In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record and In Harmony 2 are two compilation albums of children's music performed by various artists, released in 1980 and 1981, respectively.
Of the two albums, only the first album charted, reaching No. 156 on the Billboard 200. The Doobie Brothers' cover of "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" was the only single release to chart, when it reached No. 76 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. A second single, Al Jarreau's "One Good Turn", failed to chart. The first album was released on Sesame Street Records through Warner Bros. Records, and is the only album in the series with a direct connection to the popular children's series Sesame Street, as it includes a song performed by the characters Ernie and Cookie Monster. The second album was released on Columbia Records, and while no Muppet-related content appears on the album, the credits state that a "royalty is being donated to the Children's Television Workshop and various children's charities" from its proceeds. Each album won the Grammy Award for Best Recording for Children, at the 23rd Annual Grammy Awards and 25th Annual Grammy Awards, respectively. The Grammys were awarded to the producers, David Levine and Lucy Simon.
Bruce Springsteen's performance of "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town", which appears on the second album, was recorded live at C. W. Post College in Brookville, New York on December 12, 1975. Springsteen's rendition of the song has received radio airplay perennially at Christmastime for years; it has appeared on Billboard magazine's Hot Singles Recurrents chart each year from 2002 to 2009 due to seasonal airplay. In Harmony 2 marks the first appearance of the recording on an album, although it was later released as the B-side of Springsteen's single "My Hometown" in 1985 and has since been released on several other compilations.
In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record Track listing
Personnel
Musicians Jonathan Abramowitz – strings Alex Acuña – drums Sanford Allen – strings Wayne Andre – horns and reeds Stanley Banks – bass Jeff Baxter – pedal steel guitar George Benson – guitar Warren Bernhardt – keyboards Jay Berliner – guitar Lynn Blessing – vibraphone Laura Brannigan – hand claps Samanthan Broun – children's chorus Timothy Broun – children's chorus Al Brown – strings Cornelius Bumpus – flute and saxophone John Campo – horns and reeds Tom Canning – piano Ron Carter – bass Lennox Church – hand claps Bob Cranshaw – bass George Devens – percussion Jimmy Douglass – hand claps Kenny Edwards – bass Steve Ferrone – drums Sammy Figueroa – percussion Barry Finclair – strings Steve Gadd – drums Maureen Gallagher – strings Al Gorgoni – guitar Sara Gorham – children's chorus Don Grolnick – keyboards Tom Heid – hand claps Amy Helm – children's chorus L. Marlo Henderson – guitar Jim Henson – Ernie Timothy "Ace" Holleran – drums Craig Hull – guitar Anthony Jackson – bass Al Jarreau – vocals Arthur Jenkins – keyboards Jim Keltner – drums Jinee Kim – children's chorus Mike Lawrence – horns and reeds Jeff Layton – guitar John McFee – violin Keith Knudsen – drums Tony Levin – bass , tuba James Levine – cookie cruncher , children's chorus Julie Levine – cookie cruncher , children's chorus Tony Lewis – drums Arif Mardin – hand claps George Marge – horns and reeds Chet McCracken – percussion Michael McDonald – vocals and keyboards Sid McGinnis – guitar Earl McIntyre – horns and reeds David Nadien – strings Jeffrey Oliveros – children's chorus Jennifer Oliveros – children's chorus Frank Oz – Cookie Monster Gregory Phillinganes – acoustic piano and arp string ensemble Robert Popwell – bass Tony Posk – strings Tony Price – tuba , horns and reeds Nick Raposo – children's chorus Mac "Dr. John" Rebennack – piano and tack piano , keyboards Bruce Roberts – background vocals , arrangements Barry Rogers – horns and reeds Ora Shiram – strings Pat Simmons – vocals and guitar Carly Simon – background vocals , harmony vocals Joanna Simon – background vocals Lucy Simon – background vocals , harmony vocals , hand claps Lewis Soloff – horns and reeds Richard Sortomme – strings David Spinozza – guitar , arrangements and conducting Sally Stevens – background vocals and soprano obligato David Stone – children's chorus Sooky Kim Streiff – children's chorus Hugh Taylor – background vocals James Taylor – guitar , background vocals Kate Taylor – lead vocal Livingston Taylor – guitar , background vocals Dave Tofani – horns and reeds Phil Upchurch – guitar Randy Waldman – electric piano and synthesizer Wendy Waldman – piano , background vocals The Watts Double Rock Baptist Church Junior Choir – children's chorus Larry Williams – synthesizer Susan Winterbottom – strings Cengic Yaltkaya – additional scoring
Technical and artistic personnel Lucy Simon – producer David Levine – producer Arthur Shimkin – executive producer Lew Hahn – associate producer, engineer , mixing Michael Boshears – engineer Gene Paul – engineer Tom Greto – additional engineering George Marino – mastering Bill Dooley – assistant engineer Tom Heid – assistant engineer Randy Mason – assistant engineer Michael O'Reilly – assistant engineer Anthony D'Amico – assistant engineer Glenn Feit, Jr. – assistant engineer Chip Leach – assistant engineer Skip Saylor – assistant engineer Peter Whorf – art direction Simon Levy – design Julie Levine – cover illustration James Levine – hand lettering
Charts Album – Billboard (United States) Year Chart Position 1980 Billboard 200 156
In Harmony 2
Track listing
Personnel
Musicians Joe Allen – bass Errol "Crusher" Bennett – percussion Jay Berliner – acoustic guitar David Brown – guitar and background vocals Ron Carter – bass Lenny Castro – percussion Clarence Clemons – saxophone, bells, and background vocals Charles Cochran – piano , rhythm track arrangements John Crowder – bass and background vocals Ronnie Cuber – baritone saxophone Robin Danar – background vocals Liberty DeVitto – drums , percussion , background vocals Arti Dixson – drums George Doening – acoustic guitar Danny Federici – organ and glockenspiel Dan Ferguson – electric guitar Larry Franke – background vocals Arti Funaro – acoustic guitar and background vocals Crystal Gayle – background vocals Sarah Gorham – background vocals Annie Gwathmey – background vocals David Hungate – bass Janis Ian – piano and background vocals Anthony Jackson – bass Paul Jackson, Jr. – electric guitar Neil Jason – bass Russell Javors – acoustic guitar Billy Joel – electric piano and harmonica Steve Khan – electric guitar and cowbell Jeffrey Lefcourt – background vocals Chris Leuzinger – acoustic and electric guitars James Levine – background vocals Jamie Levine – background vocals Julie Levine – background vocals Kenny Loggins – acoustic guitar Steve Lukather – acoustic guitar Tom Malone – trombone George Marge – English horn Dave Matthews – string arrangements Charles McCracken – cello Hugh McCracken – acoustic guitar Charlie Miller – trumpet and flute , arrangements Rob Mounsey – Fender Rhodes David Nadien – concertmaster Tony Newman – drums Marty Paich – piano , rhythm track and string arrangements Greg Phillinganes – Fender Rhodes Robert Popwell – bass Jeffrey Porcaro – drums Mac "Dr. John" Rebennack – all keyboards , arrangements , piano and background vocals John Robinson – drums Sid Sharp – concertmaster Lucy Simon – background vocals Bruce Springsteen – guitar Doug Stegmeyer – bass Alan Steinberger – synthesizer and Fender Rhodes Fred Tackett – acoustic guitar Garry Tallent – bass Ben Taylor – background vocals James Taylor – acoustic guitar Sarah Maria Taylor – background vocals Sandy Van Der Zee – background vocals Steve Van Zandt – guitar and background vocals Max Weinberg – drums Buddy Williams – drums Larry Williams – Fender Rhodes Jai Winding – piano, synthesizer, and B-3 Edward Xiques – tenor saxophone and flute
Technical and artistic personnel Lucy Simon – producer David Levine – producer Jim Boyer – co-producer and mixing , engineer Michele Slagter – associate producer Kenny Loggins – co-producer Marty Paich – co-producer Bruce Springsteen – producer Mike Appel – producer Jimmy Iovine – producer, engineer, and mixing Dan Cleary – executive producer Sherwin Bash – executive producer Scott Litt – engineer Thom Panunzio – engineer and mixing Ted Jensen – mastering Larry Franke – assistant engineer Scott Ettinger – assistant engineer Andy Hoffman – assistant engineer Lincoln Clapp – assistant engineer Jason Corsaro – assistant engineer Jim Cassell – assistant engineer Don Koldon – assistant engineer Tim Garrity – assistant engineer Robin Danar – assistant engineer Paula Scher – design Seymour Chwast – illustration
Awards Year Award Work Category Recipient Result Ref. 1981 Grammy Awards In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record Best Recording for Children David Levine and Lucy Simon 1983 In Harmony 2
References
External links In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record at Muppet Wiki