Blue River (album)
1972 studio album by Eric Andersen
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Blue River is an album by folk rock musician Eric Andersen, released in 1972.[7][8] The album was reissued in 1999 by Columbia Legacy with two extra tracks.[9]
| Blue River | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 1972 | |||
| Recorded | 1971 | |||
| Genre | Folk rock | |||
| Length | 46:43 | |||
| Label | Columbia[1] | |||
| Producer | Norbert Putnam[2] | |||
| Eric Andersen chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [3] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | C[4] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  [1] |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide | [5] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [6] |
Production
The album was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee.[10] Joni Mitchell contributes vocals on the title track, "Blue River".[3]
Chart performance
It was his first charting album, it peaked at No. 169 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape during an eleven-week run on the chart.[11]
Critical reception
No Depression called the album's sound "subtle and incandescent," writing that producer Norbert Putnam "crafted a sound that was both sensual and spacious — at times reminiscent of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks — and always attentive to the languid melodies and sometimes frightening intimacy of Andersen’s lyrics."[10] MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide wrote that the album "stands alongside anything that the singer-songwriter produced during the '70s."[5] The Los Angeles Times deemed it "a delicately melodic, bittersweetly introspective song cycle that found its place within the Carole King-James Taylor-Joni Mitchell-Jackson Browne school of sensitive pop."[12]
Track listing
- "Is It Really Love at All" (Andersen) – 5:21
- "Pearl's Goodtime Blues" (Andersen) – 2:21
- "Wind and Sand" (Andersen) – 4:30
- "Faithful" (Andersen) – 3:15
- "Blue River" (Andersen) – 4:46
- "Florentine" (Andersen) – 3:31
- "Sheila" (Andersen) – 4:37
- "More Often Than Not" (David Wiffen) – 4:52
- "Round the Bend" (Andersen) – 5:38
- "Come To My Bedside, My Darlin'" (Andersen) – 4:58 ~*
- "Why Don't You Love Me" (Hank Williams) – 2:54 ~*
~* = Bonus Track on CD Release (recorded during album sessions)
Charts
| Chart (1972) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Top LPs & Tape[13] | 169 |
| Canada RPM 100[14] | 61 |
Personnel
- Eric Andersen - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, harmonica, vocals
- David Bromberg - dobro, acoustic guitar
- Andy Johnson - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vibraphone, background vocals
- David Briggs - organ, keyboards, celeste
- Weldon Myrick - steel guitar
- Norbert Putnam - bass
- Glen Spreen - organ, harpsichord, keyboards, woodwinds
- Eddie Hinton - acoustic guitar, electric guitar
- Grady Martin - gut string guitar, acoustic guitar
- Kevin Kelly - accordion
- Mark Sporer - bass
- Kenneth Buttrey - drums, percussion, tambourine
- Jim McKevitt - drums
- Rick Shlosser - drums
- Deborah Andersen - piano, background vocals
- Joni Mitchell - vocals, background vocals
- Farrell Morris - vibraphone, background vocals
- Jerry Carrigan - percussion
- Millie Kirkham - background vocals
- Sonja Montgomery - background vocals
- Laverna Moore - background vocals
- Florence Warner - background vocals
- Temple Riser - background vocals
- The Jordanaires - background vocals
- The Holidays - background vocals
Production
- Producer: Norbert Putnam
- Recording Engineer: Stan Hutto/Glen Kolotkin/Stan Tonkel
- Production Manager: Jessica Sowin
- Art Direction: John Berg
- Liner Notes: Anthony DeCurtis
- Photography: Urve Kuusik/Sandy Speiser/Don Nelson