ROBIN TROWER
BRIDGE OF SIGHS
1974-CHRYSALIS
Produced By MATTHEW FISHER
1. Day Of The Eagle
2. Bridge Of Sighs
3. In This Place
4. The Fool And Me
5. Too Rolling Stoned
6. About To Begin
7. Lady Love
8. Little Bit Of Sympathy
While playing with Procol Harum, Robin Trower heard the music of Jimi Hendrix and became one of his biggest disciples. When the band became too small for his guitar ambitions, he went solo. Bridge Of Sighs is Trower's second solo album, and is easily his biggest and finest work. The album contains his finest batch of songs: "Day Of The Eagle" and "Lady Love" are great, but it's the title track and "Too Rolling Stoned" that carry this to classic status. Trower's guitar leads the way, and the better the song, the less it sounds like a direct Jimi ripoff. Bassist James Dewar handles the vocals very well...with a strangely Hendrix type of tone.
The strength of those 4 songs carries the album: the other four get it docked a star. The difference between excellent Trower and average Trower is miles apart. Fortunately, there's enough of the exceptional here to make it worth having. Just play "Bridge Of Sighs" and "Too Rolling Stoned" really loud, and your purchase will be more than justified.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
JANE'S ADDICTION
RITUAL DE LO HABITUAL
1990-WARNER BROTHERS
Produced By DAVE JERDEN & PERRY FERRELL
1. Stop!
2. No One's Leaving
3. Ain't No Right
4. Obvious
5. Been Caught Stealing
6. Three Days
7. Then She Did...
8. Of Course
9. Classic Girl
You have to give Jane's Addiction credit...in 1990, no one was doing this. In the midst of hair metal, Jane's was pulling out funky heavy rock in 5 to 10 minute chunks at a time. They rocked as hard as anyone, and even better: there wasn't a freaking power ballad in sight. Ritual De Lo Habitual houses the band's big hit, "Been Caught Stealing", as well as the excellent "Three Days" and "Stop!". Thre are, instrumentally, some really great moments on this record.
But here's the problem. Lead singer Perry Ferrell, as difficult as it is to look at him, has a voice that's just as unattractive. He sings very high, and he rarely sings a melody, which means that he's mainly shreiking. I know that a lot of people like his singing, but to me, high does not mean good. And to me, all he has going for him is high. Ferrell drags this, and everything else he's ever "sang" on, way below what it could have been. With a better singer, this album would rate much higher. But I'm not buying into Ferrell. Never have, never will. Otherwise, great job to Dave Navarro & the rest of the band.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
WARREN ZEVON
1976-ELEKTRA
Produced By JACKSON BROWNE
1. Frank And Jesse James
2. Mama Couldn't Be Persuaded
3. Backs Turned Looking Down The Path
4. Hasten Down The Wind
5. Poor Poor Pitiful Me
6. The French Inhaler
7. Mohammed's Radio
8. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
9. Carmelita
10. Join Me In L.A.
11. Desperados Under The Eaves
Warren Zevon's debut album, Wanted Dead Or Alive, was so bad that it took 6 years for the follow up, Warren Zevon, to be released. What a difference 6 years can make. This collection didn't sell very well initially, but it came to be known as one of rock's true classic albums. Every song is a stunning reminder of why Zevon was so well resepcted in the music industry, and why his fans, once on board the Zevon bandwagon, never leave. And the list of guests on the album...Jackson Browne, Lindsey Buckingham, Phil Everly, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Raitt...is impressive as well.
Linda Ronstadt covered 4 songs from this album, and appeared on his later recordings. He went on to further success, but this album is the one that made him a legend. Strong on every track, lyrically amazing, and stunningly played. A complete classic and an easy 5 stars.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
PULP
DIFFERENT CLASS
1995-ISLAND
Produced By CHRIS THOMAS
1. Mis-Shapes
2. Pencil Skirt
3. Common People
4. I Spy
5. Disco 2000
6. Live Bed Show
7. Something Changed
8. Sorted For E's & Wizz
9. F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E.
10. Underwear
11. Monday Morning
12. Bar Italia
Back in 1995, if you believed that you'd found a great new band in Pulp, you couldn't have been more wrong. Pulp was started by Jarvis Cocker back in 1978, and it took them 17 years to finally break through. Different Class was their 5th album, and it had taken two terrible albums in the 80's and 2 slight improvements in the 90's to get to this point. The fact that Different Class finally put it all together for Pulp was the biggest surprise. The album had 2 big UK hits in "Disco 2000" and "Common People", and finally broke the band in the US. The rest is very smart and catchy (and very British) alternative rock.
Pulp went on to release only two more albums before going on hiatus from 2003 to 2011. They regrouped and toured in 2011 and 2012, but appear to be finished now. Different Class remains their triumph. If you're a fan, you may want some of their other work, but this should be really the only Pulp album you'll need. "Common People" became a strange hit years later for William Shatner.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
URGE OVERKILL
SATURATION
1993-GEFFEN
Produced By THE BUTCHER BROTHERS
1. Sister Havana
2. Tequila Sundae
3. Positive Bleeding
4. Back On Me
5. Woman 2 Woman
6. Bottle Of Fur
7. Crackbabies
8. The Stalker
9. Dropout
10. Erica Kane
11. Nite And Grey
12. Heaven 90210
I really want to hate this band. During the early 90's, when everyone was about flannel and grunge, Urge Overkill was about inventing the scenester look. They were pretty, spotless, retro, and wore really stupid boots. Saturation ends with one of the most annoying trends of the day, a hidden track. After 20 MINUTES OF SILENCE. And they were unknown until a cover of Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon" from Pulp Fiction. What's not to hate?
The only problem is that Saturation, their 4th album and the one immediately before their movie break, is actually pretty damn good. "Sister Havana" and "Positive Bleeding" were minor hits, but the album is strong and mostly consistent. And even though they namedrop trendy fictional carachters ("Erica Kane"), and dress like a lost night in Silverlake, they make it sound actually pretty damn good. This is their best album, and worth listening to. I'll admit it. A good album. Doesn't mean I have to like their martini drinking, Hermans Hermits boot wearing asses.
UO made one more album and self destructed. Saturation is still as good as it got. And that was pretty damn good.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
THE MEKONS
THE MEKONS ROCK 'N' ROLL
1989-A&M
Produced By THE MEKONS & IAN CAPLE
1. Memphis, Egypt
2. Club Mekon
3. Only Darkness Has The Power
4. Learning To Live On Your Own
5. Cocaine Lil
6. Empire Of The Senseless
7. Someone
8. Amnesia
9. I Am Crazy
10. Blow Your Tuneless Trumpet
11. Echo
12. When Darkness Falls
The Mekons (named after an old British comic book carachter) are the longest running and most prolific of the first wave of UK punk bands. They are punk in the best sense of the word...what they have to say is more important to them than how many records they sell, something long ago lost in the punk world. The Mekons also pretty much invented alt country on their album Fear And Whiskey from 1985. Rock 'N' Roll is their 8th album, their major label debut, and may be their finest moment.The record points its finger at the music business, and includes a delicious punch in the face to Bono in "Blow Your Tuneless Trumpet". Rock 'N' Roll is a highly listenable album that will grow on you both musically and lyrically.
The Mekons have been at it since 1977, and are still recording and touring. Their recorded legacy has some low points, but this is not one of those. Rock 'N' Roll is a fine album.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
VARIOUS ARTISTS
NEW MUSIC FOR A CAFFEINATED SOCIETY
1996-REPRISE
VARIOUS PRODUCERS
1. Just Like you (Babble)
2. Love Has No Name (Babble)
3. Come Down (babble)
4. Into Ether (Babble)
5. Let There Be Light (Mike Oldfield)
6. Oceana (Mike Oldfield)
7. Lament For Atlantis (Mike Oldfield)
8. Hibernaculum (Mike Oldfield)
9. Sweetheart (Ben Grosse Remix) (Penelope Houston)
10. Qualities Of Mercy (Penelope Houston)
11. Glad I'm A Girl (Penelope Houston)
12. Cut You (Penelope Houston)
13. This Is Where It Ends (Barenaked Ladies)
14. When I Fall (Barenaked Ladies)
15. Shoe Box (Barenaked Ladies)
16. The Old Apartment (Barenaked Ladies)
This is a strange, out of nowhere sampler from Reprise Records featuring songs from 4 new releases of 1996. Each artist gets 4 tracks, and exactly half of them are worthwhile. The Babble tracks are from Ether, and are very good. (Babble was once The Thompson Twins). Mike Oldfield's tracks from The Songs From Distant Earth are, as expected, a bore, and are pretty out of place here. Barenaked Ladies and their tracks from Born On A Pirate Ship are slightly annoying, as that band usually is. The real gems here are the songs from Penelope Houston's Cut You album. If you happen to run across this set, it's worthwhile for that alone. If you can find Cut You, even better.
There are no liner notes and no indication as to where this was distributed to. My guess is that it's been long forgotten by Reprise, as is much of the music it contains. But always be on the lookout for little gems like this. You never know when you'll get some great songs like the Houston tracks included here.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
VARIOUS ARTISTS
PERFORMING ARTISTS FOR ANIMAL RIGHTS
2001-MP3.COM
VARIOUS PRODUCERS
1. Star (Karen Ires)
2. Bleed (Michael Lloyd)
3. I Know (Trespassers William)
4. The Bridge (The Fur Ones)
5. Echoes (Dislife)
6. 6:45 (Syd)
7. Believe (Mick OD)
8. Little Feet (Eddy Free)
9. Beggar'sa Banquet (Nathan Sheppard)
10. Invisible Man (Dino Romanelli)
11. Breathe It All In (Jeordie Schekeryk)
12. Brown Eyes (Kim Novak)
13. The Spirit We (Rachael Sage)
14. There Is Peace (Emily Richards)
15. Heal The Wounds (Wes Davey)
Way back at the turn of the century, there was a website called mp3.com that gave hope to the unsigned indie musician. For awhile, it was an amazing place, but it turned out to be a failed experiment....basically, a bunch of musicians trying to get what turned out to be just a bunch of musicians to hear their music. But there was a real sense of community then. The best part was the people I was able to interract with on a daily basis. When mp3 went the way of the dinosaurs, the community fractured into a million pieces. But there will always be that time.
One thing you could do at mp3.com was have them manufacture your cd's for you to sell. In this case, you could also easily set up compilations for charities. My friend Serena Matthews put this album together for Happy Tails Humane, a no kill animal shelter in Franklin, TN. And while Serena unfortunately does not have a song on this disc, her heart is all over it. And the best part now is that looking back on all of the artists who contributed to this, I can remember being online friends with all of them...and even getting to meet Eddy Free in Hawaii. So this is a huge walk down memory lane.
Unfortunately, mp3.com in that form is long gone. So the only person who might have copies of this is Serena. But it is part of my collection, and I just wanted to say thanks to Serena for putting it together, not just for the cause it served at the time, but also for the memories it contains now. These are the best of those days. Y'all missed out on some great music!
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
YAZ
YOU AND ME BOTH
1983-SIRE
Produced By EC RADCLIFFE & YAZ
1. Nobody's Diary
2. Softly Over
3. Sweet Thing
4. Mr. Blue
5. Good Times
6. Walk Away From Love
7. Ode To Boy
8. Unmarked
9. Anyone
10. State Farm
11. And On
Yaz (originally Yazoo: shortened in the US because of copyright issues) was a duo consisting of former Depeche Mode founder Vince Clarke and vocalist Alison Moyet. They made two albums (this is the 2nd) of synth pop at its purest form: this is where "Just Can't Get Enough" continues. Moyet is a fine singer, and to hear a voice like hers over electronic 80's synths and not much else is a rare thing. If the idea behind Yaz was to create a different kind of sound, they succeeded while doing it in a genre that would sometimes suffer from being overly poppy and lifeless.
The two alternate songwriting here. The thing that carries this is, more than anything, the songs. You can lay blame for the synths all you want, but tracks like "Walk Away From Love", "Nobody's Diary" and "Good Times" make You And Me Both a surprisingly well done album. One of the brighter and more forgotten acts of the 80's.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
SILVERCHAIR
FREAK SHOW
1997-EPIC
Produced By NICK LAUNAY
1. Slave
2. Freak
3. Abuse Me
4. Lie To Me
5. No Association
6. Cemetery
7. The Door
8. Pop Song For Us Rejects
9. Learn To Hate
10. Petrol & Chlorine
11. Roses
12. Nobody Came
13. The Closing
If you don't know who silverchair is, that's okay. Unless you happen to live in Australia. In the land down under, silverchair is one of the biggest bands in the universe, following in the proud footsteps of The Bee Gees, AC/DC, Midnight Oil and the brothers Finn. The band was formed when its members were just 12, and they made a big hit with their debut album. Freak Show is the follow up, and shows that Australian grunge was as good and as inventive as anyone else's. The album produced 3 top ten hits in Australia: "Freak", "Abuse Me", and "Cemetery", and showed that the band could be more inventive than other bands of their time, utilizing different instrumentation in the recording.
silverchair has gone on to much success, having released 3 more albums, the last in 2007 before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2011. This is heavy, well played and well written stuff. If you don't know this band, you probably should.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
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