fbpx
Wikipedia

Stealin' Home (album)

December 18, 2023

Stealin' Home is the title of the ninth solo album by British singer/songwriter Ian Matthews. It was the first of four solo albums made for Rockburgh Records, the record label formed in 1977 by Sandy Roberton who had produced the album In Search Of Amelia Earhart by Matthews’s 1972 band, Plainsong [the others would be Siamese Friends (1979), Spot Of Interference (1983) and Shook (1984)].

Stealin' Home
Studio album by
Ian Matthews
Released11 August 1978
Recorded1978
StudioChipping Norton Recording Studios
GenreSoft rock
Length36:51
LabelRockburgh Records (UK) Mushroom Records (US and Canada)
ProducerSandy Roberton / Ian Matthews
Ian Matthews chronology
Hit and Run
(1977) 		Stealin' Home
(1978) 		Siamese Friends
(1979)
Singles from Stealin' Home
  1. "Shake It" B-side "Stealin' Home "
    Released: September 1978 (US)
  2. "Give Me an Inch"
    B-side "Let There Be Blues "
    Released: February 1979 (US)
  3. "Don't Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes"
    B-side "Slip Away "
    Released: May 1979 (US)

Originally released on vinyl by Rockburgh Records on 11 August 1978 (catalogue # ROC 106), and in the US and Canada by Mushroom Records in September of that year (MRS 5012), Stealin' Home has been released over 40 times on vinyl, cassette, 8-track cartridge and CD, more than any other album in Matthews’ 50 plus years as a recording artist.[1]

Expanded versions of the album featuring a 9-song live performance recorded at Texas A&M University in November 1978 were released by Air Mail Archive in Japan in 2013 (AIRAC-1701) and US label Omnivore in 2014 (OVCD-98).

Background edit

"Loner Musician Plots Harmonious Career"
(15 November 1978) (excerpt)
"When his [Elektra Records] contract expired [Matthews] moved to Columbia Records. When [that] contract...expired, 'no one said anything' [recalls Matthews] so [he] made 'some demos & kind of did the round of the record companies...[Then] right out of the blue a friend [called] from London[: Sandy Robertson,] owner of Rock- burgh Records, who] was the only [music exec] who [approached] me at that...time. I went over there & signed a record deal & we recorded the album. [Robertson] started approaching [North American labels] with a complete album.'"[2]

Recorded in the early summer of 1978 at Chipping Norton Recording Studios in the West Oxfordshire town of Chipping Norton, Stealin' Home was the result of Ian Matthews' first UK recording sessions since 1973 [3] but in the opinion of Mark Deming of AMG, Matthews on Stealin' Home "dove headfirst into a polished pop sound that made the one-time British folkie sound like a member of the LA Mellow Mafia. [Though] recorded in Oxfordshire, 'Stealin' Home' re-created the meticulously crafted sound of West Coast pop with impressive accuracy."[4]

Alan Mckay of MusicRiot.co.uk concurs that "with great session players, tasteful (bordering on minimal) FM radio-friendly arrangements and lyrics dealing with American themes [plus] a singer with a plaintive high tenor voice" it's obvious that "the album was aimed squarely at the American market".[5] McKay further opines: "The theme running through the album was the failure of the American dream...Matthews picked out songs about the party set, car fanatics and sports groupies to form the backbone of this album. It's a melancholy album because it looks back at the unfulfilled promise of American lives in the same way that Bob Seger did with songs like 'Hollywood Nights" and 'Night Moves' and Jackson Browne did with 'The Pretender'."[6]

While the lead US single off Stealin' Home: "Shake It", was in the Top 40, Matthews would tell Rolling Stone: "I don’t think I did anything different [to record a hit single]. I guess it's my reward. After all, I've been doing exactly what I want for 14 or 15 years."[7] However Matthews would later acknowledge that on Stealin' Home, "I tried to add just a couple of songs that had Top 40 potential, without compromising the rest of the material [and the album] did precisely what it was supposed to do: it raised my profile, without lowering my credibility."[8] Matthews had heard the original version of "Shake It" from its composer Terence Boylan's self-titled album played on a Seattle FM radio station: after Matthews phoned the radio station for info on the track the disc jockey sent him a copy of the 1977 Terence Boylan album from which Matthews would select two songs: "Shake It" and "Don't Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes", to record for Stealin' Home. "Don't Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes" would be the third single from the US release of Stealin' Home, the immediate followup to "Shake It" being the Robert Palmer composition "Give Me an Inch": having heard the original version of "Give Me an Inch" - introduced on the 1975 Robert Palmer album Pressure Drop - Matthews had wanted to put his own spin on the song.[9]

Ian Matthews on Stealin' Home 36 years on
"I think it's a good album, from another time & place. A stepping stone of sorts. It turned me & propelled me in a certain direction, which...was exactly where I [then] needed to go. I don't listen to it much these days, but...whenever I do, I'm pleasantly surprised by its musicality.[9]

Co-produced by Matthews with Sandy Roberton, who had produced Matthews' 1972 Plainsong project, Stealin' Home had its UK release on Roberton's Rockburgh Records label as ROC 106 and was picked up for September 1978 release in the US and Canada by Mushroom Records as MRS-5012. Matthews would give credit to Mushroom for the success of the album's lead single "Shake It", which afforded Matthews his first solo Top 40 hit: (Ian Matthews quote:)"I've had potential hit singles on [earlier] albums... but there's never been the enthusiasm I've had from this record company. It [gave] me a hit single."[10] Spearheaded by the success of "Shake It", Stealin' Home became Matthews' first album to rise above the lower end of the Billboard 200 album chart where it reached a #80 peak in February concurrent with the #13 Billboard Hot 100 peak of the "Shake It" single, which would remain Matthews' only Top 40 hit, the second single from the Stealin' Home album: "Give Me an Inch", peaking at #67 and proving Matthews final Hot 100 entry. (Matthews, who had reached #23 on the Hot 100 in 1972 fronting the Matthews' Southern Comfort single "Woodstock", had as a solo act had one prior Hot 100 entry with "Da Doo Ron Ron" also in 1972.) Matthews would be afforded his final appearance on a Billboard chart via the third single off Stealin' Home: "Don't Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes", which peaked at #42 on the magazine's Easy Listening hit ranking, on which "Shake It" had reached #21 and "Give Me an Inch #43.[6]

In the UK the album's lead single was the John Martyn composition "Man in the Station" which Matthews would in 2014 cite as one of his two favorite tracks off the album (the other being his own "Let There Be Blues"),[9] with successive single release then afforded the tracks "King of the Night" and "Give Me an Inch" before "Shake It" was issued as a UK single in February 1979, the last-named then nearing its #13 US chart peak: none of these singles garnered interest in the UK where the parent Stealin' Home album was resultantly also overlooked.[11]

Track listing (original 1978 album) edit

  1. "Gimme An Inch Girl" (Robert Palmer) - 4:19
  2. "Don't Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes" (Terence Boylan) - 2:58
  3. "King Of The Night" (Jeffrey Comanor) - 3:55
  4. "Man In The Station" (John Martyn) - 3:53
  5. "Let There Be Blues" (Ian Matthews) - 3:59
  6. "Carefully Taught" (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II; arranged by Ian Matthews) - 0:59
  7. "Stealin' Home" (Ian Matthews) - 3:21
  8. "Shake It" (Terence Boylan) - 3:20
  9. "Yank And Mary (Smile)" (Richard Stekol, Charlie Chaplin, John Turner, Geoffrey Parsons) - 2:29
  10. "Slip Away" (Ian Matthews, Bill Lamb) - 4:12
  11. "Sail My Soul" (Bill Lamb, Ian Matthews) - 4:26

The lead track varies in name depending on the version release of the album. For example, on the Rockburgh Records vinyl release it is listed as "Gimme An Inch Girl" whereas on the Mushroom Records vinyl release it is just "Gimme An Inch". Similarly the Line Records CD release lists it as "Gimme An Inch Girl" whereas the Omnivore expanded CD release lists it as just "Gimme An Inch". The original song is the lead track on Robert Palmer's 1975 album Pressure Drop and is listed on that album as "Give Me An Inch".

Track listing (expanded reissue) edit

Expanded versions of the album featuring a 9-song live performance recorded at Texas A&M University in November 1978 ('The Homecoming Concert') were released by Air Mail Archive in Japan in 2013 (AIRAC-1701) [12] and US label Omnivore in 2014 (OVCD-98).[13]

  1. "Tigers Will Survive" (Ian Matthews) - 3:45
  2. "Stealin' Home" (Ian Matthews) - 5:02
  3. "Shake It" (Terence Boylan) - 3:57
  4. "Just One Look" (Ian Matthews, Jay Lacy) - 3:28
  5. "King Of The Night" (Jeffrey Comanor) - 4:31
  6. "Man In The Station" (John Martyn) - 5:38
  7. "Don't Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes" (Terence Boylan) - 2:57
  8. "Call The Tune" (Ian Matthews) - 6:24
  9. "Payday" (Jesse Winchester) - 4:47

The penultimate track in the live set is incorrectly listed as "Call the Tunes" on the 2014 Omnivore expanded release artwork. It is a song from Plainsong's In Search of Amelia Earhart album and should be "Call The Tune".

Charts edit

Chart (1978) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[14] 81

Personnel (original 1978 album) edit

Live concert band edit

Production edit

  • Produced by Sandy Roberton and Ian Matthews.
  • Recording Engineer: Barry Hammond at Chipping Norton Studios.
  • Front cover photo by Steve Hiett, courtesy of Reckitt & Colman.

References edit

  1. ^ Discogs listing, https://www.discogs.com/Ian-Matthews-Stealin-Home/master/68837
  2. ^ El Paso Times 15 November 1978 "Loner Musician Plots Harmonious Career" by Ed Kimble p.D1
  3. ^ Billboard vol 90 #31 (5 August 1978) p. 78
  4. ^ "Stealin' Home - Ian Matthews - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic.
  5. ^ "%22ian matthews%22 | MusicRiot.co.uk".
  6. ^ a b "Ian Matthews Songs ••• Top Songs / Chart Singles Discography ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts". www.musicvf.com.
  7. ^ Jancik, Wayne (1990). The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders. NYC: Watson-Guptill/Billboard Books. p. 355. ISBN 978-0-8230-7530-0.
  8. ^ . omnivorerecordings.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017.
  9. ^ a b c Ragogna, Mike (29 August 2014). "Solo Concerts, Stealin' Home and Similar Skin: Chats with Bruce Hornsby, Iain Matthews and Umphrey's McGee...Plus!". HuffPost.
  10. ^ Indianapolis News 19 April 1979 "Right Record Company Brings Matthews Success" by Zach Dunkin p.38
  11. ^ "IAIN MATTHEWS a Complete (?) Discography – Fledg'ling Records".
  12. ^ Discogs listing, https://www.discogs.com/Ian-Matthews-Stealin-Home/release/4880572)
  13. ^ Discogs listing, https://www.discogs.com/Ian-Matthews-Stealin-Home/release/6098103
  14. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 195. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.

December 18, 2023
stealin, home, album, this, article, includes, list, general, references, lacks, sufficient, corresponding, inline, citations, please, help, improve, this, article, introducing, more, precise, citations, september, 2017, learn, when, remove, this, template, me. This article includes a list of general references but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations September 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message Stealin Home is the title of the ninth solo album by British singer songwriter Ian Matthews It was the first of four solo albums made for Rockburgh Records the record label formed in 1977 by Sandy Roberton who had produced the album In Search Of Amelia Earhart by Matthews s 1972 band Plainsong the others would be Siamese Friends 1979 Spot Of Interference 1983 and Shook 1984 Stealin HomeStudio album by Ian MatthewsReleased11 August 1978Recorded1978StudioChipping Norton Recording StudiosGenreSoft rockLength36 51LabelRockburgh Records UK Mushroom Records US and Canada ProducerSandy Roberton Ian MatthewsIan Matthews chronologyHit and Run 1977 Stealin Home 1978 Siamese Friends 1979 Singles from Stealin Home Shake It B side Stealin Home Released September 1978 US Give Me an Inch B side Let There Be Blues Released February 1979 US Don t Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes B side Slip Away Released May 1979 US Originally released on vinyl by Rockburgh Records on 11 August 1978 catalogue ROC 106 and in the US and Canada by Mushroom Records in September of that year MRS 5012 Stealin Home has been released over 40 times on vinyl cassette 8 track cartridge and CD more than any other album in Matthews 50 plus years as a recording artist 1 Expanded versions of the album featuring a 9 song live performance recorded at Texas A amp M University in November 1978 were released by Air Mail Archive in Japan in 2013 AIRAC 1701 and US label Omnivore in 2014 OVCD 98 Contents 1 Background 2 Track listing original 1978 album 3 Track listing expanded reissue 4 Charts 5 Personnel original 1978 album 6 Live concert band 7 Production 8 ReferencesBackground edit Loner Musician Plots Harmonious Career 15 November 1978 excerpt When his Elektra Records contract expired Matthews moved to Columbia Records When that contract expired no one said anything recalls Matthews so he made some demos amp kind of did the round of the record companies Then right out of the blue a friend called from London Sandy Robertson owner of Rock burgh Records who was the only music exec who approached me at that time I went over there amp signed a record deal amp we recorded the album Robertson started approaching North American labels with a complete album 2 Recorded in the early summer of 1978 at Chipping Norton Recording Studios in the West Oxfordshire town of Chipping Norton Stealin Home was the result of Ian Matthews first UK recording sessions since 1973 3 but in the opinion of Mark Deming of AMG Matthews on Stealin Home dove headfirst into a polished pop sound that made the one time British folkie sound like a member of the LA Mellow Mafia Though recorded in Oxfordshire Stealin Home re created the meticulously crafted sound of West Coast pop with impressive accuracy 4 Alan Mckay of MusicRiot co uk concurs that with great session players tasteful bordering on minimal FM radio friendly arrangements and lyrics dealing with American themes plus a singer with a plaintive high tenor voice it s obvious that the album was aimed squarely at the American market 5 McKay further opines The theme running through the album was the failure of the American dream Matthews picked out songs about the party set car fanatics and sports groupies to form the backbone of this album It s a melancholy album because it looks back at the unfulfilled promise of American lives in the same way that Bob Seger did with songs like Hollywood Nights and Night Moves and Jackson Browne did with The Pretender 6 While the lead US single off Stealin Home Shake It was in the Top 40 Matthews would tell Rolling Stone I don t think I did anything different to record a hit single I guess it s my reward After all I ve been doing exactly what I want for 14 or 15 years 7 However Matthews would later acknowledge that on Stealin Home I tried to add just a couple of songs that had Top 40 potential without compromising the rest of the material and the album did precisely what it was supposed to do it raised my profile without lowering my credibility 8 Matthews had heard the original version of Shake It from its composer Terence Boylan s self titled album played on a Seattle FM radio station after Matthews phoned the radio station for info on the track the disc jockey sent him a copy of the 1977 Terence Boylan album from which Matthews would select two songs Shake It and Don t Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes to record for Stealin Home Don t Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes would be the third single from the US release of Stealin Home the immediate followup to Shake It being the Robert Palmer composition Give Me an Inch having heard the original version of Give Me an Inch introduced on the 1975 Robert Palmer album Pressure Drop Matthews had wanted to put his own spin on the song 9 Ian Matthews on Stealin Home 36 years on I think it s a good album from another time amp place A stepping stone of sorts It turned me amp propelled me in a certain direction which was exactly where I then needed to go I don t listen to it much these days but whenever I do I m pleasantly surprised by its musicality 9 Co produced by Matthews with Sandy Roberton who had produced Matthews 1972 Plainsong project Stealin Home had its UK release on Roberton s Rockburgh Records label as ROC 106 and was picked up for September 1978 release in the US and Canada by Mushroom Records as MRS 5012 Matthews would give credit to Mushroom for the success of the album s lead single Shake It which afforded Matthews his first solo Top 40 hit Ian Matthews quote I ve had potential hit singles on earlier albums but there s never been the enthusiasm I ve had from this record company It gave me a hit single 10 Spearheaded by the success of Shake It Stealin Home became Matthews first album to rise above the lower end of the Billboard 200 album chart where it reached a 80 peak in February concurrent with the 13 Billboard Hot 100 peak of the Shake It single which would remain Matthews only Top 40 hit the second single from the Stealin Home album Give Me an Inch peaking at 67 and proving Matthews final Hot 100 entry Matthews who had reached 23 on the Hot 100 in 1972 fronting the Matthews Southern Comfort single Woodstock had as a solo act had one prior Hot 100 entry with Da Doo Ron Ron also in 1972 Matthews would be afforded his final appearance on a Billboard chart via the third single off Stealin Home Don t Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes which peaked at 42 on the magazine s Easy Listening hit ranking on which Shake It had reached 21 and Give Me an Inch 43 6 In the UK the album s lead single was the John Martyn composition Man in the Station which Matthews would in 2014 cite as one of his two favorite tracks off the album the other being his own Let There Be Blues 9 with successive single release then afforded the tracks King of the Night and Give Me an Inch before Shake It was issued as a UK single in February 1979 the last named then nearing its 13 US chart peak none of these singles garnered interest in the UK where the parent Stealin Home album was resultantly also overlooked 11 Track listing original 1978 album edit Gimme An Inch Girl Robert Palmer 4 19 Don t Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes Terence Boylan 2 58 King Of The Night Jeffrey Comanor 3 55 Man In The Station John Martyn 3 53 Let There Be Blues Ian Matthews 3 59 Carefully Taught Richard Rodgers Oscar Hammerstein II arranged by Ian Matthews 0 59 Stealin Home Ian Matthews 3 21 Shake It Terence Boylan 3 20 Yank And Mary Smile Richard Stekol Charlie Chaplin John Turner Geoffrey Parsons 2 29 Slip Away Ian Matthews Bill Lamb 4 12 Sail My Soul Bill Lamb Ian Matthews 4 26The lead track varies in name depending on the version release of the album For example on the Rockburgh Records vinyl release it is listed as Gimme An Inch Girl whereas on the Mushroom Records vinyl release it is just Gimme An Inch Similarly the Line Records CD release lists it as Gimme An Inch Girl whereas the Omnivore expanded CD release lists it as just Gimme An Inch The original song is the lead track on Robert Palmer s 1975 album Pressure Drop and is listed on that album as Give Me An Inch Track listing expanded reissue editExpanded versions of the album featuring a 9 song live performance recorded at Texas A amp M University in November 1978 The Homecoming Concert were released by Air Mail Archive in Japan in 2013 AIRAC 1701 12 and US label Omnivore in 2014 OVCD 98 13 Tigers Will Survive Ian Matthews 3 45 Stealin Home Ian Matthews 5 02 Shake It Terence Boylan 3 57 Just One Look Ian Matthews Jay Lacy 3 28 King Of The Night Jeffrey Comanor 4 31 Man In The Station John Martyn 5 38 Don t Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes Terence Boylan 2 57 Call The Tune Ian Matthews 6 24 Payday Jesse Winchester 4 47The penultimate track in the live set is incorrectly listed as Call the Tunes on the 2014 Omnivore expanded release artwork It is a song from Plainsong s In Search of Amelia Earhart album and should be Call The Tune Charts editChart 1978 PeakpositionAustralia Kent Music Report 14 81Personnel original 1978 album editIan Matthews vocals Bryn Haworth electric and acoustic guitars mandolin Phil Palmer electric guitar Jim Russell drums Rick Kemp bass Pete Wingfield keyboards Mel Collins saxophone on Shake It and Let There Be Blues Duffy Power blues harp on Man in the Station Simon Morton percussionLive concert band editIan Matthews vocals guitar Joel Tepp guitar harmonica Bob Metzger guitar Mark Griffiths bass vocals Mick Weaver keyboards Jim Russell drumsProduction editProduced by Sandy Roberton and Ian Matthews Recording Engineer Barry Hammond at Chipping Norton Studios Front cover photo by Steve Hiett courtesy of Reckitt amp Colman References edit Discogs listing https www discogs com Ian Matthews Stealin Home master 68837 El Paso Times 15 November 1978 Loner Musician Plots Harmonious Career by Ed Kimble p D1 Billboard vol 90 31 5 August 1978 p 78 Stealin Home Ian Matthews Songs Reviews Credits AllMusic AllMusic 22ian matthews 22 MusicRiot co uk a b Ian Matthews Songs Top Songs Chart Singles Discography Music VF US amp UK hits charts www musicvf com Jancik Wayne 1990 TheBillboardBook of One Hit Wonders NYC Watson Guptill Billboard Books p 355 ISBN 978 0 8230 7530 0 Press Release Iain Matthews Stealin Home Omnivore Recordings omnivorerecordings com Archived from the original on 10 August 2017 a b c Ragogna Mike 29 August 2014 Solo Concerts Stealin Home and Similar Skin Chats with Bruce Hornsby Iain Matthews and Umphrey s McGee Plus HuffPost Indianapolis News 19 April 1979 Right Record Company Brings Matthews Success by Zach Dunkin p 38 IAIN MATTHEWS a Complete Discography Fledg ling Records Discogs listing https www discogs com Ian Matthews Stealin Home release 4880572 Discogs listing https www discogs com Ian Matthews Stealin Home release 6098103 Kent David 1993 Australian Chart Book 1970 1992 illustrated ed St Ives N S W Australian Chart Book p 195 ISBN 0 646 11917 6 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Stealin 27 Home album amp oldid 1173714986, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.