LED ZEPPELIN
THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME
1976 – SWAN SONG
Produced By JIMMY PAGE
1. Rock And Roll
2. Celebration Day
3. The Song Remains The Same
4. Rain Song
5. Dazed And Confused
1. No Quarter
2. Stairway To Heaven
3. Moby Dick
4. Whole Lotta Love
Led Zeppelin was the master at studio albums. Every studio recording in their catalog rates high, and makes the band one of the greatest of all time. Live albums? If there is a place where Zeppelin did not exceed, this is the place. During their incredible run of a career from 1969-1979, the band released eight albums, all of them considered to be classics to this day, and rightfully so. Live albums? During their time together, there was one. The only other in concert recording of the band came out in 2003, the far superior How The West Was Won. This album, the soundtrack for the concert film of the same name, is the biggest disappointment in the Led Zeppelin catalog. Recorded three years prior to its release, this massive double album is overlong, overloaded and overbloated. The band sounds tired and almost bored, and the songs, after the first few, are way too long and drawn out. The sound is murky and dark, and even the order of the album does not match the film (this was corrected in the 2007 re release, which is a better album…and also a half hour longer).
There are some great instrumental moments, mostly provided by Jimmy Page, and while Robert Plant’s vocals are strong, he shows that he can be a bit of a detriment as a front man (“Does anyone remember LAUGHTER?”). Particularly, the long screeching staccato ending of “Dazed And Confused”, which runs an obscene 26 minutes. “Moby Dick” is 12 minutes of John Bonham playing a drum solo, which is 12 minutes too long, and why “No Quarter” and “Whole Lotta Love” have to be stretched beyond 10 minutes is beyond me. Not much here is worth much with the film to accompany it, and even less is worth hearing without it. Even the members of the band have always been indifferent to this album, and even though it was the coolest thing on the planet during the mid 70’s, there is now a respectable Zeppelin live album to replace it. Unless you have to have all things Zeppelin, this is not up to par with the rest of their catalog: get How The West Was Won instead.
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SON VOLT
AMERICAN CENTRAL DUST
2009 – ROUNDER
No Production Credit
1. Dynamite
2. Down To The Wire
3. Roll On
4. Cocaine And Ashes
5. Dust Of Daylight
6. When The Wheels Don’t Move
7. No Turning Back
8. Pushed Too Far
9. Exiles
10. Sultana
11. Strength And Doubt
12. Jukebox Of Steel
With their 2005 album The Search, Son Volt made a kind of attempt at mass acceptance with their heavy horned hit “The Picture”. Four years later, Jay Farrar decided it was time for a follow up, and, it seemed, no one on the planet took notice at all. It could be that Farrar had finally stopped reaching for the stars and settled into what he ultimately does best: moody Midwestern tales of working too hard and trying not to die too young. The sound of American Central Dust is uncomplicated and simple. It doesn’t have anything that will stick in your head for long, but there’s nothing here to really actually dislike. It’s safe, honest, well played, and mature. Farrar still has it all lyrically, with a unique voice that sounds terminally bummed out. Son Volt reaches for more of a relaxed Americana sound on this album, and while it was most definitely lost in the shuffle, it’s an album that will grow on you if you take the time to allow it to.
“Dynamite” contains some nice accordion, while the lap steel on “Dust And Daylight” is hard to beat. The use of fiddle in spots is a nice addition. This is an album that’s tough to love, but very easy to like. Farrar’s lyrics are the high point, while his singing, bordering on sleepiness, is the low. This is an album that won’t grab your attention and hold on to it, but one that feels like an old friend when you hear it. This is not the best Son Volt album ever made by a long shot…but it’s not one you would toss away as a misstep in their catalog. This is a fine, easy alt-country album by a group that has grown pretty much all the way up. Question was, where would Jay Farrar go from here? American Central Dust is the sound where Son Volt has ended up, and that's not a bad thing for this great American band, and one of alt country’s better (and more adventurous) songwriters.
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GUADALCANAL DIARY
WALKING IN THE SHADOW OF THE BIG MAN
1984 – ELEKTRA
Produced By DON DIXON
1. Trail Of Tears
2. Fire From Heaven
3. Sleepers Awake
4. Gilbert Takes The Wheel
5. Ghost On The Road
6. Watusi Radio
7. Why Do The Heathen Rage?
8. Pillow Talk
9. Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man (Part 1)
10. Kumbayah
For the most part, the best music of the 80’s wasn’t what was popular…it was what was brewing underneath the surface in colleges and record stores. It was music that was ahead of its time, and music that would finally gain a foothold in the 1990’s, after the death of new wave and hair metal. A prime example of the great music that was waiting to explode during the decade was the debut album from Guadalcanal Diary. Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man is a jangle pop masterpiece that has been unfortunately lost in the shadows of fellow Georgia bands, R.E.M., The B-52’s, the decade it was released in, and the sad lack of a monster hit single. The follow up album, Jamboree, did not fare well, and Guadalcanal Diary broke up in obscurity in 1989. The bands discography slipped further from view due to frontman Murray Attaway’s somewhat strange attempt at a failed solo career. But there has always been this album, very hard to find for a long, long time, lurking in the cheap seats and import bins of your local record store. Thank God.
It’s hard to pick a highlight, because each song is a delicacy on its own. Even the title track, an instrumental, is excellent, and the album closes with a live, best EVER version of, of all things, “Kumbayah”. There is a 2003 re-issue that includes 6 extra tracks, but you’ll be just fine with the original album. The twin guitars from Attaway and Jeff Walls are solid, the vocals are great, and the rhythm section of Rhett Crowe and John Poe is as great as you’d want. This is more pop oriented than what R.E.M. was doing at the time, but it never wanders across the border to cheesiness. For every one hundred bands like Poison and Warrant and Skid Row, there was one gem like Guadalcanal Diary lurking on the airwaves of college radio. Some of them, deservedly so, made it big. Some, like this band, faded to obscurity. Sadly. If you see this album, snatch it up. It’s a more than worthwhile purchase.
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MAGNAPOP
RUBBING DOESN’T HELP
1996 - PRIORITY
Produced By GEZA X
1. This Family
2. I Don’t Care
3. Open The Door
4. Hold You Down
5. Come On Inside
6. Down On Me
7. An Apology
8. My Best Friend
9. Juicy Fruit
10. Firebrand
11. Radio Waves
12. Snake
13. Dead Letter
Remember Magnapop? That’s okay…not many do. This band popped out of Athens, Georgia with their 1992 debut album, Play It Again. Most notable was the fact that their first two records were produced by Michael Stipe and Bob Mould. Let by singer Linda Hopper and guitarist Ruthie Morris, their debut rocked, and their second album, Hot Boxing, was even better. But the band’s third album, Rubbing Doesn’t Help, takes the band a step backwards…or sideways, if you will. While the first two albums benefitted from Stipe and Mould, respectively, Rubbing was produced by Geza X, who didn’t seem to have the same passion for what the band was capable of, and it shows. This is by no means a bad album…Morris is a sweet guitar player, and she rocks hard throughout this. But they seem to be lacking the ability to take that next step, and the songs fall into a more average category. Plus, Hopper starts to sound just a tad bored, leaving Morris alone to sharpen the edges.
So what did they do next? Unfortunately, Magnapop’s label shut down, and the band was legally unable to make another album for another decade. So, we’ll never know if Rubbing Doesn’t Help was just an anomaly, or if they were actually running out of gas. But this once promising band slipped here…not into anything bad, but there’s nothing great about a just okay album. And that’s really what this is: a band that was capable of more making a record that’s mediocre at worst, average at best, and not their best work. But you will want to hear Morris rip on the guitar…she’s a lot of fun. As far as which album to buy, I’d recommend the second album, Hot Boxing, which contains two of their best songs in “Lay It Down” and “The Crush”. There’s unfortunately not enough to boast about here, and Magnapop certainly deserved a better swan song (they did record again…but a decade too late).
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BUSH
SIXTEEN STONE
1994 – ATLANTIC
Produced By CLIVE LANGER, ALAN WINSTANLEY & BUSH
1. Everything Zen
2. Swim
3. Bomb
4. Little Things
5. Comedown
6. Body
7. Machinehead
8. Testosterone
9. Monkey
10. Glycerine
11. Alien
12. X-Girlfriend
When Bush released their debut album in 1994, they had strikes against them already. “Everything Zen” pegged them as Nirvana copyists, Gavin Rossdale’s British accent was a “joke”, and they were “pretty”. The band barely made a wave in their home country, but in the US, listeners jumped all over this bandwagon. And for pretty good reason: in the beginning at least, Bush was a band loaded with catchy songs. And yeah, maybe “Everything Zen” sounded a bit like a band from Seattle, and oh, all of those one word titles (see Pearl Jam), but an excursion into Sixteen Stone will reveal that this was not just a bunch of Brits who wished they were from the Pacific Northwest. Bush could rock, and Bush had enough up their sleeve to try different styles all over the album. There are things that don’t work particularly well, but there is also enough that does work to make this album very worthwhile.
“Little Things”, “Comedown” and “Machinehead” are all worthy hits, and show off the band’s skills nicely. The biggest one is “Glycerine”, which bounces back and forth between strings and heavy guitar and features Rossdale’s moody voice in the best way. Bush would go on to release their best song, “Swallowed”, on their next album, but they lost their way by trying to shake off the Seattle tag, trying too hard to change their sound. The result was that the songs dried up, and their last album, 2001’s Golden State, went almost completely unnoticed. They have, or course, reformed, but to no avail. Bush had a good thing going in their early days, best heard on this album and on “Swallowed”. You can pretty much skip the rest of their catalog, but this album was a big part of what music was during the 90’s. Forget the grunge tag that they wore like a curse…this was a good album.
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R.E.M.
OUT OF TIME
1991 – WARNER BROTHERS
Produced By SCOTT LITT & R.E.M.
1. Radio Song (Feat. KRS-One)
2. Losing My Religion
3. Low
4. Near Wild Heaven
5. Endgame
6. Shiny Happy People
7. Belong
8. Half A World Away
9. Texarkana
10. Country Feedback
11. Me In Honey
First of all, I have to say that when people ask me what my favorite song is, I never answer. But if I did, the most likely answer would be “Losing My Religion”. This is one of those simply perfect songs, a flawless moment in music. When this song comes on, I will suspend conversation and turn it way up, and embarrassingly rock the hell out for four and a half minutes of pure joy. With that said, the album which houses this exceptional musical delight is Out Of Time, the seventh album from R.E.M.. It’s a strange album, even by R.E.M. standards. There are experiments, including a melding of the band’s sound with rapper KRS-One on “Radio Song”. There is a lot of changing instruments, and a pair of duets with Kate Pearson of The B-52’s. An awful lot of orchestration, and even a pair of songs (“Near Wild Heaven” and “Texarkana”) with Mike Mills on lead vocals. Nice thinking, but unfortunately, it doesn’t all work.
In the spots where Out Of Time does not work, they sound almost bored. In particular, “Low”, “Endgame” and “Half A World Away” sound completely uninspired. When Out Of Time is on point, as on “Losing My Religion”, “Belong”, and even “Shiny Happy People”, it’s great, but the album lacks the consistency of their best records. The follow up, Automatic For The People, would have none of these problems, but this one is often a mess. Even with its flaws, this is still better than most bands will ever do. And it’s completely worth having, even if it’s only for that four and a half minutes of musical perfection that is “Losing My Religion”. Just don’t expect anything nearly as good on the album. Not one of R.E.M.’s best overall albums, but good nonetheless. They don’t make terrible albums, though…so you can’t really lose with any of their works. Especially if it has that song on it.
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MARTHA REDBONE
HOME OF THE BRAVE
2000 – BLACKFEET PRODUCTIONS
Produced By AARON WHITBY & MARTHA REDBONE
1. Intro
2. Vineyard
3. Say You Love Me
4. Underdog
5. Someday We’ll Be Friends
6. House On The Moon
7. Boyfriend
8. Perfect Life
9. Free
10. Liar
11. Sarsparilla
12. Heaven
13. Superman
Martha Redbone is a Cherokee, Choctaw, European and African American singer who uses traditional Native American music in her R&B and soul music. But unless the guiding spirit in the Native universe these days is Sade, I’m not getting it. With this description, you can see why I would be excited to hear this music, and you should be able to understand why I’m so disappointed that this seems to be nothing more than just another bland pop/soul album. There is not a single aspect of Native influence that I can hear (apparently, it’s her LATER work that she incorporates this music into). The only real sign of life beyond the norm is some sporadic and stinging guitar work. For an R&B album, there really isn’t a whole lot of funkiness going on here. This is mostly soft, fluffy stuff, mostly decent to bland pop, with a few exceptions. Apparently, the albums I want to hear from Miss Redbone are not this one.
The best track on the album is a hidden track, apparently called “Cinderella”. It’s funky, intricate, and is the only song that really made me want to groove…some nice keyboard and guitar work. Otherwise…not quite sure what to make of this. It’s lite funk, lite r&b, and at times, embarrassingly awkward. No outside influence that I can hear. The low point is on “Perfect Life”, which has a chorus that’s actually painful to listen to. The notes are just wrong, and it sounds like it was WRITTEN off key. Seriously, there are nothing but good things said about Miss Redbone, who is a pretty good singer. I just don’t think she knew what she wanted to do or how to get there when she made Home Of The Brave. She’s made at least three albums since, and she’s won awards and is recognized as a great artist, so there must be something to her later work. I checked Home Of The Brave…whatever it is, it’s not here.
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SUPERTRAMP
CRIME OF THE CENTURY
1974 – A&M
Produced By KEN SCOTT & SUPERTRAMP
1. School
2. Bloody Well Right
3. Hide In Your Shell
4. Asylum
5. Dreamer
6. Rudy
7. If Everyone Was Listening
8. Crime Of The Century
When Supertramp was formed in 1969, they were financed by a Dutch millionaire who made sure they had instruments, clothes, gigs, and a record deal. After two unsuccessful prog rock albums, Supertramp (which was, in effect, Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson) was left without a financier to make it on their own. The result of this shift in their career was Crime Of The Century, a solid collection of songs that may be their best album. Originally co-writers on everything the band did, by the time of this album they were already growing apart and starting to write separately, with each taking turns on lead vocals. It’s interesting to hear the differences between the two, at a point where they were still functioning together (as opposed to an album like Breakfast In America, where they were barely able to be in the same room together). The album has been given way too much credit over the years: while it is very good, it’s hardy one of the greatest works of the 70’s.
The album does boast two fine singles. “Bloody Well Right”, a Davies song, was their American breakthrough. It rocks harder than anything else they ever did, and boasts some fine piano playing as well. “Dreamer”, by Hodgson, is a pretty, almost nursery rhyme type of song with vocals that hint at the ever escalating range he would show on later albums. “School” is fine instrumentally, and the title track is one of their stronger songs. The rest is okay, and the album is good enough to be considered as their best work. As the distance between Davies and Hodgson (and Hodgson’s upper range) would continue to grow over the next few albums before they eventually split in the 80’s, their songs and albums began to get a bit too polished and clean. Crime Of The Century (along with Even In The Quietest Moments) stands as most of the Supertramp you would ever need. A good album by a not much more than decent band.
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MATCHBOX TWENTY
YOURSELF OR SOMEONE LIKE YOU
1996 – ATLANTIC
Produced By MATT SERLETIC
1. Real World
2. Long Day
3. 3 A.M.
4. Push
5. Girl Like That
6. Back 2 Good
7. Damn
8. Argue
9. Kody
10. Busted
11. Shame
12. Hang
Sometimes there is a band, like Blind Melon, that has a lead singer who brings all of the goods…and a supporting cast that just can’t seem to take it to the next level. One of the best examples of this is Matchbox Twenty. As was evidenced on the Santana hit “Smooth”, when you put a great band behind Rob Thomas, you’d better look out. But, with his home base band Matchbox Twenty, the charismatic Thomas is held back by his compadres. Their debut album, Yourself Or Someone Like You, is pure evidence of that. The album was a huge success, with four US hit singles, including the massively huge “3 A.M.”, along with “Push”, “Real World” and “Back 2 Good”. The album also made Thomas a star, rising above his mediocre band to become a fan favorite. They have since been a steady hit machine (even though they average a new album only every five years), and Thomas, even though he has made solo albums, remains true to his mates. Good for him.
The highlights of this album all belong to Thomas. His (sometimes over the top) emotional singing leads the band through hit after hit, particularly on the surprisingly good “Busted” and his career defining performance on “Push”. The rest of the band follows him gleefully enough. Yourself Or Someone Like You is never offensive: in fact, if you don’t pay close enough attention, you’ll wake up from your nap and find you’ve already slept through half of it. They have made four more albums since (none since 2012), each one with less substance than the one before. So, as bland as this one can be, this is really all of the Matchbox Twenty you will ever need. And all of the Matchbox Twenty you will ever need to hear are the parts where Rob Thomas is singing. Divide that by the number of times he gets too emotionally involved and starts to sound over the top, and you’re left with about a third of this album. Inoffensive, and unimportant. Rob Thomas deserves better.
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U2
THE JOSHUA TREE
1987 – ISLAND
Produced By DANIEL LANOIS & BRIAN ENO
1. Where The Streets Have No Name
2. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
3. With Or Without You
4. Bullet The Blue Sky
5. Running To Stand Still
6. Red Hill Mining Town
7. In God’s Country
8. Trip Through Your Wires
9. One Tree Hill
10. Exit
11. Mothers Of The Disappeared
Since the mid 1980’s, it’s been “cool” to hate U2. Why? Because they’re “pretentious”. Because Bono is a “douche”. Because they take themselves too “serious”. Insert any other reasons here…there are many. The truth is that U2 started off by working hard and doing it their way. Then, when they got big, they refused to give in and continued to do it their way. For almost a decade, between 1984 and 1993, they were the biggest band in the world. You can hate Bono all you want to for whatever reasons you may have, but the music that U2 made in that time period changed rock and roll, and brought us some of the most memorable songs of the time. And albums. What U2 has been able to do peaked on The Joshua Tree, released among the death throes of classic rock, the height of New Wave, and the strange rise of hair metal. It’s the album where absolutely everything came together for the band, and it’s a brilliant piece of work. One of the best ever made.
The running order of the album (which was selected by Kirsty MacColl) hits you between the eyes with four of the best tracks of the decade. One of the best opening 20 minutes of any album ever made. These four songs, along with “In God’s Country”, kept U2 on the radio during 1987-88 pretty much non stop. But it was well deserved…these are all excellent songs. Add to that the excellence of the lesser known songs: “Running To Stand Still” addresses drug addiction, and the rest are just as good as the hits. That you can get this list of songs on one album is amazing…so if you do happen to have a hatred of U2, for whatever reason, it’s best to put that aside for fifty minutes and enjoy The Joshua Tree for what it really is: one of the best albums of the 80’s, and one of the best albums ever made. For me, the pinnacle of the great career of U2, and always a great listen. Credit where credit is due: U2 made a great album. Time to appreciate it.
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