Facets (album)

Facets is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Jim Croce, released and self-published in 1966. Croce had five hundred copies of the album pressed,^[2] financed with a $500 cash wedding gift that he and his wife to be, Ingrid Croce, received from his parents. Croce's parents were certain that Jim would fail at selling the record, and realizing that he couldn't support his family as a singer, would abandon music and finish his college education. The album was recorded in a three-hour session at Ken-Del Studios in Wilmington, Delaware. Unexpectedly, it proved to be a success. Croce sold every record, even turning a profit of $2,500. The majority of those records were sold to fans who attended Croce's shows at local bars.^[3][4] Original vinyl copies of Facets are extremely rare today.

Facets
Studio album by Jim Croce
Released	1966 March 23, 2004 (2004 reissue)
Recorded	July 1966
Studio	Ken-Del Studios, Wilmington, DE
Genre	Folk rock
Length	26:45 44:32 (2004 reissue)
Label	Croce Records; Shout! Factory
Producer	Joe Salviuolo
Jim Croce chronology
Facets (1966) Jim & Ingrid Croce (1969)
Alternative cover
2004 cover artwork by Shout! Factory

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Shout! Factory released an expanded CD version in 2004.^[5] These seven extra songs included in the CD were recorded in 1969 after recording the Jim & Ingrid Croce album in 1968. The couple recorded 21 songs as a demonstration tape to audition for Boston's children's TV show. They did not get the job. The demo tapes had never been released until seven tracks were selected to be included with the 2004 CD release.^[6]

Track listing

Original release

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Steel Rail Blues"	Gordon Lightfoot	2:17
2.	"Coal Tattoo"	Billy Edd Wheeler	2:17
3.	"Texas Rodeo"	Jim Croce	1:44
4.	"Charley Green, Play That Slide Trombone"	Traditional; arranged by Jim Croce	2:27
5.	"The Ballad of Gunga Din"	words: Rudyard Kipling; music: Jim Croce	4:05
6.	"Hard Hearted Hannah (The Vamp of Savannah)"	Milton Ager, Jack Yellen, Robert Wilcox Bigelow, Charles Bates	1:58
7.	"Sun Come Up"	Jim Croce, Richard Croce	2:06
8.	"The Blizzard"	Harlan Howard	2:54
9.	"Running Maggie"	Traditional; arranged by Karl Fehrenbach	1:52
10.	"Until It's Time for Me to Go"	Buffy Sainte-Marie	3:05
11.	"Big Fat Woman"	Traditional; arranged by Eric Von Schmidt	2:00

2004 reissue

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"Child of Midnight"	Jim Croce, Ingrid Croce	2:51
13.	"It's All Over, Mary Ann"	Jim Croce, Ingrid Croce	2:35
14.	"Railroads and Riverboats"	Jim Croce, Ingrid Croce	3:13
15.	"Hard Times Be Over"	Jim Croce, Ingrid Croce	1:52
16.	"Railroad Song"	Jim Croce	2:55
17.	"Maybe Tomorrow"	Jim Croce	2:30
18.	"Pa (Song for a Grandfather)"	Jim Croce, Ingrid Croce	1:51

Personnel

• Jim Croce – guitar, vocals
• Richard Croce – percussion
• Mike DiBenedetto – keyboards
• Karl Fehrenbach – guitar, banjo
• Ken Cavender – bass

Production

• Producer: Joe Salviuolo
• Arrangements: Jim Croce, Eric Von Schmidt