Dance Band on the Titanic

Harry Chapin | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 29, 1993)
• Original Release Date: 1977
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000002H46
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,559 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Chapin Masterpiece, July 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dance Band on the Titanic (Audio CD)

I agree with the others on this one. Probably not the best choice for a Chapin starter album, but possibly his best album overall. This is the one album that truly conveys Harry's message. "There Only Was One Choice" is a 14-minute masterpiece that sums up The Book of Chapin to perfection. 'We Grew Up A Little Bit' is an awesome reflection of the strive-to-get-ahead work ethic. While not as deep as much of his other works, I really like 'Country Dreams'. But one of my favorite all-time Chapin pieces, one that I didn't fully appreciate for years, is 'Mercenaries'. Who else but Harry could write such a meaningful song about prostitutes and soldiers? Amazing collection.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not typical Chapin, but good nonetheless, February 15, 2000

By 

Steven K. Szmutko (EWING, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dance Band on the Titanic (Audio CD)

When I first purchased this on vinyl so many years ago, I did not care for the album at all. I listened to it once or twice, then ignored it for many many years It did not compare to Harry's other albums. However, in recent years, as I began to listen to it more closely, I was suprised how much the songs had grown on me. It is quite different from most of his other works. One song in particular, "I Wonder What Happened to Him",I have found to be one of Harry's finest, most poignant songs ever with a compelling theme and instrumentation to boot. The strings used in the second verse are, in my humble opinion, terrific. As I said, the rest of the album kind of grows on you.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Harry ever did, December 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Dance Band on the Titanic (Audio CD)

What can I say...this is a sprawling (originally a double album), witty, funny, heart-felt meditation on the onset of middle age and the stock-taking that occurs so often as you hit age 34. My personal favorites include "Mismatches", an interesting reversal of traditional sexual politics, "We Grew Up a Little Bit", a biting image of the gradual crumbling of a marriage, and "Mercenaries", about soldiers and prostitutes and the role each plays. The humor of songs such as "My Old Lady" and "Dance Band on the Titanic" contrast with the final, 14 minute song "There Was Only One Choice" which is a midlife crisis crystalized into a song. I was so glad when this was released on CD, as so many of Harry's albums are only available on record. This is a full, complete work, and though I would agree that "Greatest Stories" is better for the Chapin beginner, with "Cats in the Cradle" and "30,000 Pounds of Bananas", this will always be my favorite work of his.