953 West is an album by the Siegel–Schwall Band. Their third album on the Wooden Nickel Records

Wooden Nickel Records

Wooden Nickel Records was an American independent record label started in 1971 by Bill Traut, Jim Golden and Jerry Weintraub as a successor to Dunwich Records. Most of Wooden Nickel's releases were by acts based in the Chicago area, including the Siegel-Schwall Band, Megan McDonough and Styx. The...

 label, and their seventh album overall, it was recorded at Paragon Recording Studios in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 in August 1973, and was released later that year. It was re-released as a CD, by Wounded Bird Records

Wounded Bird Records

Wounded Bird Records is a CD only, re-issue record label, that was founded in 1998 in Guilderland, New York. They re-release lesser known albums from both popular and lesser known artists, including Deborah Harry, Chic, David Blue, Marilyn Martin, Gordon Haskell, Jon Anderson, Adrian Belew, Ellen...

, in 1999.

The title of the album refers to the Quiet Knight, a music venue where the Siegel–Schwall Band performed many times, and which was located at 953 West Belmont Avenue

Belmont Avenue (Chicago)

Belmont Avenue is a major east-west street on the North Side of Chicago. Belmont is a central commercial street in Lakeview and, west of the North Branch of the Chicago River, Avondale...

 in Chicago. The album cover art depicts the platform of the nearby Belmont el

Chicago 'L'

The L is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs. It is operated by the Chicago Transit Authority...

 station.

Track listing

Side one:

1. "I'd Like to Spend Some Time Alone with You Tonight My Friend" (Corky Siegel
   Corky Siegel
   Mark Paul "Corky" Siegel is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and composer. He plays harmonica and piano. He plays and writes blues and blues-rock music, and has also worked extensively on combining blues and classical music...
   
   )) – 4:12
2. "Traitor from Decatur" (Patrick Garvey) – 2:54
3. "Good Woman" (Shelly Plotkin) – 4:10
4. "Just Another Song About the Country Sung by a City Boy" (Danny Glicken, Siegel) – 5:23
5. "When I've Been Drinkin'" (Big Bill Broonzy
   Big Bill Broonzy
   Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...
   
   , with additional lyrics by Jim Schwall
   Jim Schwall
   Jim Schwall is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as a co-founder and member of the Siegel-Schwall Band.-Musical career:...
   
   ) – 4:06

Side two:

6. "Old Time Shimmy" (Rollo Radford) – 3:54
7. "Off to Denver" (Siegel) – 3:13
8. "I Think It Was the Wine" (Schwall) – 3:50
9. "Reed Zone (Psychiatric Institution Blues)" (Siegel) – 5:59
10. "Blow Out the Candle" (Schwall) – 2:25

Siegel–Schwall Band

• Corky Siegel
  Corky Siegel
  Mark Paul "Corky" Siegel is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and composer. He plays harmonica and piano. He plays and writes blues and blues-rock music, and has also worked extensively on combining blues and classical music...
  
   – piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  , harmonica
  Harmonica
  The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
  
  , vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Jim Schwall
  Jim Schwall
  Jim Schwall is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as a co-founder and member of the Siegel-Schwall Band.-Musical career:...
  
   – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , vocals
• Rollo Radford – bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , vocals
• Shelly Plotkin – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  

Production

• Siegel–Schwall Band – producer
• Barry Mraz – producer, engineer
• Bill Traut – supervision
• Eddie Balchowsky – cover art and poem