Flying Cowboys
Studio album by
Rickie Lee Jones
ReleasedSeptember 26, 1989
Studio
Length55:17
LabelGeffen
ProducerWalter Becker
Rickie Lee Jones chronology
The Magazine
(1984)		 Flying Cowboys
(1989)		 Pop Pop
(1991)

Flying Cowboys is fourth full-length studio album by Rickie Lee Jones. It was released in September 1989 and produced by Walter Becker of Steely Dan.

Background

After the release of The Magazine in 1984, Jones retreated from the limelight. She married Pascal Nabet Meyer and gave birth to daughter Charlotte Rose in 1988 while working on her fourth full-length studio album.

Jones and Nabet Meyer had been writing and working together on new material for several years before the recording work commenced in 1988, with Walter Becker as producer. Jones had expressed admiration for the work of Steely Dan, particularly their album The Royal Scam (1976).

Promotional copies of Flying Cowboys were packaged with an interview with Jones conducted by an unknown individual (previously misidentified as LeVar Burton). This interview is the source for a passage that is extensively sampled on British electronic group the Orb's 1990 hit "Little Fluffy Clouds".[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Robert ChristgauB[3]
Rolling Stone[4]

St. Petersburg Times, Oct. 13, 1989 (4/5) – "[She] embraces adulthood and real life without sacrificing her cool, bohemian edge."

Time, Oct. 23, 1989 – "In Flying Cowboys...she sets down a kind of mystical confessional, full of allusive autobiography and reflective nonchalance. It has the breadth of an important book and the emotional impact of great rock 'n' roll."

Rolling Stone, Nov. 2, 1989 (4/5) – "While it explores a wealth of themes and musical styles, the album unfolds with the ongoing grace of one long song. What provides unity to the album's varied elements is its seductive rhythmic flow, the down-home surrealism of Jones's lyrics, the clarity and intelligence of Walter Becker's production and, of course, the sensual elasticity of Jones's extraordinary singing."

The New York Times, Dec. 24, 1989 – Best of 1989 – "Ms. Jones's newest suite of enigmatic dream songs drenched in personal mythology is an eccentric tour de force, as rich in imagery as it is self-dramatizing."

Track listing

All songs written by Rickie Lee Jones, except where noted. Side two of the vinyl release of the album begins with the title track.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Horses"
4:47
2."Just My Baby"
  • Jones
  • Pascal Nabet-Meyer
4:44
3."Ghetto of My Mind"
  • Jones
  • Nabet-Meyer
6:12
4."Rodeo Girl" 4:50
5."Satellites" 4:54
6."Ghost Train" 4:16
7."Flying Cowboys"
  • Sal Bernardi
  • Jones
  • Nabet-Meyer
5:02
8."Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying"
4:13
9."Love Is Gonna Bring Us Back Alive"
  • Jones
  • Nabet-Meyer
4:51
10."Away from the Sky" 5:30
11."Atlas' Marker" 5:58

Personnel

Musicians

  • Rickie Lee Jones – synthesizer, string synthesizer, organ, guitar, steel drums, drum programming, vocals; all instruments (4)
  • John Robinson – drums (1, 3, 5, 9)
  • Peter Erskine – drums (7, 11)
  • Buzz Feiten – guitar (1, 3, 5, 9)
  • Dean Parks – guitar (1–3, 5, 7, 10, 11)
  • Greg Phillinganes – keyboards (1, 3, 5)
  • Neil Stubenhaus – bass (1, 3, 5, 9, 11)
  • Sal Bernardi – guitar, backing vocals (7)
  • Jim Keltner – drum machine effects (6)
  • Bob Sheppard – saxophone (5, 8)
  • Rob Wasserman – bass (8)
  • Paulinho da Costa – percussion (8)
  • William "Smitty" Smith – organ (1)
  • Michael Omartian – piano (1)
  • Ed Alton – acoustic bass (2)
  • Michael Fisher – percussion (2)
  • Gary Coleman – vibraphone (2)
  • Bob Zimmitti – percussion (3, 5)
  • Chris Dickie – drum programming (4)
  • Walter Becker – bass (7)
  • Marty Krystall – English horn, clarinet (7), tenor saxophone (9)
  • Vince Mendoza – trumpet (7)
  • Greg Mathieson – Hammond B3 organ (9)
  • Michael Boddicker – string synthesizer (10)
  • Pascal Nabet-Meyer – synthesizer, piano (7), percussion programming (11)
  • Randy Brecker – trumpet (11)
  • Vonda Shepard – backing vocals
  • Chris Smith – harmonica
  • Kevin Dorsey, Michael Ruff - backing vocals (1)
  • Leslie Smith, The Waters - backing vocals (3)

Production

  • Walter Becker – producer
  • Gary Gersh, Pascal Nabet Meyer - executive producers
  • Greg Penny, Roger Nicols, Mark Linett, Lavant Coppock, Roger Hart – engineer
  • Stephen Marcussen - mastering engineer (Precision Lacquer)
  • Jose Esteban Martinez – front cover painting entitled "I am Singing at Your Window"

Charts

Chart (1989/90) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA Charts)[5] 70
US (Billboard 200) 39

References

  1. ↑ McCusker, Eamonn (2003-10-15). "The Orb - Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld". CD Times. Archived from the original on 2006-03-15.
  2. ↑ AllMusic review
  3. ↑ Robert Christgau review
  4. ↑ Rolling Stone review Archived November 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 148.
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