JOHN MELLENCAMP
DANCE NAKED
1994-MERCURY
Produced By JOHN MELLENCAMP & MICHAEL WANCHIC
1. Dance Naked
2. Brothers
3. When Margaret Comes To Town
4. Wild Night
5. L. U. V.
6. Another Sunny Day 12/25
7. Too Much To Think About
8. The Big Jack
9. The Breakout
After The Lonesome Jubilee, John Mellencamp slipped into a kind of oblivion...sure, everyone knows he's still there, but no one really cares unless they go to Farm Aid. Dance Naked is a good, yet mostly unremarkable album. More acoustic than his more popular work, Mellencamp still works hard and makes good music. The big highlight a remake of the Van Morrison tune "Wild Night", which features the unlikely bass playing and singing of Me'shell Ndegeocello. They do a fine song proud. The rest is songs of the heartland done with pure heart...just what you'd expect from John Mellencamp.
Mellencamp continues to put out good but not great albums. They're mostly all worth hearing, you just won't rave about them too much and you might forget you have them...which makes them pleasant surprises.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
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And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
ZZ TOP
GREATEST HITS
1992-WARNER BROTHERS
Produced By BILL HAM
1. Gimme All Your Lovin'
2. Sharp Dressed Man
3. Rough Boy
4. Tush
5. My Head's In Mississippi
6. Pearl Necklace
7. I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide
8. Viva Las Vegas
9. Doubleback
10. Gun Love
11. Got Me Under Pressure
12. Give It Up
13. Cheap Sunglasses
14. Sleeping Bag
15. Planet Of Women
16. La Grange
17. Tube Snake Boogie
18. Legs
Greatest Hits was only the 2nd compilation album for ZZ Top. It has it's downsides...the glitzy cover, the lack of chronological order, and the fact that all of the selections before thye Deguello album were from the horridly remixed 6 Pack. (Fortunately, there are only 2 songs from that period.) This concentrates more on the period from 1979-1992, and it does a good job of weeding out the lesser tracks. This is almost everything you'd need from ZZ Top through this time (except for Deguello...you want the whole album).
Also included is a strange cover of the Elvis Presley hit "Viva Las Vegas". This band has kept their motor running for over 40 years now without a personell change, and when they are on, as you can hear on this set, they can be as good as anyone in rock. A solid collection...but make sure you get The Best Of ZZ Top to cover the earlier years.
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THE ROLLING STONES
STICKY FINGERS
1971-ROLLING STONES
Produced By JIMMY MILLER
1. Brown Sugar
2. Sway
3. Wild Horses
4. Can't You Hear Me Knocking
5. You Gotta Move
6. Bitch
7. I Got The Blues
8. Sister Morphine
9. Dead Flowers
10. Moonlight Mile
If you ever get sick of hearing about The Rolling Stones still being on tour, and if every time you hear "Start Me Up" you cringe, and if you ever can't remember why The Stones are such a big deal, take a listen to Sticky Fingers. It will all come back to you. Recorded in the midst of their greatest period (when Mick Taylor played guitar), Sticky Fingers is one of a handful of Stones classics...and could be their best. "Brown Sugar" was the big hit, "Sway" is frightening, "Wild Horses" and "Dead Flowers" are bonafide classics. "Sister Morphine" can still give you chills. This is such a great album, even the faux jazz ending on "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" can be forgiven.
This is the Stones at their best. This is why they became such a big deal. Since Some Girls, this band has released about 3 careers worth of crap. But in 1971, they may have really been the greatest rock & roll band on earth.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
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And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
FLEETWOOD MAC
THEN PLAY ON
1969-WARNER BROS
Produced By FLEETWOOD MAC
1. Coming Your Way
2. Closing My Eyes
3. Show-Boz Blues
4. My Dream
5. Underway
6. Oh Well
7. Although The Sun Is Shining
8. Rattlesnake Shake
9. Searching For Madge
10. Fighting For Madge
11. When You Say
12. Like Crying
13. Before The Beginning
Then Play On is the 3rd album by Fleetwood Mac, and the last to feature guitarist Peter Green. It's most notable for containing the classic "Oh Well", but there is a lot more to recommend this. Green and Danny Kirwan do the bulk of the writing, and songs like "Coming Your Way" and "Before The Beginning" are excellent. This was the Mac's first real step toward the giant they would become in the mid 70's, but their blues beginnings were still intact here. Then Play On is an album dwarfed in a catalog that contains Rumours, Fleetwood Mac, and Tusk. This is not the same band, and it's great to hear how they sounded early on.
Guitarist Jeremy Spencer played only a couple of piano parts, and Christine Perfect played uncredited keyboards as well. Green left to join a cult afterward. "Oh Well" was not included in the original British release, but was added to the American version after it had become a hit.
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GIN BLOSSOMS
NEW MISERABLE EXPERIENCE
1992-A&M
Produced By JOHN HAMPTON & GIN BLOSSOMS
1. Lost Horizons
2. Hey Jealousy
3. Mrs. Rita
4. Until I Fall Away
5. Hold Me Down
6. Cajun Song
7. Hands Are Tied
8. Found Out About You
9. Allison Road
10. 29
11. Pieces Of The Night
12. Cheatin'
Not all rock and roll stories are good ones. Gin Blossoms, for example. Named for a term used to describe rosacea, the band's major label debut, New Miserable Experience, got its name from the band's dealings with A&M. The album sat for over a year selling nothing before "Hey Jealousy" suddenly broke. But before that, during the recording, the band fired guitarist Doug Hopkins (who had written what would become the band's only hits and their best songs) for excessive drinking. Just when "Hey Jealousy" was breaking, Hopkins committed suicide. Another hit, "Found Out About You" (also written by Hopkins) followed, then the band slipped into obscurity. The album credits Hopkins with his writing and for playing guitar, but the list of band members features his replacement, Scott Johnson.
Overall, the album is not bad. They have a jangly pop sound that was miles away from grunge. "Allison Road" and "Mrs. Rita" are pretty good songs. The band recorded a follow up which did not fare nearly as well, then they broke up. They're quietly back together now, but they never got the writing they got from Hopkins.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
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Of dying history
JANIS IAN
HUNGER
1997-WINDHAM HILL
Produced By JEFF BALDING, ANI DIFRANCO & JANIS IAN
1. Black & White
2. On The Dark Side Of Town
3. Might As Well Be Monday
4. Getting Over You
5. Searching For America
6. Hunger
7. Welcome To Acousticville
8. Honor Them All
9. Empty
10. House Without A Heart
11. Shadow
12. Getting Over You (with strings)
Before there was American Idol, Star Search, Jewel, Hanson, Debbie Gibson or Tiffany, there was Janis Ian. At 13, she came from nowhere with the controversial hit "Society's Child" about interracial love that caused quite a stir in 1967. She grew up, had a small handful of hits, disappeared for 12 years, and came back making very good music. Hunger is not her strongest album, but it's still great to hear that strong voice, and her songwriting remains excellent. The centerpiece here is the live "Welcome To Acousticville", which in almost 8 minutes shows it all...her voice, her writing, her ability to work an audience, and her guitar playing. The rest of the album is good as well, but not as fine as Breaking The Silence or Revenge. Ian ia always an artist who deserves to be heard, though, so you can't go wrong with this.
Ian continues to record, and is also a published science fiction author as well as a columnist.
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Of dying history
FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS
THE RAW AND THE COOKED
1988-IRS
Produced By DAVID Z, JERRY HARRISON & FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS
1. She Drives Me Crazy
2. Good Thing
3. I'm Not The Man I Used To Be
4. I'm Not Satisfied
5. Tell Me What
6. Don't Look Back
7. It's OK (It's Alright)
8. Don't Let It Get You Down
9. As Hard As It Is
10. Ever Fallen in Love
Just when it looked like New Wave had run its course, Fine Young Cannibals came from nowhere and hit us in the face with maybe 2 of the decades catchiest songs. FYC was formed by former English Beat members Andy Cox and David Steele. They recruited British actor Roland Gift, and the trio made 2 albums before disappearing. The first did nothing. This one was huge. "She Drives Me Crazy" was everywhere for about three years, and "Good Thing" was even better. This was 80's dance music with something different...an element of cool. They even threw in a Buzzcocks cover ("Ever Fallen In Love"). Driven with 80's keyboards but also a lot of guitar, this album is as catchy as anything made during the decade...but they do it for an entire album. Well played, sirs!
The band broke up afterward. There have been reunions, but they'll never top this. One of the better (and now very underrated) albums of the 80's.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
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And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
CRASH TEST DUMMIES
GOD SHUFFLED HIS FEET
1993-ARISTA
Produced By JERRY HARRISON & CRASH TEST DUMMIES
1. God Shuffled His Feet
2. Afternoons & Coffeespoons
3. Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
4. In The Days Of The Caveman
5. Swimming In Your Ocean
6. Here I Stand Before Me
7. I Think I'll Disappear Now
8. How Does A Duck Know?
9. When I Go Out With Artists
10. The Psychic
11. Two Knights And Maidens
12. Untitled
Every once in a while, you'll hear a band on the radio and immediately know that they will end up being a one hit wonder. Escape Club, for instance. Crash Test Dummies is one of those bands. Their one big hit from their second album, the strangely Titled "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm", introduced rock to the sound of a true bass lead singer, Brad Roberts. They were different, which made them successful, and which made them obsolete very quickly. But this is actually a pretty great album. Every song is an adventure, and even though it got old on the radio, Roberts voice just makes everything sound...smarter. The songs are terrific..."Afternoons & Coffeespons", the title track, and everything else deserved a better fate than it got. Nobody had ever sounded like the Dummies...and no one has since. Thus, a unique band, and one worth hearing.
It didn't help matters that their next album was terrible. But in 1993, these guys were awfully good. The album is still cool today...although it's also long forgotten.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
HANSON
MIDDLE OF NOWHERE
1997-MERCURY
Produced By STEPHEN LIRONI & THE DUST BROTHERS
1. Thinking Of You
2. MMMBop
3. Weird
4. Speechless
5. Where's The Love
6. Yearbook
7. Look At You
8. Lucy
9. I Will Come To You
10. A Minute Without You
11. Madeline
12. With You In Your Dreams
Bonus Track:
13. Man From Milwaukee (Garage Mix)
Let me point out a couple of things. First of all, when Hanson appeared, the teen idol was pretty much dead. This was 3 brothers who made a rock and roll record. Realize that these were KIDS. They wrote their own songs, they played their own instruments, and before the mass media took them over and made them all cute and cuddly monsters, they were a band that was trying to make something of themselves. When you were 14, wouldn't it have been cool to have made an album of your own songs for a major label? Who among us didn't dream of this?
I first saw Hanson on TV before they were megastars. What I saw was a young band full of energy, talent, and songs. Middle Of Nowhere may be the rebirth of the dreaded teen idol, and "MMMBop" may be the biggest earworm of the decade, but the fact is this...there has never been, before or since, a teen idol album better than this one. "Where's The Love" was written by 3 early and pre-teenage boys? Are you kidding me? That song, along with several others on this album, are fine pieces of work...escpecially considering where they came from. You can diss this album all you want...but it's very good. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. And even though I may turn down "MMMBop" in case anyone else can hear, it's still good stuff.
Of course, it didn't last long. The media machine milked the boys for every piece of music they had recorded as fast as possible...by 2000, they were obsolete. This album, a live album, a Christmas album, a demo album...overkill. But this is what we all dreamed of, we who grew up with guitars and dreams of being able to tour around the world and never having to work a day in our lives.
One of the greatest moments on Family Guy...the men are at the bar playing, "If you could do one woman in the world, who would it be?". Quagmire's choice? Taylor Hanson. When the others point out that "he's a dude", Quagmire runs screaming from the bar. Classic. Oh...and this will sober you up...in March, Taylor Hanson will be 34.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
1. The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead
2. My Bird Performs
3. Dear Madame Barnum
4. Humble Daisy
5. The Smartest Monkeys
6. The Disappointed
7. Holly Up On Poppy
8. Crocodile
9. Rook
10. Omnibus
11. That Wave
12. Then She Appeared
13. War Dance
14. Wrapped In Gray
15. The Ugly Underneath
16. Bungalow
17. Books Are Burning
Nonsuch is the 12th album from XTC...and their last major label issue. Despite having a major hit ("The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead") and a great minor one ("Dear Madam Barnum"), this is easily the most underrated and forgotten album in their catalog. Already a non touring band (Andy Partridge suffers from severe stagefright), the band was at odds with their record company. When the third single, "Wrapped In Gray", was pulled back and not released, the band went on strike...for 6 years. Nonsuch slipped into obscurity, along with XTC.
And that's a shame...because Nonsuch is a pretty terrific album. Everything is catchy and extremely well written. Tracks like "War Dance", "Holly Up On Poppy", and "Omnibus" are among their best...and "Dear Madam Barnum" may be their best song ever. Partridge and Colin Moulding are a devastating 1-2 songwriting punch, and Nonsuch is where everything matures and comes together. One of the finer and unheard albums of the 90's. Grab it if you can.
After they finally got out of their contract with Virgin, they formed their own company and started releasing the Apple Venus series. XTC officially broke up in 2006. If you can find Nonsuch, it contains many rewards. Had they continued on, they were definitely headed down the right path.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
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