DOLLY PARTON
THE ESSENTIAL DOLLY PARTON
2005 – RCA / LEGACY
Produced By AL QUAGLIERI
1. Dumb Blonde
2. Just Because I’m A Woman
3. My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy
4. Mule Skinner Blues (Blue Yodel No. 8 )
5. Joshua
6. Coat Of Many Colors
7. Touch Your Woman
8. My Tennessee Mountain Home
9. Jolene
10. Please Don’t Stop Loving Me
11. I Will Always Love You
12. Love Is Like A Butterfly
13. The Bargain Store
14. The Seeker
15. We Used To
16. All I Can Do
17. Light Of A Clear Blue Morning
18. It’s All Wrong, But It’s All Right
1. Here You Come Again
2. Two Doors Down
3. Heartbreaker
4. I Really Got The Feeling
5. You’re The Only One
6. Starting Over Again
7. Old Flames Can’t Hold A Candle To You
8. 9 To 5
9. But You Know I Love You
10. Single Woman
11. Heartbreak Express
12. Islands In The Stream
13. Save The Last Dance For Me
14. Tennessee Homesick Blues
15. God Won’t Get You
16. To Know Him Is To Love Him
17. Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That
18. Rockin’ Years
19. Shine
Sometimes, it’s easy to forget the force that has always been Dolly Parton. And then, there she is again, right in front of you with that big wholesome smile and maybe the best female songwriting chops this side of Carole King…and maybe on that side as well. Dolly Parton is an icon, and no one can ever say anything bad about her. The voice of an angel, a nearly perfect career, a discography to rival anyone in music history. 50 some studio albums. 185 compilations. Including this one. It really is essential, and yet it could be 100 discs longer. Country music wouldn’t be the same without Dolly Parton. One could argue America wouldn’t be, either.
Too much? I say not. This stunning 2 disc set contains her biggest hits and some of her most amazing moments. She wrote “Jolene”. She wrote the song that made Whitney Houston beyond a star (“I Will Always Love You”). She’s a movie star and she can pick great cover songs as well as anyone (check out her take on Collective Soul’s “Shine” at the end of disc 2). She sang great duets with partners from Porter Waggoner to Kenny Rogers. This album is 37 songs of pure greatness and joy. Dolly shows here why she is beyond legend…she’s done it all, and she’s done it all the right way. This one truly is essential. Without question.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
VANESSA CARLTON
HARMONIUM
2004 – A&M
Produced By STEPHAN JENKINS
1. White Houses
2. Who’s To Say
3. Annie
4. San Francisco
5. Afterglow
6. Private Radio
7. Half A Week Before The Winter
8. C’est La Vie
9. Papa
10. She Floats
How…DARE you be yourself and make an album that reflects your inner creativity! That’s pretty much what A&M Records said to Vanessa Carlton when she came out with her second album, Harmonium. After the huge pop success of her debut album and the song “A Thousand Miles”, Carlton entered into a relationship with Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind, and her direction was forever changed. And may I say…much for the better. A&M killed Harmonium after the first single (“White Houses”) because it didn’t match what they wanted her to be. What A&M missed was that Vanessa Carlton IS a very creative and exceptional artist. She’s bounced from label to label and has had minor success since this album, which is truly a shame. Because this girl has a LOAD of talent, and songs.
Carlton thanks Jenkins in the liner notes by saying “you pulled the truth out of me”. This album feels like the truth…and not the work of a pop artist at all. She has a voice that’s really great…and her piano work is really fine as well. She sounds like an artist about to dethrone Tori Amos on this disc. Harmonium is almost forgotten, as is much of Carlton’s career after her debut. But give her a listen, please. Vanessa Carlton has always been better than the fading of her pop star. She stepped out and did what she wanted to do, and there’s no faulting that. Which, for me, makes Harmonium a real find. It wasn’t a hit…but it was damn well what she wanted to do. And it’s a LOT better than you were led to believe it is. This album excites me for all of these reasons. And that’s really a good thing.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
FischmanRockMonster, JazzMeister, Bluesboy,ClassicalMasterProfile Land of Enchantment
VANESSA CARLTON
HARMONIUM
2004 – A&M
Produced By STEPHAN JENKINS
1. White Houses
2. Who’s To Say
3. Annie
4. San Francisco
5. Afterglow
6. Private Radio
7. Half A Week Before The Winter
8. C’est La Vie
9. Papa
10. She Floats
How…DARE you be yourself and make an album that reflects your inner creativity! That’s pretty much what A&M Records said to Vanessa Carlton when she came out with her second album, Harmonium. After the huge pop success of her debut album and the song “A Thousand Miles”, Carlton entered into a relationship with Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind, and her direction was forever changed. And may I say…much for the better. A&M killed Harmonium after the first single (“White Houses”) because it didn’t match what they wanted her to be. What A&M missed was that Vanessa Carlton IS a very creative and exceptional artist. She’s bounced from label to label and has had minor success since this album, which is truly a shame. Because this girl has a LOAD of talent, and songs.
Carlton thanks Jenkins in the liner notes by saying “you pulled the truth out of me”. This album feels like the truth…and not the work of a pop artist at all. She has a voice that’s really great…and her piano work is really fine as well. She sounds like an artist about to dethrone Tori Amos on this disc. Harmonium is almost forgotten, as is much of Carlton’s career after her debut. But give her a listen, please. Vanessa Carlton has always been better than the fading of her pop star. She stepped out and did what she wanted to do, and there’s no faulting that. Which, for me, makes Harmonium a real find. It wasn’t a hit…but it was damn well what she wanted to do. And it’s a LOT better than you were led to believe it is. This album excites me for all of these reasons. And that’s really a good thing.
One of my more joyous discoveries thanks to this diary. Current century pop that this old dinosaur rocker can really get on board with. Excellent post.
THE EX
DISTURBING DOMESTIC PEACE
1980 – EX RECORDS
Produced By DOLF
1. The Sky Is Blue Again
2. Map
3. Outlook-Army
4. Sucking Pig
5. A Sense Of Tumour
6. Meanwhile
7. Rules
8. Squatsong
9. Warning-Shot
10. New Wars
11. Introduction
12. Human Car
13. Punk
14. Horse
Not all of the early punk bands came from Britain. The Ex came out of Amsterdam in 1980 with their debut album, Disturbing Domestic Peace. Fast and quick…the 10 songs made for an album so short that the band decided to release it as a 45 RPM disc, and added a 7 inch 4 song live disc…the 14 songs came to a grand total of 30 minutes. It’s good…it’s not great. It has its place in punk history for sure, and The Ex has built a long and storied career from these beginnings. But they were never on the same level as Sex Pistols or The Clash, or even The Damned. Still…this is definitely worth taking a listen to.
The Ex, who have morphed over the years into noise rock and post punk, then jazz and even African music, were sufficiently politically charged here. They cover issues like police brutality, sexual assault and squatting (which was a Dutch issue at the time). And there’s certainly no wasted space here. They’re at fourteen studio albums and still going, not known for hits…but it’s REAL punk bands who don’t care for that. And to their credit…The Ex have survived for all these years while keeping their punk sensibilities intact. Disturbing Domestic Peace is more historical than great…but it’s also not bad at all.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
SIDESTEPPER
3AM (IN BEATS WE TRUST)
2003 – PALM PICTURES
Produced By IVAN BENAVIDES & RICHARD BLAIR
1. Deja
2. Mas Papaya
3. Me Gustas (No Me Disgustas)
4. Donde Va Mi Soledad
5. In The Beats We Trust
6. Dame Tu Querer
7. Aunque Me Duela La Vida
8. No Llorare
9. Walking
10. Llegare
Sidestepper is a Colombian band with its roots deep in the heart of…England. Richard Blair was a studio engineer for Peter Gabriel when he fell in love with the music of a Colombian singer named Toto La Momposina. He journeyed to Colombia to visit her for a couple of weeks, and ended up staying for three years. His growing love of the local music led to the formation of Sidestepper, and it’s been Blair’s passion since 1996. 3AM (In Beats We Trust) is the group’s third album, and it’s maybe their best. Sidestepper is important as they were able to bring the traditional sounds of Colombia and meld them with a modern electronic drum and bass sound. The results are pretty fantastic.
No singles were released from 3AM, and there were no hits. It was never a huge seller, so its exposure to English speaking audiences, particularly in America, has been limited. But this is an album that you may want to take the time to search for…there are plenty of rhythmic and catchy surprises, and you’ll find that it’s not just good instrumentally, but also all but one track features vocals. Probably the best thing about Sidestepper is that it’s evident from the first listen that this is truly a labor of love. Blair didn’t just fall in love with this music…he honors it. He expands on it, and he makes records that are fine tributes to it. Well worth checking out.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
WEEZER
MAKE BELIEVE
2005 – GEFFEN
Produced By RICK RUBIN
1. Beverly Hills
2. Perfect Situation
3. This Is Such A Pity
4. Hold Me
5. Peace
6. We Are All On Drugs
7. The Damage In Your Heart
8. Pardon Me
9. My Best Friend
10. The Other Way
11. Freak Me Out
12. Haunt You Every Day
In the up and down world that is the music of Weezer, Make Believe, their fifth album, sits directly on the line that divides up and down. In terms of sales, it’s one of the band’s more successful outings, thanks in large part to their biggest single, “Beverly Hills”. Fans mostly hate it, critics don’t like it, and you can find a lot of records by Weezer that will satisfy more than this does. But it’s really not as bad as all that. A lot of the negativity that surrounds Make Believe has to do with the fact that Weezer simply didn’t give us what we were expecting…which was more of the same. There are throwaways here…something Weezer doesn’t do much of when they are really on.
But there are also some fine songs here. “This Is Such A Pity” and “Perfect Situation” are well worth having the album for. “Hold Me”, “Peace” and “The Other Way” are fine as well. And it’s impossible to deny the catchiness of “Beverly Hills”. Exactly half of a very good album. But as for the rest…Make Believe indeed falls short. “We Are All On Drugs” simply fails in its attempt to be clever. Rivers Cuomo got half the songs right, and half of them wrong. There’s still enough good Weezer on Make Believe to be worth hearing, but there’s enough not good Weezer here to make it not one you’ll want to play over and over. They have enough albums that are superior to this that you won’t really need this one.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
REO SPEEDWAGON
YOU CAN TUNE A PIANO, BUT YOU CAN’T TUNA FISH
1978 – EPIC
Produced By KEVIN CRONIN, GARY RICHRATH, PAULL GRUPP & JOHN BOYLAN
1. Roll With The Changes
2. Time For Me To Fly
3. Runnin’ Blind
4. Blazin’ Your Own Trail Again
5. Sing To Me
6. Lucky For You
7. Do You Know Where Your Woman Is Tonight?
8. The Unidentified Flying Tuna Trot
9. Say You Love Me Or Say Goodnight
By 1978, REO Speedwagon had been together for over a decade. Six albums into their career, they were known as everyone’s opening act, with exactly one minor FM radio hit (a live recording of 1973’s “Ridin’ The Storm Out”). To say that time was running out on this Illinois band was an understatement. And so, their seventh album, the horrifically titled “You Can Tune A Piano…”, along with its equally horrific album cover, pulls out all of the stops. And it worked…well enough to keep the band on life support until their 1980 breakthrough Hi Infidelity. At this point, REO was still a hard rock band…and to their credit, this may be the hardest rocking album of their career.
Two hits carried this album. “Time For Me To Fly” was a prelude of things to come, but it was still heavy enough. And “Roll With The Changes” is one hell of a good time rock jam. Guitarist Gary Richrath powers and jams his way through this entire album, and gleefully so. The songs are mainly weak…and “Blazin’ Your Own Trail Again” is almost the exact same song as “Time For Me To Fly”. Singer Kevin Cronin, the band’s weakest link, brings enough cheese to keep this from soaring. This record shines in spots…mostly when Cronin isn’t singing…but aside from the first two tracks, it lacks song power. It’s still worth hearing for the instrumental jams, and as a reminder that this now soft rock parody of a band once really did rock.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
TONY BENNETT
I WANNA BE AROUND…
1963 – COLUMBIA
Produced By ERNEST ALTCHULER
1. The Good Life
2. If I Love Again
3. I Wanna Be Around
4. I’ve Got Your Number
5. Until I Met You
6. Let’s Face The Music And Dance
7. Once Upon A Summertime
8. If You Were Mine
9. I Will Live My Life For You
10. Someone To Love
11. It Was Me
12. Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)
13. If I Love Again (Alternate Version)
14. Someone To Love (Alternate Version)
15. Indian Summer
Tony Bennett released no fewer than 61 studio albums over his long and seemingly perfect career. And yes, many of those were quickie releases to capitalize on a hit song. But on the other hand…this IS Tony Bennett. One of the greatest voices of more than a couple of generations, and the only man who stood side by side with the great Frank Sinatra decade after decade. I Wanna Be Around…is Bennett’s sixteenth album. It’s the follow up to his biggest hit I Left My Heart In San Francisco, and it’s almost painfully short…27 minutes for an LP seems like a ripoff. But it also has Bennett’s hallmarks: great song choices, less of an overblown orchestra that Sinatra preferred…and that voice.
The two classics here are “The Good Life” and “Until I Met You”, both of which were substantial hits for Bennett. But while the rest may not be familiar, don’t be fooled. The best thing about Bennett has always been that he’s not just easy listening. He always brings jazz, small combos and interesting choices. In particular, “It Was Me” pairs him with Brazilian guitarist Carlos Lyra, while “Once Upon A Summertime” and “If I Love Again” are perfect Bennett. His albums from this period…hell, from any period…are interchangeable. Never perfection, but always very good at some level. You can never go wrong with the many compilations that exist…but his studio albums are also interesting, and well worth tracking down.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
KASEY CHAMBERS
BARRICADES & BRICKWALLS
2001 – WARNER BROS.
Produced By NASH CHAMBERS
1. Barricades & Brickwalls
2. Not Pretty Enough
3. On A Bad Day
4. Runaway Train
5. A Little Bit Lonesome
6. Nullarbor Song
7. Million Tears
8. Still Feeling Blue
9. This Mountain
10. Crossfire
11. Falling Into You
12. If I Were You
13. I Still Pray
Kasey Chambers won a permanent place in my heart from the moment I heard “Pony” from her third album, Wayward Angel. She has a sweet voice that also suggests more than a hint of trouble…what more could you want in a country singer? Barricades & Brickwalls is the second album from this Australian country star. Not as big as her debut, it did help lodge her firmly as a country force to be reckoned with. It also gave her a place outside the Nashville norm as a talented songwriter and an artist with a knowledge of her music’s past. She hit it big here with “Not Pretty Enough”, which reached number one in her native country, as well as “Runaway Train”, “On A Bad Day” and “Million Tears”.
But where Chambers wins you over is when she sings more uptempo and straightforward country. “On A Bad Day” (which features Lucinda Williams), “Still Feeling Blue” (a Gram Parsons cover), and the thrilling title track are examples of what Chambers does best: when she just rares back and burns a country song, it stays burnt…and that’s the girl you want to find yourself longing for after the show. The ballads here are good enough…but she sounds restricted and maybe just a bit bored singing them. This album is worthwhile for the faster fare, the songs where she really struts her country stuff. If you like, then “Pony” is on her next album…this is a good intro to a country voice that doesn’t get heard nearly enough.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS
KAYA
1978 – TUFF GONG / ISLAND
Produced By BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS
1. Easy Skanking
2. Kaya
3. Is This Love
4. Sun Is Shining
5. Satisfy My Soul
6. She’s Gone
7. Misty Morning
8. Crisis
9. Running Away
10. Time Will Tell
11. Smile Jamaica (Version)
Kaya, the tenth album by Bob Marley & The Wailers, came as something of a surprise. The material was all recorded during the Exodus sessions in 1977…but Kaya sounds almost nothing like Exodus. This album is a sharp turn into the land of mellow for Marley, stepping away from the political and militant songs of his past and grooving more on things like love, peace and ganja. It makes sense, as his return to Jamaica, which coincided with the album, was framed around a concert called One Love Peace. The big hit here was “Is This Love”, a song whose sound is the center of Kaya. This is where the Rastafarians and the hippies began to become as one…Marley had created basically Grateful Dead music for the world music crowd.
Not that Kaya is a bad album…it most certainly is not. The mellower arrangements do work, and while it’s not lyrically as deep as Marley had been in the past, it’s still quite good. This was, most definitely, a side road for the band. The next album, Survival, returned to the militant message that the Wailers had been known for. So who knows…maybe Bob felt the need to interrupt his message and make an album about peace and love. Nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, Kaya serves as a refreshing break for Marley in his catalog. And it proves that he was never a one trick pony…he could play more than just the political when he chose to. Not his best record…but it’s still all good here.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Romanelli
Fischman
