''A Tramp Shining'' is the debut album of

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, notably as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Red Desert'', Frank Machin in '' This Sporting ...

, released in 1968 by Dunhill Records. The album was written, arranged, and produced by singer-songwriter

Jimmy Webb Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He has written numerous platinum-selling songs, including " Up, Up and Away", " By the Time I Get to Phoenix", " MacArthur Park", " Wichita Lineman", " Wo ...

. Although Harris sang several numbers on the soundtrack album to the film musical ''

Camelot Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as th ...

'' the previous year, ''A Tramp Shining'' was Harris' first solo album. "

MacArthur Park MacArthur Park (originally Westlake Park) is a park dating back to the late 19th century in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. In the early 1940s, it was renamed after General Douglas MacArthur, and later designated City of Los Angeles H ...

" was one of the biggest singles of that year, reaching number 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the United States. The album as a whole was also highly successful and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1969.

Reception

In his review in ''AllMusic'', Bruce Eder gave the album four out of five stars, calling ''A Tramp Shining'' a "great record, even 35 years later, encompassing pop, rock, elements of classical music, and even pop-soul in a body of brilliant, bittersweet romantic songs by Webb, all presented in a consistently affecting and powerful vocal performance by Harris." Eder praised Harris' performance for its "sheer bravado", writing of his rendition of "Didn't We": Eder was equally impressed with Jimmy Webb's production and arrangements, which he called "some of the lushest ever heard on a pop album of the period." Eder concluded:

Track listing

All songs were written and arranged by Jimmy Webb.

Personnel

* Richard Harris – vocals *

– producer, arranger, composer * William F. Williams – supervision *

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 *

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 & ...

– keyboards *

Mike Deasy Michael William Deasy (born February 4, 1941) is an American rock and jazz guitarist. As a session musician, he played on numerous hit singles and albums recorded in Los Angeles in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He is sometimes credited as Mike De ...

– guitar * Joe Osborn – bass guitar * Sid Sharp – string arrangements * Jules Chaikin – trumpet * Jimmy Horn – saxophone *

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 ...

– guitar ;Technical * Armin Steiner – engineer * Peter Himmelman – London engineer * Gary Burden – art direction and design *

Henry Diltz Henry Stanford Diltz (born September 6, 1938, in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American folk musician and photographer who has been active since the 1960s. Career Among the bands Diltz played with was the Modern Folk Quartet. While a member of ...

– photography * Patrick Ward – photography

Chart positions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tramp Shining, A Richard Harris albums 1968 debut albums Dunhill Records albums Albums produced by Jimmy Webb Albums arranged by Jimmy Webb Orchestral pop albums