Relish (album)

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1995 studio album by Joan Osborne

Relish

Studio album by

Joan Osborne

Released| March 21, 1995
Recorded| 1994–1995
Studio| The Crawlspace (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania); additional recording at Big Blue (Katonah, New York) and PIE Studios (Glen Cove, New York)
Genre| Rock
Length| 61:06
Label|

* Blue Gorilla
* Mercury

Producer| Rick Chertoff
Joan Osborne chronology
| Soul Show: Live at Delta 88
(1991)  | Relish
(1995)  | Early Recordings
(1996)

|
|

Singles from  Relish

1. "One of Us"
Released: November 21, 1995
2. "St. Teresa"
Released: May 27, 1996
3. "Right Hand Man"
Released: August 1996
4. "Ladder"
Released: January 1997

Relish is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Joan Osborne, released on March 21, 1995. It was nominated for Album of the Year at the 38th Grammy Awards, and also earned nominations for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Osborne. In addition, the track "One of Us" was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

## Background

[edit]

Relish contains songs performed in a mixture of styles: contemporary folk, rock, and pop.

Its biggest hit single, "One of Us", was used as the theme to the 2003–2005 television series Joan of Arcadia, although the show used a re-recorded version. The album and the song were both nominated for multiple Grammy Awards in 1996. The song was written by Eric Bazilian of the Hooters.

"Man in the Long Black Coat" is a cover of the Bob Dylan song from his 1989 album Oh Mercy.

The music for "Right Hand Man" is said to have been inspired by Captain Beefheart's 1982 song "Clear Spot," although the two are in different time signatures and have completely different lyrics and subject matter.

The final track, "Lumina", was used on the first episode of the HBO hit show The Sopranos. It was also used in an episode in the fourth season of the CBS hit show The Good Wife in 2013.

## Critical reception

[edit]

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [1]
Chicago Tribune| [2]
Robert Christgau| [3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music| [4]
Entertainment Weekly| A−[5]
The Guardian| [6]
NME| 7/10[7]
Q| [8]
Rolling Stone| [9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide| [10]

The New York Times wrote: "Osborne clearly loves blues and soul, and on Relish she finds a way to use their vocabulary for the here and now. Superficially she's like [Bonnie] Raitt, applying past masters' lessons to current material, but Osborne is never far from urban grit."[11]

## Track listing

[edit]

No.| Title| Writer(s)| Length

|
|
|

1.| "St. Teresa"|

* Joan Osborne
* Eric Bazilian
* Rob Hyman
* Rick Chertoff

| 5:20
2.| "Man in the Long Black Coat"| Bob Dylan| 4:49
3.| "Right Hand Man"|

* Osborne
* Bazilian
* Hyman
* Chertoff
* Don Van Vliet

| 4:57
4.| "Pensacola"|

* Osborne
* Bazilian
* Hyman
* Chertoff

| 4:32
5.| "Dracula Moon"|

* Osborne
* Bazilian
* Hyman
* Chertoff

| 6:21
6.| "One of Us"| Bazilian| 5:21
7.| "Ladder"|

* Osborne
* Bazilian
* Hyman
* Chertoff

| 4:11
8.| "Spider Web"|

* Osborne
* Chertoff
* Gary Lucas
* Sammy Merendino
* Chris Palmaro

| 5:34
9.| "Let's Just Get Naked"|

* Osborne
* Bazilian

| 5:08
10.| "Help Me"|

* Sonny Boy Williamson II
* Ralph Bass

| 5:14
11.| "Crazy Baby"| Osborne| 6:31
12.| "Lumina"|

* Osborne
* Bazilian

| 3:08
Total length:| 61:06

### Notes

[edit]

* "One of Us" contains an introduction of "The Airplane Ride," a spiritual written by J. S. McConnel and sung by Nell Hampton, under license from Alan Lomax. Used by permission.
* "Ladder" contains a sample from "Mambo Sun," written by Marc Bolan under license from Straight Ahead Productions Ltd. TRO/Essex Music International (ASCAP) as recorded by T. Rex. Used by permission.

## Personnel

[edit]

Credits adapted from CD liner notes.[12]

* Joan Osborne – vocals (all tracks), percussion (3, 5), acoustic guitar (11)
* Eric Bazilian – guitar (1, 3–7, 9, 12), electric guitar (11), mandolin (1), chant (1), saxophone (3), harmonica (4, 5), electric piano (6), backing vocals (6)
* Mark Egan – bass guitar (1, 3–7, 9–11)
* Rob Hyman – piano (3, 7), organ (1, 4, 5, 7), synthesizer (1, 12), electric piano (4, 5, 11), percussion (5), Mellotron (6), backing vocals (6), drums (6)
* Andy Kravitz – drums (1, 3–5, 7, 10, 11), percussion (3)

Additional personnel

* Rick Di Fonzo – acoustic guitar (2), solo guitar (2, 8)
* Sammy Merendino – drums (2, 9), rhythm collage (7, 8)
* Chris Palmaro – electric piano (2, 8), organ (7), virtual fiddle (8), Mellotron (8, 9)
* William Wittman – electric guitar (2), guitar (7)
* Rick Chertoff – percussion (3, 5)
* Leo Osborne – backing vocals (4)
* Lee Campbell – fiddle (8)
* Omar Hakim – drums (8)
* Gary Lucas – guitar (8, 10)
* Wade Schuman – harmonica (8, 10)
* Catherine Russell – backing vocals (8)

### Production

[edit]

* Produced by Rick Chertoff
* Tracks 1–11 recorded and mixed by William Wittman; track 12 recorded and mixed by Rob Hyman
* Assistant recording engineer at Big Blue: Mark Mason
* Additional recording and mix engineering at PIE Studios by Rob Polhemus
* Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound (NYC)

## Charts

[edit]

### Weekly charts

[edit]

Weekly sales chart performance for Relish | Chart (1995–96)  | Peak
position

|

Australian Albums (ARIA)[13] | 12
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[14] | 8
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[15] | 5
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[16] | 14
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[17] | 8
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[18] | 14
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] | 15
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[20] | 13
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[21] | 17
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[22] | 6
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[23] | 18
UK Albums (OCC)[24] | 5
US Billboard 200[25] | 9

### Year-end charts

[edit]

Annual sales chart performance for Relish | Chart (1996)  | Position

|

Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[26] | 46
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[27] | 94
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[28] | 37
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[29] | 42
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[30] | 47
UK Albums (OCC)[31] | 98
US Billboard 200[32] | 29

## Certifications and sales

[edit]

Sales certifications for Relish Region  | Certification | Certified units/sales

|
|

Australia (ARIA)[33] | Gold  | 35,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[34] | Platinum  | 100,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[35] | Gold  | 7,500^
United Kingdom (BPI)[36] | Gold  | 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[37] | 3× Platinum  | 3,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Parisien, Roch. "Relish – Joan Osborne". AllMusic. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
2. ^ Dretzka, Gary (June 29, 1995). "Joan Osborne: Relish (Blue Gorilla/Mercury)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
3. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Joan Osborne". Robert Christgau. Retrieved January 7, 2023. Christgau's scissors rating means there is one choice cut on the album and the rest is not worth one's time or money.
4. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). "Osborne, Joan". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
5. ^ McDonnell, Evelyn (March 10, 1995). "Relish". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
6. ^ Sweeting, Adam (March 8, 1996). "Joan Osborne: Relish (Blue Gorilla/Mercury)". The Guardian.
7. ^ "Joan Osborne: Relish". NME. March 9, 1996. p. 41.
8. ^ "Joan Osborne: Relish". Q. No. 112\. January 1996. p. 143.
9. ^ Evans, Paul (May 4, 1995). "Joan Osborne: Relish". Rolling Stone. p. 69\. Archived from the original on November 12, 2007. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
10. ^ Randall, Mac (2004). "Joan Osborne". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 608–09. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
11. ^ Pareles, Jon (5 Mar 1995). "A Voice as Raw as the City She Sings About". The New York Times. p. 2.28.
12. ^ Relish (CD liner notes). Joan Osborne. USA: Mercury Records. 1995. 314 526 699-2.`{{cite AV media notes}}`: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) Retrieved December 17, 2022 from Discogs.
13. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Joan Osborne – Relish". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
14. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Joan Osborne – Relish" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
15. ^ "Ultratop.be – Joan Osborne – Relish" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
16. ^ "Ultratop.be – Joan Osborne – Relish" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
17. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Joan Osborne – Relish" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
18. ^ "Joan Osborne: Relish" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
19. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Joan Osborne – Relish" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
20. ^ "Charts.nz – Joan Osborne – Relish". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
21. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Joan Osborne – Relish". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
22. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Joan Osborne – Relish". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
23. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Joan Osborne – Relish". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
24. ^ "Joan Osborne | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
25. ^ "Joan Osborne Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
26. ^ "Jahreshitparade Alben 1996". austriancharts.at. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
27. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1996". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
28. ^ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
29. ^ "Top Selling Albums of 1996". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
30. ^ "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1996". hitparade.ch. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
31. ^ "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 1996". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
32. ^ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1996". Billboard. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
33. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1996 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved July 14, 2022.
34. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Joan Osborne – Relish". Music Canada. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
35. ^ "New Zealand album certifications – Joan Osborne – Relish". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 2024-11-20.
36. ^ "British album certifications – Joan Osborne – Relish". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
37. ^ "American album certifications – Joan Osborne – Relish". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved June 29, 2019.

* v
* t
* e

Joan Osborne

Studio albums|

* Relish
* Righteous Love
* How Sweet It Is
* Christmas Means Love
* Pretty Little Stranger
* Breakfast in Bed
* Little Wild One
* Bring It On Home
* Love and Hate
* Songs of Bob Dylan
* Trouble and Strife
* Nobody Owns You

Live albums|

* Soul Show: Live at Delta 88
* Early Recordings

Compilations|

* One of Us
* Radio Waves

Songs|

* "One of Us"
* "St. Teresa"

Related articles|

* Discography
* The Dead
* Phil Lesh and Friends
* Trigger Hippy

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

Other|

* MusicBrainz release group

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