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".

London Warsaw New York
Studio album by Basia
Released	February 19, 1990
Recorded	1989
Genre	Jazz-pop sophisti-pop
Length	42:32
Label	Epic
Producer	Danny White Basia Trzetrzelewska
Basia chronology
Time and Tide (1987) London Warsaw New York (1990) Brave New Hope (1990)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Billboard	Positive[2]
Cash Box	Positive[3]
Los Angeles Times	[4]
Music & Media	Positive[5]
The Recoup	Positive[6]
Soul and Jazz and Funk	[7]
Record Mirror	[8]

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 the fact that she is Polish, and that the album was written between the three countries represented by those cities.^[9] 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".^[10] The other song incorporating Basia's native language is "Reward", in which she sings: "Jesteś moją nagrodą" (English: "You are my reward").^[11]

"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.^[12] In North America, it served as the first single, followed by "Baby You're Mine". "Copernicus" was a Japan-only single, and although never commercially released elsewhere, the track was performed on Late Night with David Letterman on Thanksgiving night on November 22, 1990.^[13] The final single was the cover of "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" which charted on Billboard's Adult Contemporary list.^[14]

London Warsaw New York is often regarded as Basia's best album.^[15][16] It also remains her most successful release commercially, having sold in over 2 million copies worldwide,^[17] with half of the total shifted in the USA alone, where the record was certified platinum in August 1992.^[18] It became Billboard's Contemporary Jazz Album of 1990.^[19] In 2015, the album was re-released by independent UK label Cherry Red Records as 2 CD deluxe edition featuring instrumentals, remixes and demo versions.^[20]

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" (Stevie Wonder, Clarence Paul, Morris Broadnax) – 3:51
8. "Copernicus" – 3:51
9. "Not an Angel" – 4:23
10. "Take Him Back Rachel" – 4:18

Personnel

• Basia Trzetrzelewska – vocals
• Danny White – keyboards, programming
• Andy Ross – guitars (1, 4)
• Marc Antoine – wah wah guitar (2)
• Peter White – guitars (2, 4–10), accordion (5)
• Julian Crampton – bass (2, 9)
• Andres Lafone – bass (4, 8, 10)
• Andy Gangadeen – additional drums (1, 2, 4, 8), drums (3)
• Snowboy – percussion (1, 3, 10), congas (2), berimbau (4), shaker (4)
• Robin Jones – percussion (5, 8)
• Steve Gregory – saxophone (5)
• Ronnie Ross – baritone saxophone (8), bass saxophone (9)
• Bud Beadle – saxophone (10)
• Kevin Robinson – trumpet (2, 5, 7, 9, 10)
• Fiachra Trench – string arrangements (3)
• Gavyn Wright – strings leader (3), strings (4)

Production

• Arranged and produced by Basia Trzetrzelewska and Danny White.
• Recorded by Mike Dignam at Eden Studios (London, England).
• Assistant engineers – Richard Barraclough, Derek Fisher and Donal Hodgson.
• Mixed by Phil Harding at PWL Studios (London, England).
• Mix assistants – Tony King and Les Sharma
• Mastered by Tim Young at The Hit Factory (London, England).
• Design – The Leisure Process
• Photography – Paul Cox and Mark Borthwick
• Management – Alan Seifert

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for London Warsaw New York Chart (1990) Peak position Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[21] 56 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[22] 60 French Albums (IFOP)[23] 28 Japanese Albums (Oricon)[24] 33 UK Albums (OCC)[25] 68 US Billboard 200[26] 20 US Top Contemporary Jazz Albums (Billboard)[26] 1

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for London Warsaw New York Chart (1990) Position US Billboard 200[27] 59 US Top Contemporary Jazz Albums (Billboard)[28] 1

Certifications

Certifications for London Warsaw New York

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
France (SNEP)[29]	Gold	100,000*
United States (RIAA)[18]	Platinum	1,000,000^
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.