Carriage House Studios, Stamford, Connecticut; Big House, Manhattan, New York; ICP Recording Studios, Brussels; Mad Hatter Studios, Los Angeles; A&M Studios, Hollywood; John & Stu's Place, Seattle, Washington; Nine Lives; Mission; Colorado Sound Recording Studios, Denver; The Roof, New York City
Hitting the Ground is Violent Femmes member Gordon Gano's debut solo studio album. It was produced by Warren Bruleigh and released in 2002. Gano wrote the songs for a film of the same name.
Each song was performed by a different artist. Gano says that the songs were written with no particular performer in mind, but he is very happy that each performer made his or her song his or her own. Lou Reed rewrote some of the lyrics, and was given partial writing credit for "Catch 'Em In the Act." Gordon's sister Cynthia Gayneau sang "Merry Christmas Brother" after Joan Baez turned it down. They Might Be Giants performed and produced their song, "Darlin' Allison," by themselves. John Cale recorded "Don't Pretend," solo on piano and vocals.
Critical reception
Hitting the Ground received mostly favorable reviews from critics.[1] Some critics, however, did give it mixed reviews, such as Eric Carr, who wrote in Pitchfork that "none of these tracks are all that interesting beyond a listen or two."[2]
Producer - Warren Bruleigh (all songs except "Darlin' Allison," produced by They Might Be Giants)
Michael White, Irwin Autique, Martin Brass, Larry Mah, John Goodmanson, Warren Bruleigh, Steve Rosenthal, Alex Reed, Michael W. Douglass, Nicola Stemmer, Oliver Strauss, Rob Lewis - engineer
Dave P. Moore - executive producer
Dave Heath - cover photograph "Vengeful Sister, Chicago"
