''Night Rains'' is the eleventh studio album by American singer-songwriter
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 ...
, released in 1979 on
.
The commercial failure of her previous self-titled album and its accompanying singles led Columbia to demand Ian make a major change of direction for ''Night Rains'' to restore her commercial fortunes.
She initially focused on writing film music for ''
Foxes
Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush").
Twelve species ...
'' and ''
The Bell Jar'',
and then adopted a fully commercial pop sound, collaborating with
Albert Hammond of "
It Never Rains in Southern California" fame on one song and with superstar disco producer
Giorgio Moroder
Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer and music producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering Euro disco and electronic dance music. His work ...
on two tracks including the ''Foxes'' theme.
E Street Band
The E Street Band is an American rock band that has been the primary backing band for rock musician Bruce Springsteen since 1972. In 2014, the E Street Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For the bulk of Springsteen's recordin ...
saxophonist
Clarence Clemons played on two songs and jazz pianist
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain (instrumental), Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" ...
on "Jenny (Iowa Sunrise)".
Consequent upon its release alongside twenty-four other Columbia Records albums in the fall of 1979,
''Night Rains'' was effectively un-promoted by the label in the United States and became Ian's first to not dent the
''Billboard'' albums chart since ''
Present Company
''Present Company'' is the fifth studio album by singer-songwriter Janis Ian, and her solitary album for Capitol Records.
After her break-up with original producer Shadow Morton, and the failure of her final two Verve albums ''The Secret Life ...
''. Even a re-release a year later with much greater record company promotion failed to get ''Night Rains'' onto the chart.
Although first single "Here Comes the Night" (Theme from ''The Bell Jar'') did not chart anywhere, second single "Fly Too High" became a top ten hit in the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, and drove ''Night Rains'' into the top twenty in those markets. "Fly Too High" and third single "The Other Side of the Sun" also became Ian's first-ever chart entries in the United Kingdom, although ''Night Rains'' did not crack the
top 75 albums.
Subsequent to Ian's 1990s comeback, "Fly Too High" and "Jenny (Iowa Sunrise)" have remained part of her live setlist, and both those songs have appeared on career-spanning compilations.
Critical reception
The ''
Omaha World-Herald'' wrote that Ian's "tender, painful, usually affectedly serious lyrics too often end up a bit corny."
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]
Track listing
Charts
Certifications
References
{{Janis Ian
1979 albums
Janis Ian albums
Albums produced by Giorgio Moroder
Columbia Records albums