Background
The album was made over a two-day session on November 18–19, 1967 at the RCA studios in Hollywood, and it featured the best musicians in Hollywood (including many of the key members of "The Wrecking Crew"), including ten trumpets, ten trombones, ten saxophones, two drummers, five percussionists, four pianos, eight basses, seven guitars. Because it was the weekend, all musicians were paid double time and the session was catered by Chasens, the finest restaurant in Hollywood, and Nesmith provided an open bar, with the predictable result that most of the normally highly disciplined cadre of studio musicians were drunk by the time the session finished. It all cost $50,000. Nesmith explained to Hal Blaine that he was about to pay a similar sum in tax and he would rather spend it on the sessions and write it off than give it to the IRS.[2]
The recording is also notable for the famous incident that occurred at the end of the sessions: the lead sheet for the final track recorded ("Don't Call On Me") included an instruction that called for the players to improvise a cacophony of sound; as the track concluded, to the astonishment of his colleagues, renowned guitarist Tommy Tedesco took off his Fender guitar (which was still plugged into the amplifier), threw it high into the air, and the instrument crashed to the floor and smashed to pieces. According to a 2000 interview with Hal Blaine, Tedesco's wife later collected the pieces and had them framed.[3]
The album was initially released with the title Mike Nesmith Presents The Wichita Train Whistle Sings on both the sleeve and record label. The label credited the recording artist as "The Wichita Train Whistle".
In 1977, Nesmith re-released The Wichita Train Whistle Sings through his multimedia company, Pacific Arts (PACB 7–113). Unlike the original Dot Records black background album cover, the Pacific Arts cover had a white background and was dominated with only the album title, which now did not include the Mike Nesmith Presents notation. However, although Nesmith's name did not appear on the front cover of the re-release, the artist credit on the actual record label now read "Michael Nesmith", and not "The Wichita Train Whistle". Subsequent re-issues also credit Nesmith as the artist.
CD Release
When Nesmith released "Wichita Train" on CD, he recorded the album onto digital from a phonograph. As he explained in the liner notes, the album was intended to be played on vinyl, and this, therefore, was an attempt to capture the album's true essence.
In 2008, the album was remixed from the original multi-track tapes, re-sequenced (by Nesmith), and re-released on the Edsel label alongside his Timerider movie soundtrack.[4]
Track listing
All songs by Michael Nesmith except where noted.
- "Nine Times Blue"
- "Carlisle Wheeling"
- "Tapioca Tundra"
- "Don't Call on Me"
- "Don't Cry Now"
- "While I Cried"
- "Papa Gene's Blues"
- "You Just May Be the One"
- "Sweet Young Thing" (Nesmith, Gerry Goffin, Carole King)
- "You Told Me"
