Track By Track: The Ninth Breaks Down New Concept Album Olympic Dream/Nightmare

New York City-based band The Ninth brings together funk, rock, and soul for one intriguing sound.

The band recently released their new concept album Olympic Dream/Nightmare, a unique collection focused on the 1994 figure skating scandal between Nancy Kerrigan and Tony Harding, reviving the story 25 years after it first went down. Thematically, it explores dreams and the harsh reality that those dreams don’t always come true, no matter how fiercely you chase after them.

The Ninth broke down the album, track by track, exclusively for Musical Notes Global readers. Check out their thoughts below.

1. Olympic Dream/Nightmare
The intro song, the main theme, the overture. It introduces the story and several musical themes that reoccur throughout the album (see Oskana, Limelight, Bad Guy). Not the catchiest tune but one of the toughest to perform – the intro alternates between 7/4 and 4/4, and the whole-band lick at the end is . . . fast.

2. Saving Grace
Nancy’s “I want” song, and our tribute to Yacht Rock. It’s jazzy and grooving but mellow, with super smooth performances by Anna Salmon (lead vox), Uncle Funky (bass) and John De Simini (sax). The bridge chord progression into the modulated chorus keeps it interesting. Full band hits in the final chorus were tricky. I think the smoothness makes it the most re-listenable (is that a word?) song on the album.

3. Trailer Park
Tonya’s “I want” song, telling the story of her humble beginnings (spoiler alert: still humble). It’s rock and roll with Stephanie Genito going full Broadway diva throughout. The ending is intentional leg kicking cheese – and one of the best things on the album because of it. Notable lyrics include “I love me a good mustache.”

4. Watch Ur Back
The best track on the album in my opinion, and one of several that are really three songs in one. Part I features a Nancy/Tonya vocal duel, with their parts in second verse escalating, interweaving and harmonizing (inspired by the Farmer Refuted from Hamilton). If you “turn on the red light” you may catch something interesting after the first chorus. Tried to get my Cory Wong on with the clean guitar in Part II. Part III is a ballad, broken up by my favorite guitar solo I’ve ever played. The lyrics there point to a tough time I was going through with some challenges in my non-music career.

5. Pipe Dream
When I first set out to write a musical about Nancy and Tonya, my first ideas were a rock song called Trailer Park and a sleazy funk tune sung by Jeff Gillooly called “Crowbar.” This is the latter. We changed the name to Pipe Dream to not give away the ending. Has some of my favorite lyrics including, well, “a pipe dream will be a winning routine” and “you can’t go dig for gold and keep your hands clean.” Musically it’s pure Steely Dan (or Fagen’s Kamakiriad). Tim Russell sleazes it out as Jeff (he grew a mustache for our release show). And Uncle Funky provides his uncle funkiest bassline ever. Did you know Gillooly changed his name to Jeff Stone?
We have a line about that.

6. Why Me??
This is Nancy’s lament after getting whacked with, yes, a crowbar. She didn’t actually cry “why me” (just “why”) but it sounds better this way. This was the hardest song to write. It finally clicked when it occurred to me to write it from both Nancy and Tonya’s perspective, and to reprise Watch Ur Back both thematically and musically. It ends with a Great Gig in the Sky interlude followed by the full band turned up to 11, with the screamiest guitar on the record.

7. The Jump
A relatively simple tune where Nancy vows to crush it after her injury. One of the first written, and done so in about two hours. Vocals and piano by Anna Salmon (she does it live as well). The rest of the album is maxed out in terms of instrumentation and this one scales it back to the core drums/bass/piano/guitar. Simple is often better.

8. Oksana!
The story of how Nancy made a miraculous comeback from her hit-job injury, turning in the performance of her life at the ‘94 Olympics, only to . . . come in second to upstart Oksana Baiul. Nancy comes in at the end to tell us how “random Russian medaling ruined her lifetime goal” (Oksana is from the Ukraine, but couldn’t resist the reference to today). Musically, it’s Phish and Red Hot Chili Peppers – all funk/rock and 7#9 chords. It based on the third theme of the title track and ends on a variation of the Saving Grace bridge chords. Being able to reinterpret ideas is a huge advantage of doing a concept album.

9. Big Night in the Limelight
Here we have Jeff Gillooly narrating both his and Tonya’s demise. We went back and forth on whether this should come before or after Oksana, since Tonya’s demise and Nancy’s crushing defeat happen simultaneously. Ultimately decided this is a bigger, longer and more retrospective song, so it should go towards the end. I consider it the deep cut of the album, but there’s a lot there if you’re willing to go deep, including a Trailer Park reprise, funky muted trumpet solo by our horn man Jeff Ostroski, and a massive, massive ending.

10. Bad Guy
Closing track, Tonya’s swan song, second act showstopper (in my dreams). One of the first song ideas – Tonya said “they think I’m the bad guy” in the ESPN 30 for 30 (or at least I remember it that way). Starts mellow and becomes percussive and grooving thanks to groove machine Andrew Klein and percussion extraordinaire Andy Blanco. The bridge yet again calls back to the title track. Extra modulation after the bridge was Stephanie’s idea in the studio, illustrative of the “say yes” vibe to this whole project. Also illustrative: the six singers’ patience as I arranged the ending vocal cascade on the spot in the studio while not 100% on my game due to seeing Phish the night before ☺

Listen to Olympic Dream/Nightmare below.