Big Swing Face

For the Buddy Rich Big Band album of the same name, see Big Swing Face (Buddy Rich album)

Big Swing Face
Studio album by Bruce Hornsby
Released	June 25, 2002
Genre	Rock Jazz
Label	RCA
Producer	David Bendeth
Bruce Hornsby chronology
Here Come The Noise Makers (2000) Big Swing Face (2002) Halcyon Days (2004)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Big Swing Face is the eighth album by American singer and pianist Bruce Hornsby. It was Hornsby's first studio album with his touring band, the Noisemakers.

The album was Hornsby's most experimental effort to date; the only album on which Hornsby barely plays any piano, it relied heavily on post-electronica beats, drum loops, Pro Tools editing, and dense synthesizer arrangements.^[2] The album also boasts a "stream-of-consciousness wordplay" of lyrics that are in many ways more eccentric and humorous than previous work.^[3]

The jazz fusion jam on "Cartoons & Candy" and the gesture towards Hornsby's jam band influence with Steve Kimock's extended guitar solo on "The Chill" highlighted some of the album's only familiar territory,^[3] and Hornsby cites the opening track, "Sticks and Stones," as his partial homage to Radiohead's "Everything in its Right Place."^[4]

Big Swing Face received mixed reviews, ranging from "a new and improved Bruce Hornsby"^[5] to feeling as if "someone else is singing", to the album being called one of the "strangest records of 2002".^[2] Album sales were not helped by poor promotion from RCA, perhaps prompting Hornsby's decision to leave the label.^[4]

Track listing

All songs by Bruce Hornsby, except where noted.

1. "Sticks & Stones"
2. "Cartoons & Candy" (Hornsby, Morganfield)
3. "The Chill"
4. "Big Swing Face"
5. "This Too Shall Pass"
6. "Try Anything Once" (Hornsby, Bendeth)
7. "Take Out the Trash"
8. "The Good Life"
9. "So Out"
10. "No Home Training" (Hornsby, Hill)
11. "Place Under the Sun"

Musicians

• Bruce Hornsby - keyboards, vocals
• Doug Derryberry - guitar (tracks 3, 9, 11), background vocals (track 5)
• J. V. Collier - bass (tracks 1, 2, 4, 8, 10, 11)
• Bobby Read - bass clarinet (tracks 7, 11)
• J. T. Thomas - organ (track 10)
• Michael Baker - drums (tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10)
• Bonny Bonaparte - drums (tracks 3, 9, 10)
• Steve Kimock - guitar solos (tracks 3, 4, 5)
• Joe Lee - background vocals (track 9)
• Floyd Hill - background vocals (track 10)
• David Bendeth - guitars, organ (track 11), bass (tracks 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11), drum fills (tracks 7, 10)
• Wayne Pooley - additional talking (track 7)
• Jeff Juliano - additional talking (track 7)
• Taso Kotsas - drum programming

References

1. Big Swing Face at AllMusic. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Big Swing Face: Overview". All Media Guide, LLC. Retrieved 2007-05-04.
3. Metzger, John (August 2002). "Bruce Hornsby: Big Swing Face". The Music Box. 9 (8). Archived from the original on 18 May 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-04.
4. Hornsby, Bruce (2006). Liner notes from Intersections Box Set.
5. Miller, Skyler. "Halcyon Days: Overview". All Media Guide, LLC. Retrieved 2007-05-04.