BO DIDDLEY
THE CHESS BOX
1990-MCA
VARIOUS PRODUCERS
Elias Bates became known as Elias McDaniel, then became famous as Bo Diddley, becoming one of rock & roll’s early pioneers and stars. He made his own guitars, produced his own records without getting credit for it, and gave the world the Bo Diddley Beat…as well as a slew of great songs. Bo Diddley was always overshadowed by the Elvis Presleys and Chuck Berrys of the world, but his recorded legacy speaks for itself. This man was a giant, and is a big reason why rock & roll flourished and survived. His time recording for Chess during the 1950’s and early to mid 60’s produced some of rock & roll’s greatest songs.
The Chess Box is a 45 song masterpiece. The man’s entire career is housed on two discs (and some pretty great liner notes) in some great packaging. Every one of these songs rings true, and the genius of Bo Diddley is stunning when you can hear it all in one place. From the early (1955) “Bo Diddley” and “I’m A Man” to mid 60’s rockers like “500% More Man” and “Ooh Baby”, and even the latter day “Bo Diddley 1969”, you get a man who always stayed true to his style. His style was greatness, and this collection is the best way to have it all.
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LUCERO
2001-MADJACK
Produced By CODY DICKINSON & LUCERO
1. Little Silver Heart
2. My Best Girl
3. Wandering Star
4. A Dangerous Thing
5. Drink ‘Till We’re Gone
6. Raising Hell
7. Banks Of The Arkansas
8. All Sewn Up
9. Wasted
10. Hold Fast
11. Better Than This
12. All These Love Songs
13. No Roses No More
14. It Gets Worse At Night
If you walked into the darkest, loneliest bar in the southern United States, ordered up a beer and a shot, and settled into a night of drinking alone, the voice you would hear singing all night would be that of Lucero’s Ben Nichols. A band that is described as having a very Memphis sound, they were helped early along by benefactors Luther and Cody Dickinson of North Mississippi All Stars: both played on this album, and Cody helped produce irt. After working in Memphis for a number of years, they released this record and began a trip that continues today as one of the hardest working rock bands in the world.
This album, their first full length release, is alt-country at its most alt. Containing additional elements of punk and soul while maintaining the raw sound that defines Lucero, the band is as good as can be…but the real star is Nichols. His voice creaks through every song, bring a unique quality and toughness to the songs…a big reason why Lucero stands out as much as they do. Technically a debut album, this is a great start to a Lucero collection that so far includes 8 studio albums. And they tour almost non stop, so getting to see them shouldn’t be a problem. This is a fine first effort, and there were even better ones to come.
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R.E.M.
AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE
1992-WARNER BROTHERS
Produced By SCOTT LITT & R.E.M.
1. Drive
2. Try Not To Breathe
3. The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite
4. Everybody Hurts
5. New Orleans Instrumental No. 1
6. Sweetness Follows
7. Monty Got A Raw Deal
8. Ignoreland
9. Star Me Kitten
10. Man On The Moon
11. Nightswimming
12. Find The River
Most bands are lucky if they have a song where everything pulls together: R.E.M. had multiple albums. Automatic For The People was the last truly great album by the band, although they would continue to release very good music up to their end in 2011. If you’re not familiar with the music on this album, then you may have been living under a rock during 1992 and 1993. Automatic launched 6 singles, including the exceptional “Drive”, “Man On The Moon”, and “Everybody Hurts” (with beautiful strings arranged by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin). The sound is slower than the preceding Out Of Time album, and deals with themes of loss and death. In really beautiful ways.
On Automatic, R.E.M. is in its best place musically. With only three upbeat songs, it still holds your interest all the way through…meaning that R.E.M. figured out how to play a bunch of slower music without being snoozy. R.E.M. was in the midst of being referred to as alternative sellouts…a ridiculous claim. While Automatic was a huge commercial hit, it’s obvious that the band wasn’t bowing to the industry…they just happened to make an exceptional album that the masses were somehow smart enough to pick up on. I say good for them. Automatic For The People is timeless, a masterpiece, and proof that R.E.M. was one of the greatest bands ever.
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THE B-52’S
1979-WARNER BROTHERS
Produced by CHRIS BLACKWELL
1. Planet Claire
2. 52 Girls
3. Dance This Mess Around
4. Rock Lobster
5. Lava
6. There’s A Moon in The Sky (Called The Moon)
7. Hero Worship
8. 6060-842
9. Downtown
There’s never been another band quite like The B-52’s, and that kind of feels like how it should be. New Wave music was never again so much fun…or any other kind of music, for that matter. This band came out of Athens, Georgia with the quirkiest brand of party music anyone had ever seen. Led by three singers; the almost rapper Fred Schneider, and two powerhouse females with high beehive hairdos, the band made a lasting impression with their 1979 debut. “Rock Lobster” was released as a single months before the album, and it was a beautiful piece of strangeness. (John Lennon also claimed that it was the song that got him back to music.)
The album also contains “Planet Claire”, “Lava”, “52 Girls”, and “Dance This Mess Around”, all perfect party songs. But the band also showed what they would throughout their career: when they were on, they were great…and they tended to also have a lot if filler on their albums. After the first 5 tracks, the letdown is pretty big. Not that the songs are bad, but they just aren’t at the same level. Still, this is a pretty good debut, and will still get any party started the right way.
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NANCI GRIFFITH
THE LAST OF THE TRUE BELIEVERS
1986-PHILO
Produced By JIM ROONEY & NANCI GRIFFITH
1. The Last Of The True Believers
2. Love At The Five & Dime
3. St. Olav’s Gate
4. More Than A Whisper
5. Banks Of The Ponchartrain
6. Lookin’ For The Time (Workin’ Girl)
7. Goin’ Gone
8. One of These Days
9. Love’s Found A Shoulder
10. Fly By Night
11. The Wing & The Wheel
As Nanci Griffith has shown throughout her career, trying to merge country and folk music isn’t quite the easy path to commercial success. But, if it was ever going to happen, this would have been the album to do it. Griffith’s fourth record, and her last on a small label, is a quiet masterpiece that deserves more attention than it has ever received. The Last Of The True Believers is an amazingly well crafted, well written, and beautiful work. Songs like “Love At The Five And Dime”, “Lookin’ For The Time (Workin’ Girl)”, “Goin’ Gone”, and the title track should have made Griffith a major star. Instead, she’s been a great secret for those who have discovered her music, and a great discovery for those who finde her later on.
She has plenty of big time help on the album…which shows how highly thought of she has always been by her peers. Bela Fleck, Maura O’Connell, Roy Huskey, Jr., and even Lyle Lovett (that’s him dancing on the album cover, by the way) lend their talents. Griffith is a sweet singer, a great performer, and a top notch songwriter. This is an album that should not be missed, but somehow always does. Pick up a copy. You’ll truly enjoy Nanci Griffith.
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THE BLACK CROWES
THE LOST CROWES
2006-AMERICAN
Produced By THE BLACK CROWES
1. A Conspiracy
2. Evil Eye
3. Cursed Diamond
4. London P.25
5. Dirty Hair Halo
6. Hi-Head Blues
7. Feathers
8. Nonfiction
9. Tied Up And Swallowed
10. Wiser Time
11. Sunday Buttermilk Waltz
12. Descending
13. Lowdown
14. Tornado
15. Song Of The Flesh
16. Thunderstorm 6:54
1. Paint An 8
2. Another Roadside Tragedy
3. If It Ever Stops Raining
4. Wyoming & Me
5. Predictable
6. Never Forget This Song
7. Lifevest
8. Grinnin’
9. My Heart’s Killing Me
10. Peace Anyway
In 2006, amid a period of unstable band personnel and an uncertain future, The Black Crowes emptied their vault from their most prolific and adventurous period. The Lost Crowes is two discs: the first contains songs recorded during the time of the Amorica album. Eight of these songs ended up on that album with shinier versions, 2 were released as bonus tracks, and one song (“Evil Eye”) made its way to Three Snakes And One Charm. The rest floated around as bootlegs for years, including the very excellent “Feathers”. The problem with many of these tracks is that they sometimes sound unfinished, and the reworked final album versions are all better. Understandable…since most songs that get left on the cutting room floor deserve to be there. But there are some good moments here, and it’s good to have the non-Amorica tracks officially released.
Disc two is an album called Tall that was slated for a 1997 release, but was scrapped and replaced two years later with By Your Side. Only one of these made it to the later album (“If It Ever Stops Raining” became “By Your Side”). This is actually the more interesting of the two discs, as it also features Marc Ford and Johnny Colt, and thus has a sound more in line with the Amorica and Three Snakes albums than with By Your Side. Overall, this collection is important for fans of the Crowes and fills in the gaps as far as their recorded legacy: but it’s also very up and down and fairly uneven. As should be expected with a collection like this.
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FATS WALLER
THE COMPLETE THOMAS “FATS” WALLER & HIS RHYTHM 1934/43 VOL 1: 1934/35
1992-KING JAZZ
Produced By ALESSANDRO PROTTI
1. A Porter’s Love Song To A Chambermaid
2. I Wish I Were Twins
3. I Wish I Were Twins
4. Armful Of Sweetness
5. Do Me A Favor
6. Georgia May
7. Then I’ll Be Tired Of You
8. Don’t Let It Bother You
9. Have A Little Dream On Me
10. Serenade For A Wealthy Widow
11. How Can You Face Me?
12. Sweetie Pie
13. Mandy
14. Let’s Pretend There’s A Moon
15. You’re Not The Only Oyster In The Stew
16. Honeysuckle Rose
17. Believe It, Beloved
18. Dream Man
19. I’m Growing Fonder Of You
20. If It Isn’t Love
21. Breakin’ The Ice
22. I’m A Hundred Percent For You
23. I’m A Hundred Percent For You
24. Baby Brown
25. Baby Brown
Fats Waller may be an almost forgotten man today, but there was a time when he was one of popular music’s biggest stars. He was a highly energetic performer, and although the records are sketchy, he is believed to have written well over 400 songs during his short life, many of them became huge hits, and many still heard today. Word is that he sold many of these songs for very cheap, and would become angry when he heard them being performed as hits. He was once kidnapped by Al Capone to play at his birthday party, and there are several other great stories about him. Waller was a true star in his day…a forgotten man today.
His most successful band was His Rhythm. This album is volume one of what was intended to be about 22 volumes of Waller’s music recorded between 1934 and his death in 1943. Not sure how many they actually got done…but the first 6 volumes alone were to have covered a period of just two years. The music here is amazing. Waller was a stunning pianist and a more than capable singer, and his band plays fast and furious behind him. This may have been the rock and roll of the 1930’s. It’s all excellent, and if you can find this (and any of the other volumes of the series that may have come out), you’ve got yourself some real, amazing classic American music. Fats Waller was simply amazing. (He died of pneumonia on a train ride in 1943 at the age of 39.)
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THE BLACK CROWES
THREE SNAKES AND ONE CHARM
1996-AMERICAN
Produced by JACK JOSEPH PUIG & THE BLACK CROWES
1. Under A Mountain
2. Good Friday
3. Nebakanezer
4. One Mirror Too Many
5. Blackberry
6. Girl From A Pawnshop
7. (Only) Halfway To Everywhere
8. Bring On, Bring On
9. How Much For Your Wings?
10. Let Me Share The Ride
11. Better When You’re Not Alone
12. Evil Eye
The Snakes And One Charm is the fourth album from The Black Crowes, and the last with guitarist Marc Ford. The album continues with the more experimental direction of Amorica, and while it does contain some fine songs, there are also signs that the songwriting well was beginning to run a bit dry. Great moments like “Good Friday” and “(Only) Halfway To Everywhere” are compromised by more uncomfortable tracks like “Blackberry” and “Nebakanezer”. The playing is fine throughout, but the production is, for lack of a better word, bad, and the album lacks consistency.
In fact, the lesser moments, for the first time in their career, begin to outweigh the better ones. At some point here, what The Black Crowes had been…a great Southern rock & roll band…gets lost in an increasing amount of big riffs and hippie sentiments. The album is by no means terrible, and at times it sounds great. But this would rank as the weakest of the band’s early albums.
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MARTIN ZELLAR & THE HARDWAYS
1996-RYKODISC
Produced By TOM HERBERS & MARTIN ZELLAR & THE HARDWAYS
1. Haunt My Dreams
2. Ten Year Coin
3. Brown-Eyed Boy
4. I Can’t Believe
5. Hammer’s Gonna Fall
6. George And Tammy
7. Lullaby
8. Big Sandals
9. Guilty Just The Same
10. We Were Young
11. Frog Fightin’ Drunk
Lesser known than his Minnesota contemporaries like Bob Mould, Paul Westerberg and the like, Martin Zellar is more country than any of the bands that came out of that scene…but he’s just as important. Along with his basss player of more than 30 years, Nick Ciola, Zellar formed the influential band The Gear Daddies in 1994 (anyone remember “I Want To Drive The Zamboni”?), then was an original member of the then very unofficial supergroup Golden Smog before settling into a solo career. Martin Zellar & The Hardways is his second album, and it’s a very country influenced record.
As with his previous band, Zellar has never hit the commercial heights. His raspy voice, country twang, and his proximity to Nashville has kept him largely ignored over the years. This album, like most of his solo work, is good…better than average, but nothing really big stands out. Workmanlike, alt country for a chilly day, perhaps. Zellar is good at what he does, has made a living of it, and is an artist worth hearing. You won’t be blown away, but you won’t be turned away, either. Zellar continues to record, and also plays in a Neil Diamond tribute band.
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JACKSON BROWNE
RUNNING ON EMPTY
1977-ASYLUM
Produced By JACKSON BROWNE
1. Running on Empty
2. The Road
3. Rosie
4. You Love The Thunder
5. Cocaine
6. Shaky Town
7. Love Needs A Heart
8. Nothing But Time
9. The Load Out
10. Stay
Is Running On Empty one of the most unique and creative live albums ever recorded? Is it a concept that started to sound dated the moment it was released? Is it a touching and eloquent tribute to musicians and crew who spend their lives on the road? Is it the beginning of the end of Jackson Browne’s time as a great songwriter? Running On Empty is all of those things. It’s a curiosity, it’s completely out of character, and it’s light on good material. The title track is the one that stuck with classic rock radio, and it’s one of Browne’s weakest singles. It’s the track that best defines this album: it’s pretty good, but I’m not getting up to crank the volume when it comes on.
“Cocaine” is a druggy (of course) cover. The other cover, The Zodiac’s “Stay” (featuring David Lindley on the high vocals) has new lyrics to pay tribute to roadies, and is a drag to say the least. And “Rosie” is a no holds barred song about masturbation (why, Jackson Browne?). The strengths are “The Road”, which was recorded half in a hotel room and half onstage in New Jersey: a great bit of editing, “Shaky Town”, and “Nothing But Time”, recorded live on the tour bus, complete with the rolling engine. Running On Empty is all live in unexpected ways, but the bottom line is that there is simply not enough good material to hold it down.
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