TALKING HEADS
TALKING HEADS: 77
1977 – SIRE
Produced By TONY BONGIOVI, LANCE QUINN & TALKING HEADS
1. Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town
2. New Feeling
3. Tentative Decisions
4. Happy Day
5. Who Is It?
6. No Compassion
7. The Book I Read
8. Don’t Worry About The Government
9. First Week / Last Week…Carefree
10. Psycho Killer
11. Pulled Up
If you’re looking for all of those great Talking Heads hits, you won’t find them here. Except for “Psycho Killer”. Nope. Not here. They weren’t a hitmaking machine yet. They had also not yet benefitted from spending three albums having their musical minds expanded by Brian Eno, they had not yet done “Burning Down The House” or “Once In A Lifetime”. They weren’t even very famous yet. What you do get with their debut album, Talking Heads ’77, is what they were initially. They were a somewhat funky, punky, new wave band of art school students who sang songs about serial killers and various quirky nerdiness. It’s easy to hear why they were catching on as a live act. They were fast, instrumentally tight as a drum, and David Byrne had just the right kind of weirdness to make a song like “Psycho Killer” something you had to experience. This is what they were in the beginning, before all of the awesome layers settled in.
A few of the tracks here don’t hold up well, but a few (like “Pulled Up”, “New Feeling”) sound as fresh as they did the day we first discovered this wonderful band. Some of their future magic is here…just not all of it. Talking Heads still had some growing to do, and they would do it very quickly. But, still…in 1977, if you were one of the cool kids who had stumbled onto “Psycho Killer” and bought this album, you had to know that while this wasn’t absolutely great stuff, there was a lot better music to come from them. And even “Psycho Killer” wasn’t your usual hit song about boy meets girl. It came out right after the Son Of Sam killer was caught in New York, which made it all the more interesting, even though it had been written years earlier. Talking Heads ’77 is a good album. It’s not a great one, but it’s important because it’s the first step in what would quickly become a fascinating and fruitful career.
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SISTER HAZEL
…SOMEWHERE MORE FAMILIAR
1997 – UNIVERSAL
Produced By PAUL EBERSOLD
1. Just Remember
2. Happy
3. All For You (Full Band Version)
4. Look To The Children
5. Wanted It To Be
6. Think About Me
7. So Long
8. Superman
9. Concede
10. Cerilene
11. We’ll Find It
12. Starfish
Remember back in 1997, when Counting Crows released that big hit “All For You”? Well, as much as it sounds exactly like them, that was actually Sister Hazel. And as catchy and perfect as that chorus is, the song still has that grating, almost stolen quality. It’s also their only notable hit to date, even though they have released ten albums and are still quite active. Fortunately, the rest of …Somewhere More Familiar sounds more like Sister Hazel and less like that other more successful band, but it was still that sound that put them on the map. They play upbeat rock that has a taste of their Southern roots, and that translates well to the stage. They play well, and vocally, they are quite good. Where this band is limited is in the songwriting department. The songs here are as good as they have ever been, which stands squarely at average. So what you get with this album is a batch of good sounding forgettable tunes.
To be fair, “We’ll Find It” and “Cerilene” are pretty good. But everything else will fade from memory as soon as the next track begins. So, let’s get back to “All For You”. It was originally on their debut album (a different version). The chorus is the best bit of songwriting the band has ever produced: “It’s hard to say what it is I see in you / Wonder if I’ll always be with you / But words can’t say, and I can’t do / Enough to prove it’s all for you”. Nicely done. It’s too bad that they have never been able to build on that. These guys are solid, and the band has not changed in almost 30 years (so they are definitely tight with each other)…they just lack strong original material. And even their one big break came on the heels of sounding like somebody else. This is their best album, but it stands squarely as the standard of average. Which is exactly what their entire career has turned out to be.
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JEWEL
PIECES OF YOU
1995 – ATLANTIC
Produced By BEN KIETH
1. Who Will Save Your Soul
2. Pieces Of You
3. Little Sister
4. Foolish Games
5. Near You Always
6. Painters
7. Morning Song
8. Adrian
9. I’m Sensitive
10. You Were Meant For Me
11. Don’t
12. Daddy
13. Angel Standing By
14. Amen
I am not a fan of shows like American Idol or The Voice. With that said, I’m going to give you an argument that is definitely in favor of those very types of shows. For this argument, I give you Jewel Kilcher. Jewel came to us by way of Alaska and a music school in Michigan, and found herself famously living in a car and busking, eventually landing a gig at a coffee house in San Diego. Had we had Idol back in 1995, Jewel would have, no doubt, gone to an audition and charmed the socks off of Simon Cowell with her sweet surfer girl thing and her ability to yodel. She may not have won, but she would have probably gotten enough attention for a record deal somewhere, and she would have been developed from the raw talent she was into what she could have someday become, then she would have been given a proper debut album release. And while that album would have probably been filled with a bunch of crappy Diane Warren songs, it would have been an album that Jewel was ready to make.
Someone at Atlantic saw her drawing nice crowds at that coffee house, saw her surfer good looks, and though that she should record…now. The result is a bunch of woefully unfinished sounding material with borderline really horrible lyrics being sung by an angel of a singer who deserved much better. “Who Will Save Your Soul” was the big hit, featuring a chorus on which Jewel sings like Opera Man from SNL, and “You Were Meant For Me”, the album’s best song, could have used a simple touch of help in the way of development. Don’t get me wrong. Jewel has the talent, and her voice and her will alone carries this album away from being a disaster. But someone should have cared a little bit…someone should have cared enough to make sure that her raw collection of songs that worked at a coffee house was ready for an album. Jewel deserved better than this, but it says a lot that she saved her own debut album from complete disaster with her voice and her heart.
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BOB WILLS & HIS TEXAS PLAYBOYS
THE TIFFANY TRANSCRIPTIONS VOL. 1
1982 – KALEIDOSCOPE
Produced By JEFF ALEXSON & TOM DIAMANT
1. Nancy Jane
2. Mission To Moscow
3. Dinah
4. Lone Star Rag
5. Cotton Patch Blues
6. Sweet Jennie Lee
7. I Hear You Talkin’
8. The Girl I Left Behind Me
9. Straighten Up And Fly Right
10. Little Betty Brown
11. Nobody’s Sweetheart Now
12. Blackout Blues
13. What’s The Matter With The Mill
14. Jumpin’ At The Woodside
This, my friends, is pure musical awesomeness. In 1946 and 1947, Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys recorded over 370 tracks for a company called Tiffany Music, to be distributed to radio stations across the United States. Only a handful were ever sent out before Tiffany went out of business, ending the promotion. The material was all long lost and gone, until the death of Cliff Sundin, one of the owners of Tiffany Music, in 1981. It was discovered that he had kept and preserved the entire series in his home for future use. The recordings went to Kaleidoscope Records, which began releasing the material one CD at a time in 1982. There were nine volumes released, and Volume 10 was in the planning stages, when the label shut down in the early 90’s, leaving just under half of the songs unreleased to this date. There are still over 200 of these tracks laying unheard. Maybe someday, they will see the light of day.
As for the ones that did make it out…wow. This is volume one, and it’s simply breathtaking stuff. The Playboys were maybe the best country swing band there ever was, and on these recordings, they let loose like never before or after. From “Nancy Jane” on, you’ll be drawn in and simply amazed by these guys. The fun they had…and the level of musicianship that they possessed is awe inspiring. Every track is a highlight, every track is a joy, and every track is a wonderful piece of Americana history. This is why country music in the 1940’s was so amazing. I could go on about each track, but you simply must hear this stuff to appreciate it properly. I will tell you this…any time you see one of these nine volumes for sale, you should snatch it right up. The Tiffany Transcriptions stands as one of the finest multi volume collections of American music you will ever find. Never pass on one of these…ever It’s that good.
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ASS PONYS
THE KNOWN UNIVERSE
1996 – A&M
Produced By JOHN CURLEY
1. Shoe Money
2. Under Cedar And Stars
3. God Tells Me To
4. Blow Oskar
5. Cancer Show
6. Dead Fly The Birds
7. And She Drowned
8. Redway
9. French Muscleman
10. It’s Summer Here
11. John Boat
12. Hegged
13. Some Kind Of Fun
Two rules, if you ever find your nice little band signed to a major label deal. One. If your band is called Ass Ponys, change the name immediately. And two, keep your sense of humor intact and don’t try too hard to please the suits. This Cincinnati band had already recorded the absolute classic Electric Rock Music when A&M Records snagged them up in 1993. So this was their big chance to make a disc on the label’s dime. Produced by the guy who plays bass for the Afghan Whigs, The Known Universe isn’t exactly a fall, but it’s not really what the Ponys were all about, and it turned out to be a record that people just didn’t get, by a band with a name that people just didn’t get. The failure of this much anticipated album to deliver in a huge way led to the band not releasing anything for the next four years, and losing their big label chance in the process. A true shame, because this is not, by any means, terrible.
In fact, in a perfect world, The Known Universe would have led to a follow up that would have likely been more relaxed. We’ll never know. But even though this album was seen as a commercial failure, there are some great Ass Pony moments on it. “It’s Summer Here” should have been a smash hit. Period. Great hooks like the ones on “Under Cedars And Stars”, “God Tells Me To”, “John Boat”, and “Redway” are glorious. There’s a lot of filler, and a lot of tentative sounding moments. And there’s nothing as wonderful as Electric Rock Music’s “Little Bastard” or “Earth To Grandma”. But there’s enough good stuff…songs that shine enough to make this worthwhile. The Ponys made a bit of a comeback in the 2000’s before ending in 2005, with singer Chuck Cleaver forming another woefully named group, Wussy. The Ponys were a fine band, even when not at their best as they were here.
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THE GEORGIA SATELLITES
GEORGIA SATELLITES
1986 – ELEKTRA
Produced By JEFF GLIXMAN
1. Keep Your Hands To Yourself
2. Railroad Steel
3. Battleship Chains
4. Red Light
5. The Myth Of Love
6. Can’t Stand The Pain
7. Golden Light
8. Over And Over
9. Nights Of Mystery
10. Every Picture Tells A Story
Southern rock hit its peak in the mid 70’s, and the decline was fairly swift. Gone were the classic lineups of The Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd. By the mid 80’s, the genre was down to ghosts of those bands, along with the now far right wing Charlie Daniels Band and the slick pop of .38 Special. And then, in 1986, came the sudden jolt of “Keep Your Hands To Yourself”, which not only gave Southern rock a new gasp of life, it also gave hope to the future and paved the way for bands like The Black Crowes and Drive-By Truckers. Led by singer Dan Baird, this debut album was a surprise hit, and the Satellites were (for a minute anyway) the new Southern hope. Amid all of the New Wave and hair metal bands clogging up the airwaves and dominating MTV, the Satellites were a breath of fresh air. Soon, every bar band in America was playing “Hands To Yourself”, but these guys had more than just that song.
In fact, the first three tracks of this album made it seem like the Satellites were in it for the long haul. “Railroad Steel” is a powerhouse hoot of a song, and the simple yet rocking “Battleship Chains” works very well indeed. A very strong way to open the album. But things begin to slowly slide from there. The middle of the album gets muddy and ordinary before the rise of the fine “Nights Of Mystery”. The saving grace is a surprising cover of Rod Stewart’s classic “Every Picture Tells A Story”, which works very well as a Southern rocker. Expectations were high after this very solid (not perfect) debut, but the next two albums were huge disappointments and took the band completely off the map…and by the time Baird left in 1991, The Black Crowes had taken the mantle from the Satellites. They split up silently, with Baird having some solo success while a reformed Satellites (without him) have released no albums and play in relative obscurity to this day. A promising debut album this was. Too bad they couldn’t follow it up with anything of note.
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DEPECHE MODE
SOME GREAT REWARD
1984 – MUTE
Produced By DEPECHE MODE, GARETH JONES & DANIEL MILLER
1. Something To Do
2. Lie To Me
3. People Are People
4. It Doesn’t Matter
5. Stories Of Old
6. Somebody
7. Master And Servant
8. If You Want
9. Blasphemous Rumours
Depeche Mode would make some fine albums later in the 1980’s and into the 90’s. On Some Great Reward, their fourth album, they were still finding themselves, working on their sound, and developing their songwriting. The results in these early years were inconsistent, but they were able to break through with an occasional big hit. Still, they were only just now gaining an audience in America, but they were well on their way. Their previous two albums had been much lesser efforts, so this was viewed as a very positive step forward. Four tracks on Some Great Reward are excellent, and worth having this for: “Lie To Me” is a hypnotic and underrated track. It’s beautiful. “People Are People” is the song that made Americans turn their heads, and for good reason. “Master And Servant” is one of the kinkiest tracks ever, and it’s perfect. And “Blasphemous Rumours” stands today as one of the group’s best songs.
But the rest is not as good. The other five tracks are not bad…they are simply not at all memorable. Consistency was a problem for this band during the early eighties, and this album is no exception. The opener, “Something To Do”, sounds clunky and very dated. The others are simply bland. Again, not bad, but not really ear catching, either. Still, it’s a decent enough price to pay to listen to the average tracks on this record to get to the good stuff. Also, the darker sounds that Depeche Mode became famous for have their genesis here. It’s not just synthesizer dance pop, it’s the start of going deeper than that. So, as a part of Depeche Mode’s development into what they would become on albums like Violator and Music For The Masses, that all starts right here. It’s not perfected yet, and the songs are still a bit thin, but you could do much worse than an average Depeche Mode album, for sure.
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NORAH JONES
COME AWAY WITH ME
2002 – BLUE NOTE
Produced By JAY NEWLAND, ARIF MARDIN, CRAIG STREET & NORAH JONES
1. Don’t Know Why
2. Seven Years
3. Cold Cold Heart
4. Feelin’ The Same Way
5. Come Away With Me
6. Shoot The Moon
7. Turn Me On
8. Lonestar
9. I’ve Got To See You Again
10. Painter Song
11. One Flight Down
12. Nightingale
13. The Long Day Is Over
14. The Nearness Of You
The term “a breath of fresh air” is what can best describe the arrival of Norah Jones and her debut album from 2002, Come Away With Me. The daughter of the legendary Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar (and the half sister of Anoushka Shankar), Jones moved to America with her mother at a young age, and found her own musical pathway through recordings by Billie Holiday and Bill Evans. Her jazz roots were extended in college, where she majored in jazz piano. Come Away With Me fuses her jazz background with pop and country music, making for an exciting mixture of styles, all brought home by one of the most angelic voices you will ever hear on record. Come Away With Me was a huge success, riding on the massive and gorgeous single “Don’t Know Why”. You knew that mainstream success would be fleeting, as music like this doesn’t hold the attention of the masses for long. But that takes nothing away from the beauty of this album.
Her band (which is excellent) wrote most of the material, but there are also gems like the Hank Williams staple “Cold Cold Heart” (Jones did grow up in Texas), Hoagy Carmichael’s “The Nearness Of You”, and John D. Loudermilk’s “Turn Me On”. Jones wrote three songs herself, including the title track. Come Away With Me is surprisingly mature (Jones was only 23 years old), very sweet, and excellent from beginning to end. Norah Jones will never rock your socks off…she doesn’t rock at all. But she has a unique soulful quality, and her music is positively beautiful. There is not a moment on Come Away With Me that you will ever regret. It’s steady from start to finish, and even though there are a whopping 14 tracks, you’ll want more when it’s over. And even though her albums now come and go with very little public notice, she’s managed to win nine Grammys over the years. This is a gem. One you should definitely have.
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KRIS KRISTOFFERSON
KRISTOFFERSON
1970 – MONUMENT
Produced By FRED FOSTER
1. Blame It On The Stones
2. To Beat The Devil
3. Me And Bobby McGee
4. Best Of All Possible Worlds
5. Help Me Make It Through The Night
6. The Law Is For Protection Of The People
7. Casey’s Last Ride
8. Just Another Side Of Nowhere
9. Darby’s Castle
10. For The Good Times
11. Duvalier’s Dream
12. Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down
13. The Junkie And The Juicehead, Minus Me
14. Shadows Of Her Mind
15. The Lady’s Not For Sale
16. Come Sundown
If you don’t immediately recognize this album, it’s okay. When it was first released, no one outside of the music business knew who Kris Kristofferson was, and the album sold extremely poorly, even though many of the songs here had already been covered by other artists. The album was given new life in 1971, after Janis Joplin had her big hit with “Me And Bobby McGee”. The record was renamed after that track, and became very successful, along with his second album, The Silver Tongued Devil & Me…and the major career of Kristofferson was born. The gems here are many. His version of “Bobby McGee” is not Joplin quality, but it’s still excellent. And his voice may not be for everyone, but he understands the concept of outlaw country as well as anyone. His hand in helping to shape the outlaw movement is on full display here, for sure. And he does it as well as anyone ever has.
“Blame It On The Stones” is about, yes, blaming it on The Rolling Stones. “Help Me Make It Through The Night” was a hit for both Sammi Smith and Willie Nelson. Ray Price had a number one hit with “For The Good Times”. And “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” may be his best song, and was a hit for both Ray Stevens and Johnny Cash. Just about everything else here is worth having, and shows just why Kristofferson has endured for so long. He’s always been better known for his songwriting, and his later acting career, but his own often underrated recordings are well worth discovering. Kristofferson (the album) is a strong and surprising debut, showcasing his writing talents, but also his own performances which are very good throughout. One of country music’s underrated and exceptional talents, you’ll want to have at least his first two albums in your collection. He does not disappoint. The original album was finally reissued in 2001 on CD with four additional bonus tracks.
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THE SHINS
CHUTES TOO NARROW
2003 – SUB POP
Produced By THE SHINS & PHIL EK
1. Kissing The Lipless
2. Mine’s Not A High Horse
3. So Says I
4. Young Pilgrims
5. Saint Simon
6. Fighting In A Sack
7. Pink Bullets
8. Turn A Square
9. Gone For Good
10. Those To Come
The Shins came out of the gate with three excellent albums, with the best being the second disc, Chutes Too Narrow. Bringing in Modest Mouse producer Phil Ek resulted in a maturing sound, and a shift from keyboards to guitar as the main instrument, giving them more of a rock feel. The songwriting from guitarist / singer James Mercer evolved very nicely, and the band recorded the album with an obvious confidence. The Shins during the decade of the 2000’s was consistently great, and this is the best example of that. Acoustic numbers like “Pink Bullets” and “Young Pilgrims” work exceptionally well, while the more rocking songs like “Kissing The Lipless” and “Turn For A Square” keep everything balanced perfectly. Chutes Too Narrow is a young band still in the process of getting it all right the first time, and it’s an absolute joy to listen to. Again, folks…rock is not dead by any means!
There’s nothing as immediate as “New Slang” (from Oh! Inverted World) or “Phantom Limb” (from Wincing The Night Away), but it’s overall more solid than the other two albums. “So Says I” and “Fighting In A Sack”, while not hits, helped cement the album as a winner. And Annemarie Ruljancich adds a most memorable violin part to “Saint Simon”. The band is great, the songs are fantastic, and the entire package is simply exceptional. The best from a band that was on a huge roll, for sure. The Shins next album, Wincing The Night Away, was almost as good, but then a five year layoff with some big personnel changes marred 2012’s Port Of Morrow. Heartworms came out in 2017, but the band is now more than twenty years since their peak, with no new material in more than five years. So pick up Chutes Too Narrow, and you won’t regret it. A fine work by a band that was once on the edge of being exceptional.
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