Miracle of Science

Miracle of Science is the seventh studio album by singer/songwriter Marshall Crenshaw, and his first studio effort for the indie imprint Razor & Tie.[4] Having left the major labels to increase his creative control,[5] Crenshaw produced the album and played most of the instruments.

Miracle of Science
Studio album by
Marshall Crenshaw
Released1996
StudioAlex the Great, Nashville, Tennessee
GenreRock
Length43:18
LabelRazor & Tie
ProducerMarshall Crenshaw
Marshall Crenshaw chronology
Live …My Truck Is My Home
(1994)		 Miracle of Science
(1996)		 The 9 Volt Years
(1998)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Robert Christgau[2]
Rolling Stone[3]

Due to its status as Crenshaw's first indie album and first largely-self performed album, Miracle of Science has been singled by Crenshaw as a "case of circling back" to his pre-major label roots. He was largely spurred to record the album due to his faith in the song "What Do You Dream Of?": he explained, "I had 'What Do You Dream Of' as of 1992, a few years before the album. To some extent it was about needing to do an album in order to get that song out. You couldn't just do a single back then, at least I didn't think so."[6]

Crenshaw also revived "Starless Summer Sky" for the album, having co-written the song as "Starlit Summer Sky" in 1979. He recalled, "That was the first song that I ever co-wrote, or wrote, that I thought was great. It got passed over when I did my first album."[6] For its recording on Miracle of Science, he tweaked the song's title by changing "starlit" to "starless" to "give it a little bit of a dark atmosphere."[6] The album also features a cover of Grant Hart's "Twenty-Five Forty-One". Crenshaw noted, "I reached out to Grant around that time, when my record of the song was coming out. We were friendly after that, and I'd see him every once in a while, mostly when I had a gig in the Twin Cities."[6]

Track listing

All songs written by Marshall Crenshaw, except where noted.

  1. "soundbite" – 0:11
  2. "What Do You Dream Of?" – 3:28
  3. "Who Stole That Train" (Hy Heath) – 3:32
  4. "Laughter" – 4:41
  5. "Twenty-Five Forty-One" (Grant Hart) – 3:22
  6. "Starless Summer Sky" (Crenshaw, Rick Cioffi, Fred Todd) – 3:11
  7. "Only an Hour Ago" – 4:07
  8. "Wondrous Place" (Bill Giant, Jeff Lewis) – 2:42
  9. "The 'In' Crowd" (Billy Page) – 3:36
  10. "Theme from 'Flaregun'" – 4:47
  11. "Seven Miles an Hour" – 4:28
  12. "There and Back Again" (Crenshaw, Glen Burtnik) – 5:13

2020 Revision

In 2020, the album was re-released on Crenshaw's own label with a new running order, some remixing, and 2 newly recorded songs.[7]

  1. "(Soundbite)" – 0:11
  2. "What Do You Dream Of?" – 3:28
  3. "Who Stole That Train" – 3:48
  4. "Only an Hour Ago" – 4:20
  5. "Theme from 'Flaregun'" – 4:51
  6. "Laughter" – 4:41
  7. "A Wondrous Place" – 2:42
  8. "Twenty-Five Forty-One" – 3:22
  9. "Starless Summer Sky" – 3:11
  10. "The 'In' Crowd" – 3:36
  11. "There and Back Again" – 5:13
  12. "Rouh Na Selim Neves"* – 4:28 ["Seven Miles an Hour" recording played backwards]
  13. "Seven Miles an Hour" – 4:30
  14. "What the Hell I Got"* (Michel Pagliaro) – 3:38
  15. "Misty Dreamer"* (Daniel Wylie) – 3:00

[*] - newly added for the reissue.

Personnel
  • Marshall Crenshaw - vocals, guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, percussion, tambourine, vibraphone
  • Brad Jones – bass, harmony vocals
  • Andy York – guitar, backing vocals
  • Jay Sdad – acoustic, electric and slide guitar, lap steel
  • Bill Lloyd – acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin
  • Les James Lester – drums, bongos
  • Greg Leisz – dobro
  • Byron House – bass
  • Fenner Kastner – drums
  • Kenny Margolis – piano
  • Chris Carmichael – violin, cello
  • Crispin Cioe – saxophone
  • Larry Etkin – trumpet

References
  1. Miracle of Science at AllMusic
  2. Christgau, Robert. "Marshall Crenshaw". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  3. Hoskyns, Barney. "Miracle of Science", Rolling Stone, September 19, 1996, p. 84.
  4. "Marshall Crenshaw".
  5. ""I Had More Control": A Quick Interview With Marshall Crenshaw On The Reissue Of Miracle Of Science". A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  6. Davidson, Eric (11 February 2020). "Marshall Crenshaw Is Having Another Field Day". PleaseKillMe. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  7. Marchese, Joe (November 26, 2019). "There and Back Again: Marshall Crenshaw Revisits, Revises "Miracle of Science" for New CD, LP Reissue - The Second Disc".
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