A Few Small Repairs

A Few Small Repairs is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin. It was released on October 1, 1996.[3]

A Few Small Repairs
Studio album by
Shawn Colvin
ReleasedOctober 1, 1996 (1996-10-01)
GenreRock, Pop, Contemporary Folk
Length51:09
LabelColumbia
ProducerJohn Leventhal
Shawn Colvin chronology
Cover Girl
(1994)		 A Few Small Repairs
(1996)		 Holiday Songs and Lullabies
(1998)
Singles from A Few Small Repairs
  1. "Get Out of This House"
    Released: 1996
  2. "Sunny Came Home"
    Released: June 24, 1997
  3. "You and the Mona Lisa"
    Released: September 23, 1997
  4. "Nothin' on Me"
    Released: 1998
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link
Entertainment WeeklyA[1]
Los Angeles Times[2]

Background and chart success

A Few Small Repairs is a concept album about divorce, as Shawn Colvin's marriage was ending. At the time of the album's release, she had relocated to Austin, Texas.[4] The album's biggest single, released in 1997, was "Sunny Came Home". The album cover consists of a painting by Colvin's friend Julie Speed[5] of a three-eyed woman with a lit match, which inspired Colvin to write the song. The single peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 7,[6] and topped the Adult Contemporary,[7] Adult Top 40,[8] and Top 40 Adult Recurrents[9] charts the same year.

Another notable song from the album was "Nothin' on Me", which peaked at number 24 on Billboard's Adult Top 40 chart.[10] The song was also used on Suddenly Susan as its theme song from 1997 to 2000.[11] Colvin appeared on the show in the second season episode Ready ... aim ... Fong!.[12] She performed the song on the show.

A Few Small Repairs made it to number 39 on the Billboard Top 200 chart.[13]

Grammy awards

Grammy success came to Colvin two years after the release of A Few Small Repairs. In the 1997 Grammy Awards, she was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance award for "Get Out of This House" and Best Pop Album for A Few Small Repairs.[14] At the next year's Grammy Awards, Colvin was nominated for Song of the Year and Record of the Year for "Sunny Came Home". She won both awards (sharing Song of the Year with Leventhal).[15] As Colvin was about to begin her speech after winning Song of the Year, rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard stormed the stage protesting his loss of an award that same night, saying, "...I don't know how you all see it, but when it comes to the children, Wu-Tang is for the children..." leading him to be escorted off stage.[16] Colvin then began her speech, remarking, "I'm confused now!"[17]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Shawn Colvin and John Leventhal, except where noted[18].

A Few Small Repairs – Original Release
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sunny Came Home" 4:24
2."Get Out of This House" (Strings arranged by John Leventhal) 4:15
3."The Facts About Jimmy" (Horns arranged by John Leventhal) 5:22
4."You and the Mona Lisa" (featuring Chris Botti) 4:05
5."Trouble"Colvin, Leventhal, Tom Littlefield4:18
6."I Want It Back" 4:55
7."If I Were Brave" (Strings & Clarinet arranged by John Leventhal & Stephen Barber)Colvin3:11
8."Wichita Skyline" (Strings arranged by John Leventhal) 3:39
9."84.000 Different Delusions" 4:01
10."Suicide Alley" 5:29
11."What I Get Paid For" (not on US pressings of album)Colvin, Neil Finn3:23
12."New Thing Now"Colvin3:34
13."Nothin' on Me" 3:56

Personnel

Information is based on the album’s Liner notes[18]

Musicians
  • Shawn Colvin - All vocals (2, 5-8, 12), lead vocals (1, 3-4, 9-10, 13), background vocals (4), acoustic guitar (tracks 1, 5, 8-10, 12-13), additional guitars (6), piano (7), handclaps (2)
  • Chris Botti - trumpet (4)
  • Bob Carlisle - French horn (3)
  • Rick Depofi - tenor saxophone (4), clarinet (7), bass clarinet (3), piccolo flute (9), recorder instrument (9)
  • Larry Farrell - trombone (3-4)
  • Danny Ferrington - background vocals (4)
  • Tony Kadlek - flugelhorn (3)
  • John Leventhal - All guitars (2), electric guitar (12), additional guitars (1, 3-6, 8-10, 12-13), pedal steel guitar (6), mandolin (1), keyboards (1-5, 8-10, 12-13), organ played by (6), violin (1), additional percussion (1, 3-6, 8-10, 13), harmonica (2, 4), background vocals (4, 9, 13)
  • Lyle Lovett - harmony vocals (3)
  • Kate Markowitz - harmony vocals (1, 4), background vocals (4)
  • Eugene Moye - cello (2, 7-8)
  • Judith Owen - harmony vocals (10)
  • Mark Plati - bass played by (4)
  • Sandra Park - violin (2, 7-8)
  • Shawn Pelton - drums (1-6, 8-10, 13), percussion (2, 4-5)
  • Michael Rhodes - bass guitar (1, 3, 6, 9-10)
  • Robert Rinehart - viola (2, 7-8)
  • Carol Webb - violin (2, 7-8)
Production
  • Scott Ansell - additional recording engineer
  • Joe Blaney - recording engineer
  • Malcolm Burn - record producer (11)
  • Bob Clearmountain - audio mixing
  • Paul Dieter - additional recording engineer
  • Bill Emmons - assistant recording engineer
  • Ryan Freeland - mixing assistant
  • Troy Gonzalez - assistant recording engineer
  • Aaron Keane - assistant recording engineer
  • Peter Keppler - additional recording engineer, assistant recording engineer
  • Fred Kevorkian - additional recording engineer
  • John Leventhal - record producer (1-10, 12-13), recording engineer
  • Mark Plati - recording engineer
  • Fred Remmert - additional recording engineer
  • Tom Schick - assistant recording engineer

References
  1. Cannon, Bob (October 25, 1996). "Music Review: A Few Small Repairs". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  2. Hochman, Steve (1996-12-06). "ALBUM REVIEWS / POP; Shawn Colvin, "A Few Small Repairs," Columbia. (** 1/2)". Los Angeles Times. p. 4.
  3. "A Few Small Repairs". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  4. "Lebanon Opera House presents Shawn Colvin". Lebanon Opera House. Archived from the original on December 30, 2005.
  5. "Sunny Came Home by Shawn Colvin". SongFacts.com. Archived from the original on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  6. Billboard (1997-07-26). "The Billboard Hot 100 Sunny Came Home". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  7. Billboard (1997-08-09). "Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks Sunny Came Home". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  8. Billboard (1997-06-28). "Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks Sunny Came Home". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Archived from the original on November 21, 2014. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  9. Billboard (1997-12-27). "Hot Adult Top 40 Recurrents Sunny Came Home". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  10. Billboard (1998-05-02). "The Billboard Hot 100 Sunny Came Home". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Archived from the original on November 23, 2014. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  11. "IMDB: Full Cast and Crew for Suddenly Susan". Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  12. "Suddenly Susan: Ready ... aim ... Fong!". TV.com. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  13. Billboard (1996-10-19). "The Billboard 200 A Few Small Repairs". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Archived from the original on September 24, 2014. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  14. "Rock On The Net: 39th Annual Grammy Awards - 1997". Rock On The Net. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  15. "Rock On The Net: 40th Annual Grammy Awards - 1998". Rock On The Net. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  16. "Wu-Tang's O.D.B. Bumrushes Grammy Podium". MTV News. Archived from the original on 2002-10-24.
  17. Lyndsey Parker. "40th Annual Grammy Award Lowdown". Archived from the original on September 11, 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  18. A Few Small Repairs (CD). Shawn Colvin. Columbia Records. 1996. CK 67119.CS1 maint: others (link)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.