Halcyon Days is the eighth studio album by American singer and pianist
Bruce Hornsby. The album, recorded with his touring band the Noisemakers, was released in 2004. It was Hornsby's first release with
Columbia Records. One song, "What The Hell Happened", has been described as a rare example of the use of
bitonality in a pop piece.[2]
The album marked a return to a more acoustic, piano-driven sound that reviewers described as "pure Hornsby".[3] Guests included
Sting,
Elton John and
Eric Clapton. The tracks "Gonna Be Some Changes Made," "Candy Mountain Run," "Dreamland," and "Circus On The Moon" became concert staples, each showcasing the diversity of Hornsby's improvisations and the Noisemakers' live sound. Notably, Halcyon Days also includes a suite of solo piano songs—"What The Hell Happened," "Hooray For Tom," and "Heir Gordon"—which all have a "
Randy Newman pastiche."[4] Although the album was markedly less-risk-taking than Big Swing Face, it would be well-received as a "winning balance of [Hornsby's] tuneful and adventurous sides."[3]
"Gonna Be Some Changes Made" was used in several Lowe's commercials from 2006.
Orchestra (on "Dreamland", "Hooray for Tom" and "Lost in the Snow")
Peter Harris – orchestra arrangements (3, 7)
John "J. T." Thomas – orchestra arrangements (11)
Kurt Muroki and Satosh Okamoto – double bass
Elizabeth Dyson, Jeanne LeBlanc, Elieen Moon and Sarah Seiver – cello
David Creswell, Karen Dreyfus, Dawn Hannay, Vivek Kamath, Sue Prey and Robert Reinhart – viola
Duoming Ba, Maryia Borozina, Jeanne Ingraham, Lisa Kim, Myung-Hi Kim, Sarah Kim, Soohyun Kwon, Matt Lehmann, Ayano Ninomiya, Suzanne Ornstein, Sandra Park, Dan Reed, Michael Roth, Laura Seaton, Fiona Simon, Paul Woodiel, Sharon Yamada and Jung Sun Yoo – violin
Production
Producers – Bruce Hornsby and Wayne Pooley
A&R – Lennie Meat
Production Coordination – Moonie Geiger
Engineer – Wayne Pooley
Additional Engineering –
Simon Climie, Alan Douglas, Brian Garten, Kevin Halpin and Matt Still.