El Mirage (album) explained

El Mirage
Type:studio
Artist:Jimmy Webb
Cover:El_Mirage_Album.jpg
Alt:Album cover image of Jimmy Webb in silhouette on a beach at sunset
Recorded:1977
Studio:Cherokee Studios, Hollywood, California
Genre:Pop
Label:Atlantic
Producer:George Martin
Prev Title:Land's End
Prev Year:1974
Next Title:Angel Heart
Next Year:1982

El Mirage is the sixth album by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb, released in May 1977 by Atlantic Records. This was the second album for which Webb handed production and arrangement duties on to another person, George Martin, producer of the Beatles. The album contains "The Highwayman", a song that later provided both the name and first hit for the Highwaymen. Waylon Jennings, part of the Highwaymen, also recorded the track "If You See Me Getting Smaller" for his album Ol Waylon (1977).[1] The cover was photographed at El Mirage Lake, Mojave Desert, California.[2]

Critical reception

In his review for AllMusic, William Ruhlmann called the album Webb's "most polished effort yet as a performer". Ruhlmann noted the "lush tracks full of tasty playing and warm string charts". He described the re-recording of "P.F. Sloan" as "unnecessary", but found the compositions generally up to Webb's high standard as a songwriter, and the album as a whole a successful reintroduction of Webb as a pop artist.[1]

Personnel

Music
Production

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ruhlmann . William . El Mirage . AllMusic . October 26, 2012.
  2. Web site: Musical Maps.