Unlimited Streaming
Listen to this album in high quality now on our apps
Start my trial period and start listening to this albumEnjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription
SubscribeEnjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription
Digital Download
Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.
Language available : english
Gilbert O'Sullivan's fourth album, Stranger in My Own Backyard, was recorded in California (at the urging of American-based producer and manager Gordon Mills) in 1974, but only saw release that year on U.K. shores. The patchiest of O'Sullivan's early albums, Stranger occasionally finds its footing and delivers a witty and well-crafted song or two. "It's So Easy to Be Sad" merges traditional British dancehall gallop and American West Coast smoothness to great effect, and contains some of the best examples of well-planned lyrical phrasing O'Sullivan has ever put on record. "My Father" more closely follows the established template of his earlier outings, with its single piano and woozy horn providing just the right atmosphere for a tipsy ode to dear old dad. Like an Irish Harry Nilsson, O'Sullivan's songwriting often has the uncanny ability to illuminate and find humor in the everyday trials of common folk. Not every track seems to have been crafted as carefully as those two. Slap-dash efforts (both lyrically and musically) like "The Thing Is" and "15 Times" sound like filler (because they are) and the shockingly chauvinistic "A Woman's Place" (delivered without a trace of irony) probably did not go over very well in the decade of Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman." Low points aside, it's hard not to admit O'Sullivan's influence on later, crafty British songwriters like Andy Partridge, Graham "Suggs" McPherson, and Glenn Tilbrook, and for that, Stranger in My Own Backyard deserves a tip of the old cap.
© J. Scott McClintock /TiVo
You are currently listening to samples.
Listen to over 100 million songs with an unlimited streaming plan.
Listen to this playlist and more than 100 million songs with our unlimited streaming plans.
From 13,50€/month
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Gilbert O' Sullivan, Vocals, Writer - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Gilbert O' Sullivan, Writer - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Composer, Piano, Vocals, Writer, MainArtist - Gilbert O' Sullivan, Vocals - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Composer, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Gilbert O' Sullivan, Vocals, Writer - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Gilbert O' Sullivan, Vocals, Writer - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Composer, Writer, Performance, MainArtist - Johnnie Spence, Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 2011 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Gilbert O' Sullivan, Vocals, Writer - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1974 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Gilbert O'sullivan, Composer, Performance, MainArtist
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1975 Grand Upright Music Limited, under exclusive licence to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1975 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Phil Ramone, RecordingEngineer - Gordon Mills, Producer - JOHN HAENY, RecordingEngineer - Gilbert O'sullivan, Composer, Piano, Vocals, MainArtist - Johnnie Spence, Orchestral Arranger, VocalArranger
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 1975 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Albumbeschreibung
Gilbert O'Sullivan's fourth album, Stranger in My Own Backyard, was recorded in California (at the urging of American-based producer and manager Gordon Mills) in 1974, but only saw release that year on U.K. shores. The patchiest of O'Sullivan's early albums, Stranger occasionally finds its footing and delivers a witty and well-crafted song or two. "It's So Easy to Be Sad" merges traditional British dancehall gallop and American West Coast smoothness to great effect, and contains some of the best examples of well-planned lyrical phrasing O'Sullivan has ever put on record. "My Father" more closely follows the established template of his earlier outings, with its single piano and woozy horn providing just the right atmosphere for a tipsy ode to dear old dad. Like an Irish Harry Nilsson, O'Sullivan's songwriting often has the uncanny ability to illuminate and find humor in the everyday trials of common folk. Not every track seems to have been crafted as carefully as those two. Slap-dash efforts (both lyrically and musically) like "The Thing Is" and "15 Times" sound like filler (because they are) and the shockingly chauvinistic "A Woman's Place" (delivered without a trace of irony) probably did not go over very well in the decade of Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman." Low points aside, it's hard not to admit O'Sullivan's influence on later, crafty British songwriters like Andy Partridge, Graham "Suggs" McPherson, and Glenn Tilbrook, and for that, Stranger in My Own Backyard deserves a tip of the old cap.
© J. Scott McClintock /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 22 track(s)
- Total length: 01:01:42
- Main artists: Gilbert O'sullivan
- Composer: Gilbert O'sullivan
- Label: Salvo
- Genre: Pop/Rock Pop
© 2012 Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company ℗ 2012 Grand Upright Music Limited under exclusive license to Union Square Music Limited, a BMG Company
Improve album information
Why buy on Qobuz...
-
Stream or download your music
Buy an album or an individual track. Or listen to our entire catalogue with our high-quality unlimited streaming subscriptions.
-
Zero DRM
The downloaded files belong to you, without any usage limit. You can download them as many times as you like.
-
Choose the format best suited for you
Download your purchases in a wide variety of formats (FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF...) depending on your needs.
-
Listen to your purchases on our apps
Download the Qobuz apps for smartphones, tablets and computers, and listen to your purchases wherever you go.