Open Heart Symphony

Open Heart Symphony
Studio album by Spirit of the West
Released	1996
Recorded	1995
Genre	Folk rock
Label	Warner Music Canada
Producer	Spirit of the West
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Spirit of the West chronology
Two Headed (1995) Open Heart Symphony (1996) Weights and Measures (1997)

Open Heart Symphony is a 1996 album by Spirit of the West, in collaboration with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

The band recorded two shows with the orchestra on May 12 and May 13, 1995. The shows included several renditions of the band's best known songs, and an entire album's worth of songs written specifically for the symphony shows. The new songs were compiled on the album Open Heart Symphony; several of the hits performed at the shows appear on the band's 1999 compilation Hit Parade.

The shows were also taped for broadcast on the Canadian arts channel Bravo!.

Song notes

A studio version of "Kiss and Tell" appeared on the 1997 soundtrack album to the film The Hanging Garden. "Let the Ass Bray" was reportedly written after Mann and Kelly attended a Radiohead concert at which Thom Yorke angrily refused an audience member's request to play "Creep" even though it was Radiohead's only notable hit single at the time.

Reissue

The album was reissued in 2008 on Rhino Records, concurrently with the release of the band's career retrospective Spirituality 1983-2008: The Consummate Compendium.

Track listing

All songs by John Mann and Geoffrey Kelly, except where noted.

1. "Williamson's Garage"
2. "Daisy's Dead"
3. "Frankfurt, I'm Sorry"
4. "Christmas Eve" (traditional)
5. "Resurrection"
6. "The Miller's Daughter" (Kelly)
7. "Bare Branches"
8. "Strange Bedfellows"
9. "Kiss and Tell"
10. "Milk, Tea and Oranges"
11. "Let the Ass Bray"