Relish (album)

Relish is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Joan Osborne, released on March 21, 1995. It was nominated for Album of the Year at the 38th Grammy Awards, and also earned nominations for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Osborne. In addition, the track "One of Us" was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

Relish
Studio album by Joan Osborne
Released	March 21, 1995
Recorded	1994–1995
Studio	The Crawlspace (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania); additional recording at Big Blue (Katonah, New York) and PIE Studios (Glen Cove, New York)
Genre	Rock
Length	61:06
Label	Blue Gorilla Mercury
Producer	Rick Chertoff
Joan Osborne chronology
Soul Show: Live at Delta 88 (1991) Relish (1995) Early Recordings (1996)
Singles from Relish
"One of Us" Released: November 21, 1995 "St. Teresa" Released: May 27, 1996 "Right Hand Man" Released: August 1996 "Ladder" Released: January 1997

Background

Relish contains songs performed in a mixture of styles: contemporary folk, rock, and pop.

Its biggest hit single, "One of Us", was used as the theme to the 2003–2005 television series Joan of Arcadia, although the show used a re-recorded version. The album and the song were both nominated for multiple Grammy Awards in 1996. The song was written by Eric Bazilian of the Hooters.

"Man in the Long Black Coat" is a cover of the Bob Dylan song from his 1989 album Oh Mercy.

The music for "Right Hand Man" is said to have been inspired by Captain Beefheart's 1982 song "Clear Spot," although the two are in different time signatures and have completely different lyrics and subject matter.

The final track, "Lumina", was used on the first episode of the HBO hit show The Sopranos. It was also used in an episode in the fourth season of the CBS hit show The Good Wife in 2013.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Chicago Tribune	[2]
Robert Christgau	[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[4]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[5]
The Guardian	[6]
NME	7/10[7]
Q	[8]
Rolling Stone	[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[10]

The New York Times wrote: "Osborne clearly loves blues and soul, and on Relish she finds a way to use their vocabulary for the here and now. Superficially she's like [Bonnie] Raitt, applying past masters' lessons to current material, but Osborne is never far from urban grit."^[11]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"St. Teresa"	Joan Osborne Eric Bazilian Rob Hyman Rick Chertoff	5:20
2.	"Man in the Long Black Coat"	Bob Dylan	4:49
3.	"Right Hand Man"	Osborne Bazilian Hyman Chertoff Don Van Vliet	4:57
4.	"Pensacola"	Osborne Bazilian Hyman Chertoff	4:32
5.	"Dracula Moon"	Osborne Bazilian Hyman Chertoff	6:21
6.	"One of Us"	Bazilian	5:21
7.	"Ladder"	Osborne Bazilian Hyman Chertoff	4:11
8.	"Spider Web"	Osborne Chertoff Gary Lucas Sammy Merendino Chris Palmaro	5:34
9.	"Let's Just Get Naked"	Osborne Bazilian	5:08
10.	"Help Me"	Sonny Boy Williamson II Ralph Bass	5:14
11.	"Crazy Baby"	Osborne	6:31
12.	"Lumina"	Osborne Bazilian	3:08
Total length:			61:06

Notes

• "One of Us" contains an introduction of "The Airplane Ride," a spiritual written by J. S. McConnel and sung by Nell Hampton, under license from Alan Lomax. Used by permission.
• "Ladder" contains a sample from "Mambo Sun," written by Marc Bolan under license from Straight Ahead Productions Ltd. TRO/Essex Music International (ASCAP) as recorded by T. Rex. Used by permission.

Personnel

Credits adapted from CD liner notes.^[12]

• Joan Osborne – vocals (all tracks), percussion (3, 5), acoustic guitar (11)
• Eric Bazilian – guitar (1, 3–7, 9, 12), electric guitar (11), mandolin (1), chant (1), saxophone (3), harmonica (4, 5), electric piano (6), backing vocals (6)
• Mark Egan – bass guitar (1, 3–7, 9–11)
• Rob Hyman – piano (3, 7), organ (1, 4, 5, 7), synthesizer (1, 12), electric piano (4, 5, 11), percussion (5), Mellotron (6), backing vocals (6), drums (6)
• Andy Kravitz – drums (1, 3–5, 7, 10, 11), percussion (3)

Additional personnel

• Rick Di Fonzo – acoustic guitar (2), solo guitar (2, 8)
• Sammy Merendino – drums (2, 9), rhythm collage (7, 8)
• Chris Palmaro – electric piano (2, 8), organ (7), virtual fiddle (8), Mellotron (8, 9)
• William Wittman – electric guitar (2), guitar (7)
• Rick Chertoff – percussion (3, 5)
• Leo Osborne – backing vocals (4)
• Lee Campbell – fiddle (8)
• Omar Hakim – drums (8)
• Gary Lucas – guitar (8, 10)
• Wade Schuman – harmonica (8, 10)
• Catherine Russell – backing vocals (8)

Production

• Produced by Rick Chertoff
• Tracks 1–11 recorded and mixed by William Wittman; track 12 recorded and mixed by Rob Hyman
• Assistant recording engineer at Big Blue: Mark Mason
• Additional recording and mix engineering at PIE Studios by Rob Polhemus
• Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound (NYC)

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly sales chart performance for Relish Chart (1995–96) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[13] 12 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[14] 8 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[15] 5 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[16] 14 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[17] 8 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[18] 14 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] 15 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[20] 13 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[21] 17 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[22] 6 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[23] 18 UK Albums (OCC)[24] 5 US Billboard 200[25] 9

Year-end charts Annual sales chart performance for Relish Chart (1996) Position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[26] 46 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[27] 94 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[28] 37 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[29] 42 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[30] 47 UK Albums (OCC)[31] 98 US Billboard 200[32] 29

Certifications and sales

Sales certifications for Relish

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[33]	Gold	35,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[34]	Platinum	100,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[35]	Gold	7,500^
United Kingdom (BPI)[36]	Gold	100,000^
United States (RIAA)[37]	3× Platinum	3,000,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.