Frank Ocean

The Liner Notes for Frank Ocean’s “Blonde” Have Finally Been Revealed

Having been shrouded in mystery up to and long after its final release earlier in the year, Frank Ocean’s Blonde has been a frustratingly incomplete picture as far as its creation until now. Having previously only had a list of 40+ ‘contributors’ to the record published in the Boys Don’t Cry magazine that came with physical copies of the album when it was first released, the recent physical sales of the album have finally included liner notes which have provided some clarity as to what and where some of those artists, including names like Kanye West, Yung Lean, David Bowie, The Beatles, Beyonce and others, helped create one of the albums of the year.

A user on Reddit snapped a photo of his CD and transcribed the credits in full as well. The songwriting credits had been released by the ASCAP earlier in the year but there were a number of omissions and errors it seems if these most recent credits indicate correctly.

Among the revelations are the aforementioned Beyonce chipped in background vocals for Pink + White. Amber Coffman of The Dirty Projectors is listed as providing additional vocals on lead single Nikes, Kanye is credited as a writer on White Ferrari and James Blake’s name is conspicuously absent, which contradicts previous credits listing him as a writer, though his name is attached to Solo, Solo (Reprise) and Godspeed for production, arrangement and keyboards. Yung Lean was in fact a featured vocalist on Godspeed and not Self Control as previously suggested as well.

Producer Jon Brion‘s name is also plastered all over the record, a man you may recognise from his production duties on a little known record called Late Registration back in 2005 among so many other amazing film soundtracks and records.

At least there finally appears to be some undisputed clarity here, but with Ocean nothing is ever certain (except that he’s a deity). Check out the full credits below:

1. “Nikes”

(C. Breaux)
Production: Frank Ocean, Malay Ho and Om’mas Keith
Arrangement: Frank Ocean, Malay Ho and Om’mas Keith
Mellotron: Malay
Drum Programming: Malay Ho and Om’mas Keith
Additional Programming: Frank Ocean
Additional Vocals: Amber Coffman

2. “Ivy”

(C. Breaux, M. Ho)
Production: Frank Ocean, Om’mas Keith and Rostam Batmanglij
Arrangement: Rostam Batmanglij
Guitars: Fish

3. “Pink + White”

(C. Breaux, P. Williams)
Production: Ocean and Pharrell Williams
Keyboards: Pharrell Williams
Drum Programming: Pharrell Williams
Bass: Pharrell Williams
String Arrangement: Jon Brion and Benjamin Wright
Additional Vocals: Beyonce Knowles-Carter
Violin: Eric Gorfain (Concertmaster), Daphne Chen, Marisa Kuney, Charlie Bisharat, Katie Sloan, Songa Lee, Gina Kronstadt, Lisa Dondlinger, Terry Glenny, Chris Woods, Neel Hammond, Marcy Vaj and Crystal Alforque
Viola: Leah Katz, Rodney Wirtz, Stefan Smith and Adriana Zoppo
Cello: John Krovoza, Simon Huber, Ginger Murphy, Alisha Bauer and Stefanie Fife
Strings recorded by Greg Keller and Eric Caudieux at Henson Recording
*Beyonce appears courtesy of Parkwood Entertainment/Columbia Records

4. “Be Yourself”

(B. Ross)
*Contains a sample of ‘Running Around’ by Buddy Ross

5. “Solo”

(C. Breaux, M. Ho)
Production: Ocean and James Blake
Arrangement: Ocean and James Blake
Keyboards: James Blake and Mars 1500
Additional Vocals: Jazmine Sullivan
Additional Programming: Frank Ocean

6. “Skyline To”

(C. Breaux, T. Okonma, C. Chassol)
Production: Frank Ocean, Malay Ho and Om’mas Keith
Arrangement: Frank Ocean, Malay Ho and Christophe Chassol
Guitars: Malay Ho
Moog Solo: Christophe Chassol
Keyboards: Christophe Chassol and James Blake
Drum Programming: Tyler Okonma

7. “Self Control”

(C. Breaux)
Production: Frank Ocean, Malay Ho and Jon Brion
Arrangement: Alex Giannascoli, Austin Feinstein and Jon Brion
String Arrangement: Jon Brion
Guitars: Alex Giannascoli, Austin Feinstein and Malay Ho
Keyboards: Jon Brion
Programming: Frank Ocean
Violin: Eric Gorfain (Concertmaster), Daphne Chen, Marisa Kuney, Charlie Bisharat, Katie Sloan, Songa Lee, Gina Kronstadt, Lisa Dondlinger, Terry Glenny, Chris Woods, Neel Hammond, Marcy Vaj and Crystal Alforque
Viola: Leah Katz, Rodney Wirtz, Stefan Smith and Adriana Zoppo
Cello: John Krovoza, Simon Huber, Ginger Murphy, Alisha Bauer and Stefanie Fife
Strings recorded by Greg Keller and Eric Caudieux at Henson Recording

8. “Good Guy”

(C. Breaux)
Production: Frank Ocean
Keyboards: Frank Ocean

9. “Night.s”

(C. Breaux, J. Thornalley, M. Uzowuru)
Production: Frank Ocean, Joe Thornalley, Michael Uzowuru and Buddy Ross
Arrangement: Frank Ocean, Buddy Ross, Jon Brion and Joe Thornalley
Guitars: Frank Ocean and Spaceman
Drum Programming: Michael Uzowuru and Joe Thornalley
Keyboards: Buddy Ross, Joe Thornalley and Jon Brion

10. “Solo” (Reprise)

(A. Benjamin, J. Blake, C. Breaux)
Production: Frank Ocean, James Blake and Jon Brion
Arrangement: James Blake and Jon Brion
Keyboards: James Blake and Jon Brion
Drum Programming: Jon Brion
*Andre 3000 appears courtesy of Epic Records

11. “Pretty Sweet”

(C. Breaux)
Production: Frank Ocean, Malay Ho and Om’mas Keith
Arrangement: Malay Ho, Om’mas Keith and Jon Brion
String Arrangement: Jon Brion
Guitars: Malay Ho
Drum Production: Malay And Om’mas Keith
Bass: Buddy Ross
Violin: Eric Gorfain (Concertmaster), Daphne Chen, Marisa Kuney, Charlie Bisharat, Katie Sloan, Songa Lee, Gina Kronstadt, Lisa Dondlinger, Terry Glenny, Chris Woods, Neel Hammond, Marcy Vaj and Crystal Alforque
Viola: Leah Katz, Rodney Wirtz, Stefan Smith and Adriana Zoppo
Cello: John Krovoza, Simon Huber, Ginger Murphy, Alisha Bauer and Stefanie Fife
Strings recorded by Greg Keller and Eric Caudieux at Henson Recording

12. “Facebook Story”

(S. Akchote, B. Ross)
Production: Frank Ocean
*Contains a sample of ‘Running Around’ by Buddy Ross

13. “Close To You”

(C. Breaux, B. Ross, B. Bacharach, H. David)
Production: Frank Ocean, Buddy Ross and Francis Starlite
Arrangement: Frank Ocean, Buddy Ross and Francis Starlite
Additional Programming: Buddy Ross
Drum Programming: Joe Thornalley
Keyboards: Buddy Ross
Vocoder: Francis Starlite
*Contains a sample of ‘They Long To Be Close To You’ (Cacharach/David) performed by Stevie Wonder live on The David Frost Show, courtesy of Rellin’ in the Years Productions, LLC

14. “White Ferrari”

(C. Breaux, K. West, M. Ho, J. Lennon, P. McCartney)
Production: Frank Ocean, Jon Brion and Om’mas Keith
Arrangement: Frank Ocean, Buddy Ross, Jon Brion and Alex Giannascoli
Guitars: Alex Giannascoli
Keyboards: Buddy Ross, Malay Ho and Jon Brion
Drum Programming: Sebastian Akchote
Sample Programming: Sebastian Akchote and Frank Ocean
*Contains an interpolation of ‘Here, There and Everywhere’ by The Beatles

15. “Seigfried”

(C. Breaux, M. Ho, R. Batmanglij, E. Smith)
Production: Frank Ocean and Malay Ho
Guitars: Malay Ho
Bass: Malay Ho
Keyboards: Rostam Batmanglij and Malay Ho
String Arrangement: Johnny Greenwood
Strings: London Contemporary Orchestra
*Contains a quote from ‘A Fond Farewell’ by Elliott Smith and a sample from ‘Untitled’ by Rostam Batmanglij

16. “Godspeed”

(C. Breaux, M. Ho)
Production: Frank Ocean, Om’mas Keith, Malay Ho and James Blake
Arrangement: Frank Ocean, James Blake and Sebastian Akchote
Keyboards: Malay Ho, James Blake, Mars 1500
Strings: Sebastian Akchote
Featured Vocals: Kim Burrell and Yung Lean
Choir: Frank Ocean
Additional Programming: Frank Ocean

17. “Futura Free”

(C. Breaux, D. Allen, H. Burnham, A. Gill, J. King)
Production: Frank Ocean, Om’mas Keith and Malay Ho
Arrangement: Om’mas Keith and Malay Ho
Keyboards: Frank Ocean and Malay Ho
Bass: Om’mas Keith
Drum Programming: Frank Ocean and Om’mas Keith
*Contains a sample of ‘Anthrax’ (Allen/Burnham/Gill/King) performed by Gang of Four, produced under license from Rhino Entertainment Company, a Warner Music Group Company (for the United States, Canada and Mexico) and Parlophone Records Limited, a Warner Music Group Company (for the rest of the world)

Interviews

(B. Ross)
Interviewer: Mikey Alfred
Subjects: Ryan Moore, Ibrahim Hariri, Na-Kel Smith, Sage Elsessler, Evan Clark, Nabil Hariri and Frank Ocean
Keyboards: Buddy Ross
*Contains a sample of “Running Around” by Buddy Ross

Image: Chart Attack