The Name Above the Title

Last updated

The Name Above the Title
The Name Above the Title.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 19, 1991
Genre Alternative Rock
Length58:23
Label Sire
Producer Andy Paley [1]
John Wesley Harding chronology
Here Comes the Groom
(1990)
The Name Above the Title
(1991)
Why We Fight
(1992)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Entertainment Weekly C− [4]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [5]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [6]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [7]

The Name Above the Title is an album by the folk-rock singer John Wesley Harding, released in 1991. [8] [9] It was his third successive Frank Capra-inspired album title, coming from the director's autobiography. [2] [10]

Contents

Critical reception

Trouser Press wrote that while Harding "brings plenty of talent and originality (especially the lyrics, which are strictly his own style) to this enjoyable and intelligent party, the frequent resemblance to Costello gives what is in fact a fine album a waxy air of familiarity." [11] The Rolling Stone Album Guide considered the album to be marred by "excessive cleverness." [7] Peter Kane in Q Magazine describer the album as "light-weight Costello. There's still some way to go, but the signs are good." [6]

Track listing

All tracks composed by John Wesley Harding; except where indicated

  1. "Movie Theme" Performed by The Morgans Creek String Ensemble - 0:33
  2. "The World (And All Its Problems)" - 3:24
  3. "Fifty Fifty Split" - 5:22
  4. "The People's Drug" - 3:56
  5. "The Movie of Your Life" - 6:04
  6. "I Can Tell (When You're Telling Lies)" - 3:27
  7. "Bridegroom Blues" - 4:23
  8. "Save a Little Room for Me" - 4:06
  9. "Anonymous 1916" (Anonymous) - 0:58
  10. "The Person You Are" - 3:40
  11. "Long Dead Gone" - 4:26
  12. "The Facts of Life" (Andy Paley, Harding) - 3:15
  13. "Driving in the Rain" - 6:06
  14. "Backing Out" - 3:07
  15. "Crystal Blue Persuasion" (Tommy James, Mike Vale, Eddie Gray) - 5:42

Notes

  1. Jenkins, Mark (26 April 1991). "ELVIS SIGHTED AGAIN ON HARDING RECORD" via www.washingtonpost.com.
  2. 1 2 Mason, Stewart. The Name Above the Title at AllMusic. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  3. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 4. MUZE. p. 129.
  4. "The Name Above the Title". EW.com.
  5. MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 526.
  6. 1 2 Kane, Peter (5 March 1991). "the Name Above The Title review". Q Magazine. 68: 10.
  7. 1 2 The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 307.
  8. "John Wesley Harding by Andy Craft - BOMB Magazine". bombmagazine.org.
  9. "John Wesley Harding | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  10. Vice, Jeff (2 June 1991). "HARDING RANKLES AT TOUR REPORTS, COMPARISONS WITH BAND LEADER". Deseret News.
  11. "John Wesley Harding". Trouser Press. Retrieved 12 October 2020.

Related Research Articles

<i>My Generation</i> (album) 1965 album by The Who

My Generation is the debut studio album by English rock band the Who, released on 3 December 1965 by Brunswick Records in the United Kingdom, and Festival Records in Australia. In the United States, it was released on 25 April 1966 by Decca Records as The Who Sings My Generation, with a different cover and a slightly altered track listing. Besides the members of the Who, being Roger Daltrey (vocals), Pete Townshend (guitar), John Entwistle (bass) and Keith Moon (drums), the album features contributions by session musician Nicky Hopkins (piano).

<i>Talking with the Taxman About Poetry</i> 1986 studio album by Billy Bragg

Talking with the Taxman About Poetry is the third album by Billy Bragg, released in September 1986. With production by John Porter and Kenny Jones, Talking with the Taxman About Poetry featured more musicians than Bragg's previous works, which were generally little more than Bragg himself and a guitar.

Wesley Stace is an English folk/pop singer-songwriter and author who has used the stage name John Wesley Harding. Under his legal name, he has written four novels. He is also an occasional university teacher and the curator of Wesley Stace's Cabinet of Wonders.

<i>Nashville Skyline</i> 1969 studio album by Bob Dylan

Nashville Skyline is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on April 9, 1969, by Columbia Records as LP record, reel-to-reel tape and audio cassette.

<i>John Wesley Harding</i> 1967 studio album by Bob Dylan

John Wesley Harding is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on December 27, 1967, by Columbia Records. Produced by Bob Johnston, the album marked Dylan's return to semi-acoustic instrumentation and folk-influenced songwriting after three albums of lyrically abstract, blues-indebted rock music. John Wesley Harding was recorded around the same time as the home recording sessions with The Band known as The Basement Tapes.

<i>Devils Night Out</i> The Mighty Mighty Bosstones 1990 debut studio album

Devil's Night Out is the debut studio album by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. It was released in 1990 by Taang! Records. It was one of the first albums to mix ska and hardcore punk.

<i>Get Happy!!</i> (Elvis Costello album) 1980 studio album by Elvis Costello and the Attractions

Get Happy!! is the fourth studio album by the English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, and his third with the Attractions — keyboardist Steve Nieve, bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas. It was released on 15 February 1980 through F-Beat Records in the United Kingdom and Columbia Records in the United States. Produced by Nick Lowe and engineered by Roger Béchirian, the sessions began in London but moved to the Netherlands after Costello found the material derivative of his previous album, Armed Forces (1979). The sessions were problematic but resulted in a large number of songs; the final album contains 20 tracks across a single LP.

<i>Secrets of the I Ching</i> 1983 studio album by 10,000 Maniacs

Secrets of the I Ching is the first album by American alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs, released in 1983 by Mark Records. While the album also contained the band's own Christian Burial Music imprint, the label itself was fictitious.

Andrew Douglas Paley is an American songwriter, record producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist who formed the Paley Brothers, a 1970s power pop duo, with his brother Jonathan Paley. Following their disbandment, Andy was a staff producer at Sire Records, producing albums for artists such as Brian Wilson, Jonathan Richman, NRBQ, John Wesley Harding, the Greenberry Woods, and Jerry Lee Lewis. He has also worked in film and television, composing scores and writing songs mostly for cartoons such as The Ren & Stimpy Show, Digimon, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Camp Lazlo.

<i>Recurring</i> (album) 1991 studio album by Spacemen 3

Recurring is the fourth and final Spacemen 3 studio album, released in early 1991 on Fire Records. The band had broken up prior to the release of the album. During the recording, the relations between band members had soured to the extent that the record is in two parts – the first side by Peter Kember, and the second by Jason Pierce.

Bruce Thomas is an English bass guitarist, best known as bassist for the Attractions; the band formed in 1977 to back Elvis Costello in concert and on record.

<i>Computer Games</i> (album) 1982 studio album by George Clinton

Computer Games is the debut album by American funk musician George Clinton, released by Capitol Records on November 5, 1982. Though technically Clinton's first "solo" album, the record featured most of the same personnel who had appeared on recent albums by Parliament and Funkadelic, both formally disbanded by Clinton in 1981. Conceived in the aftermath of a period marked by financial and personal struggles for Clinton, Computer Games restored his popularity for a short time before P-Funk fell victim to renewed legal problems and scant label support in the mid-1980s.

<i>Trouser Press</i> Former American music magazine

Trouser Press was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press". Publication of the magazine ceased in 1984. The unexpired portion of mail subscriptions was completed by Rolling Stone sister publication Record, which itself folded in 1985. Trouser Press has continued to exist in various formats.

<i>Here Comes the Groom</i> (album) 1990 studio album by John Wesley Harding

Here Comes the Groom is an album by folk-rock singer John Wesley Harding, released in 1990. Harding called the backing band the Good Liars. It included Pete Thomas and Bruce Thomas of the Attractions. Not surprisingly, Here Comes the Groom has a feel similar to classic Elvis Costello. Harding's articulate and biting vocal delivery, also reminiscent of Costello, retains a good dark sense of humor.

<i>The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!</i> 1975 studio album by The Dictators

The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! is the debut album by American punk rock band The Dictators. It was released in March 1975 and is considered one of the first examples of punk rock.

<i>Pawns in the Game</i> 1990 studio album by Professor Griff and the Last Asiatic Disciples

Pawns in the Game is the only studio album by the American musician Professor Griff and the Last Asiatic Disciples, which included Life, Patrick X, B-Wyze, Jim "Obie" O'Brien, and JXL. It was released in 1990 via Luke/Atlantic Records. The recording sessions took place at Skyywalker Recording Studio in Liberty City. The production was mainly handled by Griff, with co-producers O'Brien, Beatmaster Clay D and Kerwin "Sleek" Young. Luke Skyywalker served as the executive producer.

<i>Coming Down</i> (album) 1990 studio album by Daniel Ash

Coming Down is the first solo album by former Bauhaus, Tones on Tail, and Love and Rockets guitar player Daniel Ash, released by Beggars Banquet in September 1990. The first single, "This Love", was a number two hit on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in the United States. Natasha Atlas sings on many of the album's tracks.

<i>The Trouble Tree</i> 1990 studio album by Freedy Johnston

The Trouble Tree is the debut album by Freedy Johnston, released in 1990 through Bar/None Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">This Time (INXS song)</span> 1985 single by INXS

"This Time" is a song recorded by the Australian band INXS. It is from their 1985 album Listen Like Thieves. "This Time" was the second single after "What You Need" in Australia and New Zealand, but album's lead single elsewhere. It reached the top 20 in Australia. It was the only song from the album solely written by Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence.

<i>Why We Fight</i> (John Wesley Harding album) 1992 studio album by John Wesley Harding

Why We Fight is an album by the English musician John Wesley Harding, released in 1992. As with many of Harding's albums, the title is a reference to Frank Capra's work; Harding had considered using the Kinks homage Give the People What I Want as the title. Harding described the album's sound as "folk noir".