Head Like a Rock explained

Head Like a Rock
Type:	Album
Artist:	Ian McNabb
Cover:	Head Like a Rock (album cover).jpg
Released:	4 July 1994
Recorded:	1993
Studio:	Red Zone Studios, Burbank, California; Mayfair Studios, Regents Park, London
Genre:	Rock^[1]
Length:	67:03
Label:	This Way Up
Producer:	Robert Ian McNabb, John Porter
Prev Title:	Truth and Beauty
Prev Year:	1993
Next Title:	Merseybeast
Next Year:	1996

Head Like a Rock is a 1994 concept album released on 4 July 1994,^[2] and recorded by Ian McNabb.^[3] McNabb's second solo album, it was nominated for the 1994 Mercury Music Prize.^[4] The album was recorded in Los Angeles with the backing band Crazy Horse. The album peaked at No. 29 on the official UK charts.^[5]

Late in 2012, Ian revealed that his first three studio albums were to be re-released as 'expanded editions'. In early December 2013, 'Head Like a Rock (Expanded edition)' was announced on Amazon with a scheduled release date of January 28, 2013: "This expanded version has been re-mastered by Ian himself and is a testament to the great album it was, enhanced with upgraded packaging and a bonus disc of the B-sides that came with the assorted singles. This is a great addition to the canon of Ian's work."^[6]

Track listing

All tracks composed by Ian McNabb

1. "Fire Inside My Soul" (8:35)
2. "You Must Be Prepared to Dream" (6:57)
3. "Child Inside a Father" (9:02)
4. "Still Got the Fever" (7:29)
5. "Potency"(4:38)
6. "Go Into the Light" (4:08)
7. "As a Life Goes By" (4:42)
8. "Sad Strange Solitary Catholic Mystic" (4:45)
9. "This Time Is Forever"(5:38)
10. "May You Always" (10:51)

Personnel

• Ian McNabb - guitar, vocals
• John Porter - acoustic guitar, keyboards; dobro on "As a Life Goes By"
• Billy Talbot - bass, backing vocals
• Ralph Molina - drums, backing vocals; co-lead vocals on "Child Inside a Father"
• Tommy Eyre - organ; piano on "This Time is Forever"; synthesizer and string arrangement on "Sad Strange Solitary Catholic Mystic"
• James Hutchinson - bass
• Joseph Modeliste - drums
• Tony Braunagel - percussion
• Greg Leisz - pedal steel guitar; lap steel on "Potency"
• Scarlet Rivera - violin on "Potency" and "Sad Strange Solitary Catholic Mystic"
• Roy Corkill - acoustic guitar, bass
• Mike "Tone" Hamilton - rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Nick Warren - keyboards on "Still Got the Fever" and "This Time is Forever"
• Martin Tillman - cello on "Potency" and "Sad Strange Solitary Catholic Mystic"
• Marty Grebb - alto saxophone on "Go Into the Light"
• Maxi Anderson, Mona Lisa Young, Terry Young - backing vocals

Technical

• Joe McGrath - engineer
• Ian McNabb, Pete Schwier - mixing
• Phil Smee - design
• Theo Westenberger - front cover photography of Reggie J. Trickpus (Alan Ende Ventriloquist Collection)

References

1. Web site: Head Like a Rock. Michael Sutton. AllMusic.
2. The Emotional Party: The Thoughts and Words of Ian McNabb
3. Web site: merseybeasts - ian mcnabb discography. Leslie Carl Seiler. Merseybeasts.COM.
4. Web site: Mercury Prize - Ian McNabb: Head Like a Rock - 1994 Shortlist - Albums of the Year. Mercury Prize. https://web.archive.org/web/20160208020052/http://www.mercuryprize.com/aoty/track.php?TrackID=82. 8 February 2016. 29 April 2012. live.
5. Book: Roberts, David. 2006. British Hit Singles & Albums. 19th. Guinness World Records Limited. London. 1-904994-10-5. 341.
6. Web site: Head Like A Rock (2CD Expanded Edition): Amazon.co.uk: Music. Amazon UK . 2013 .