Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening

Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening is Ray Lynch’s fifth and final studio album. It reflects Lynch's classical background and features performances by members of the San Francisco Symphony.[3] The album was released after Lynch signed with Windham Hill Records.[4] It peaked at #1 on Billboard's "Top New Age Albums" chart.[5]

Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening
Studio album by
Ray Lynch
ReleasedSeptember 28, 1993
Recorded1989–1993
GenreClassical
Adult alternative
Length44:16
LabelWindham Hill Records
ProducerRay Lynch
Ray Lynch chronology
No Blue Thing
(1989)		 Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening
(1993)		 Ray Lynch: Best Of, Volume One
(1998)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[2]

Production

According to Keyboard, the album was originally slated to be released "during the first quarter" of 1992.[6] In an interview with the Vancouver Sun, Lynch revealed some of the struggles he faced while creating the album, and said that it had taken four years to create. In regards to its delayed production, he said, "That's the problem when you love what you make, if you love what you make and care about it, you're going to struggle with it until its right."[7]

Reception

Debbie Stover of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch praised the album for its use of instruments to recreate the sound of both the Baroque and Renaissance eras while also "managing to sound fully modern." Stover concluded her review by calling it "easily one of the year's best."[8] Elisabeth Le Guin of The New York Times praised the album for evoking "the highly colored emotions of the classical tradition" and described the album's sound as "pop Dvorak".[9]

Track listing

Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening includes the following tracks.[1]

No.TitleLength
1."Over Easy"4:53
2."Her Knees Deep in Your Mind"6:18
3."Passion Song"5:24
4."Ivory"5:38
5."Mesquite"6:18
6."Only an Enjoyment"7:16
7."The Vanished Gardens of Córdoba"8:22

Personnel

All music composed, arranged and produced by Ray Lynch.

Production

Charts
Chart (1993) Position
Billboard New Age Albums[5] 1

References
  1. "Nothing Above My Shoulders But the Evening - Ray Lynch | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  2. Larkin, Colin (2006). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Muze. p. 384. ISBN 0195313739.
  3. "New Age Leaders". CD Review. 10 (12): 24. August 1994. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  4. Christman, Ed (14 November 1992). "Windham Hill". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  5. "New Age Music: Top New Age Albums Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  6. "Career Update". Keyboard. 17 (8): 25. August 1991. New ager Ray Lynch will have a new album out during the first quarter of '92.
  7. Strachan, Alex (October 19, 1993). "Love for music can be deadly". The Vancouver Sun. p. E2. His latest album Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening was four years in the making, and it almost killed him. "That's the problem when you love what you make," he says. "If you love what you make and care about it, you're going to struggle with it until its right.
  8. Stover, Debbie (December 16, 1993). "Recordings". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. pp. 4G. The album features many instruments - guitars and keyboards plus wind, string and brass - and uses them all to create a sound that's strongly evocative of the Baroque and Renaissance eras, while at the same time managing to sound fully modern. Lynch plays both guitar and keyboards with quiet expressiveness and almost never allows the music to swell with too much sentimentality. This album is easily one of the year's best.
  9. Le Guin, Elisabeth (July 31, 1994). "By Any Other Name, It Would Sound Sweeter". The New York Times.
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