Miracle Row [Import][Bonus track]

The basics: Produced by Ron Frangipane, Leanne Unger, & Janis Ian; recorded late 1976 at The Hit Factory, New York, released January 1977 (Columbia). "Will You Dance"? was the # 1 single in Japan for three full months; the album went platinum in Japan. Inside scoop: Janis was spending a lot of her off-time in Spanish Harlem, where her mother lived; she hoped to reflect those influences on this album. She used her live band instead of studio musicians for the recordings, unaware that a lot of cocaine usage was making tempers fray and playing erratic. "Party Lights" was written when she attended a party and found band members hiding in a closet, snorting cocaine they didn't want to share. "Maria", a love song to a woman, was "scary to record, especially then! but so few people picked up on it that it wasn't an issue - which just goes to show you how little most folks listen to lyrics".