One Trick Pony (album)
| One-Trick Pony | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Soundtrack album / Studio album by Paul Simon | ||||
| Released | August 12, 1980 | |||
| Recorded | 1979–1980 A&R Studios, New York except "Ace in the hole" and "One Trick Pony" recorded live at The Agora Club/Cleveland, Ohio |
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| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 38:12 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Paul Simon, Phil Ramone | |||
| Paul Simon chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Robert Christgau | B− |
| Rolling Stone | (mixed) |
One-Trick Pony, Paul Simon's fifth solo studio album, was released in 1980. It was Simon's first album for Warner Bros. Records, and his first new studio album since 1975's Still Crazy After All These Years. His back catalog from Columbia Records would also move to Warner Bros. as a result of his signing with the label.
Paul Simon's One-Trick Pony was released concurrently with the film of the same name, in which Simon also starred. Despite their similarities, the album and film are musically distinct: each features different versions of the same songs, as well as certain songs that appear exclusively on either the film or the album. The album is best known for the Grammy-nominated track "Late in the Evening" which was a hit for Simon in 1980, peaking at #6 in the United States. Two of the tracks (the title song and "Ace in the Hole") were recorded live at the Agora Theatre and Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio in September 1979. The rest are studio cuts.
A few of the session musicians appearing on the album also appeared in the movie as the character Jonah's backing band: Eric Gale on lead guitar, Richard Tee on piano, Tony Levin on bass, and Steve Gadd on drums.
In 2004, One-Trick Pony was remastered and re-released by Warner Bros. Records. This reissue contains four bonus tracks, including "Soft Parachutes" and "Spiral Highway" (an early version of "How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns") both of which were featured in the film but were missing from the original album release. Also included in the re-release were the outtake of "All Because of You" (an early version of "Oh Marion") and "Stranded in a Limousine", which originally appeared on the 1977 compilation Greatest Hits, Etc..
The title is a colloquial American expression meaning a person specializing in only one area, having only one talent, or of limited ability.
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