London Warsaw New York


London Warsaw New York is the second solo studio album by Polish-born singer–songwriter Basia, released in February 1990 by Epic Records. It spawned one of Basia's biggest hits, "Cruising for Bruising".

Overview

The album's title was inspired by the tag "London Paris New York" often seen on perfume packaging. Basia decided to replace Paris with Warsaw to emphasize that she is Polish and that the album was written between the three countries represented by those cities. All three cities are name-checked in the song "Copernicus": "Our love will take this globe by storm/If it's London, Warsaw, or New York". The line is also sung in Polish later in the track: "Naszą miłością podbijemy glob/Londyn, Warszawę albo Nowy Jork". The other song incorporating Basia's native language is "Reward", in which she sings: "Jesteś moją nagrodą".
"Baby You're Mine" was released as the lead single in early 1990 and was met with moderate success. "Cruising for Bruising" followed as the second single and became Basia's biggest hit yet. In North America, it served as the first single, followed by "Baby You're Mine". "Copernicus" was a Japan-only single, although Basia performed the track on Late Night with David Letterman on November 22, 1990. The final single was the cover of "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)", which charted on Billboards Adult Contemporary list.
London Warsaw New York is often regarded as Basia's best album. It is also her most commercially successful release, having sold over 2 million copies worldwide, around half of which were sold in the USA, where the record was certified platinum in August 1992 and became Billboards Contemporary Jazz Album of 1990. In 2015, the album was re-released by independent UK label Cherry Red Records as a 2 CD deluxe edition featuring instrumentals, remixes, and demo versions.

Track listing

All songs written by Basia Trzetrzelewska and Danny White, except where noted.
  1. "Cruising for Bruising" – 4:10
  2. "Best Friends" – 4:01
  3. "Brave New Hope" – 4:06
  4. "Baby You're Mine" – 3:34
  5. "Ordinary People" – 4:58
  6. "Reward" – 5:08
  7. "Until You Come Back to Me" – 3:51
  8. "Copernicus" – 3:51
  9. "Not an Angel" – 4:23
  10. "Take Him Back Rachel" – 4:18

Personnel

Production