A Tramp Shining


A Tramp Shining is the debut album of Richard Harris, released in 1968 by Dunhill Records. The album was written, arranged, and produced by singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb. Although Harris sang several numbers on the soundtrack album to the film musical Camelot the previous year, A Tramp Shining was Harris' first solo album. "MacArthur Park" was one of the biggest singles of that year, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. The album as a whole was also highly successful, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Album of the Year" in 1969.

Reception

In his review in Allmusic, Bruce Eder gave the album four out of five stars, calling A Tramp Shining a "great record, even 35 years later, encompassing pop, rock, elements of classical music, and even pop-soul in a body of brilliant, bittersweet romantic songs by Webb, all presented in a consistently affecting and powerful vocal performance by Harris." Eder praised Harris' performance for its "sheer bravado", writing of his rendition of "Didn't We":
Eder was equally impressed with Jimmy Webb's production and arrangements, which he called "some of the lushest ever heard on a pop album of the period." Eder concluded:
The album was ahead of its time in that it listed on the cover many of the session musicians who played on it.

Track listing

All songs were written and arranged by Jimmy Webb.
;Side one
  1. "Prelude" – 0:24
  2. "Didn't We?" – 2:24
  3. "Interlude" – 0:29
  4. "Paper Chase" – 2:15
  5. "Interlude" – 0:31
  6. "Name of My Sorrow" – 3:21
  7. "Interlude" – 0:27
  8. "Lovers Such as I" – 3:36
  9. "In the Final Hours" – 2:45
;Side two
  1. "MacArthur Park" – 7:20
  2. "Dancing Girl" – 2:06
  3. "Interlude" – 0:19
  4. "If You Must Leave My Life" – 3:18
  5. "A Tramp Shining" – 2:22

    Personnel

;Technical