014) was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the List of Billboard number-one ...

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...

) # "You Told Me"

Personnel

*Michael Nesmith – guitar, bass, arranger *

Don Randi Don Randi (born February 25, 1937) is an American keyboard player, bandleader, and songwriter who was a member of the Wrecking Crew. Career Randi was born February 25, 1937 in New York City. He was raised in the Catskill Mountains and studied c ...

– piano *

Red Rhodes Orville J. Rhodes, better known as Red Rhodes or O. J. Rhodes (December 30, 1930 – August 20, 1995), was an American pedal steel guitarist. His mother taught him to play the Dobro at the age of five, but at the age of fifteen he switched to ...

– pedal steel guitar *

Larry Knechtel Lawrence William Knechtel (August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009) was an American keyboard player and bassist who was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of Los Angeles-based session musicians who worked with such renowned artists as Simon ...

– piano *

Earl Palmer Earl Cyril Palmer (October 25, 1924 – September 19, 2008) was an American drummer. Considered one of the inventors of rock and roll, he is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Palmer was one of the most prolific studio musicians of a ...

– drums *

Doug Dillard Douglas Flint Dillard (March 6, 1937 – May 16, 2012) was an American musician noted for his banjo proficiency and his pioneering participation in late-60s country rock. Biography Early life Dillard, who grew up on a farm near Salem, Missouri, ...

– banjo *

Chuck Berghofer Charles Curtis Berghofer (born June 14, 1937), professionally known as Chuck Berghofer, is an American jazz double bassist and electric bassist, who has worked as a studio musician and in the film industry for more than 60 years, including workin ...

– bass *

Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. ...

– drums *

James Burton James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana) is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 (his induction speech was given by longtime fan Keith Richards), Burton has also been recognized ...

– guitar *

Frank Capp Francis Cappuccio (August 20, 1931 – September 12, 2017), known professionally as Frank Capp, was an American jazz drummer. Capp also played on numerous rock and roll sessions and is considered to be a member of The Wrecking Crew. Biography ...

- percussion *Nelson Stump - cowbell *Gary Coleman - percussion *

Victor Feldman Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as ...

- percussion *

Israel Baker Israel Baker (February 11, 1919 – December 25, 2011) was an American violinist and concertmaster. Through a long and varied career he played with many of the greatest figures in the worlds of classical music, jazz and pop. He appeared on hund ...

(concertmaster), Robert Barene, Arnold Belnick, Jimmy Getzoff, Leonard Malarsky, Ralph Schaeffer, Sidney Sharp (concertmaster), Tibor Zelig - violins *Joe DiFiore, Harry Hyams, Alexander Neiman - violas *Jesse Ehrlich, Ray Kramer, Edgar Lustgarten - celli *Gene Cipriano, Justin Gordon,

Jim Horn James Ronald Horn (born November 20, 1940) is an American saxophonist, woodwind player, and session musician. Biography Horn was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for f ...

, Jules Jacob, John E. Lowe, Jack Nimitz - saxophones and other woodwinds *John Audino, Bud Brisbois, Jules Chaikin, Buddy Childers, Manny Klein, Oliver Mitchell,

Tony Terran Anthony Terran (May 30, 1926 – March 20, 2017) was an American trumpet player and session musician. He was part of the Wrecking Crew, a group of largely uncredited session musicians in Los Angeles, California, who helped famous artists record ...

, Jimmy Zito - trumpets *

Milt Bernhart Milt Bernhart (May 25, 1926 – January 22, 2004) was a West Coast jazz trombonist who worked with Stan Kenton, Frank Sinatra, and others. He supplied the solo in the middle of Sinatra's 1956 recording of '' I've Got You Under My Skin'' conducted ...

Lou Blackburn Lou Blackburn (November 12, 1922 – 7 June 1990) was an American jazz trombonist. Biography Blackburn was born in Rankin, Pennsylvania. He is best known for his work in the swing genre but he also performed in the West Coast jazz and so ...

, Joe Howard, Dick Hyde, Lou McCreary, Barrett O'Hara, Kenny Shroyer - trombones *Jim Decker, Vincent DeRosa, Bill Hinshaw, Richard Perissi - French horns *Sam Rice, John Kitzmiller - tubas

Production notes

*Michael Nesmith – producer, arranger *

Hank Cicalo Hank Cicalo (born June 25, 1932) is an American recording engineer whose career has spanned over fifty years. Among the artists recorded by Cicalo are The Monkees, Carole King, Barbra Streisand, and George Harrison. Early career In 1957, Cical ...

– engineer *Israel Baker – concertmaster *

Shorty Rogers Milton "Shorty" Rogers (born Milton Rajonsky; April 14, 1924 – November 7, 1994) was an American jazz musician, one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played trumpet and flugelhorn and was in demand for his skills as an arran ...

– arranger, conductor *Sid Sharp – concert master *Jerry Takigawa — Album cover design

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wichita Train Whistle Sings, The 1968 debut albums Michael Nesmith albums Dot Records albums Albums conducted by Shorty Rogers Albums arranged by Shorty Rogers Albums produced by Michael Nesmith Albums arranged by Michael Nesmith