FRANK ZAPPA & THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION
ONE SIZE FITS ALL
1975 – DISCREET
Produced By FRANK ZAPPA
1. Inca Roads
2. Can’t Afford No Shoes
3. Sofa No. 1
4. Po-Jama People
5. Florentine Pogen
6. Evelyn, A Modified Dog
7. San Ber’dino
8. Andy
9. Sofa No. 2
One Size Fits All is the tenth and last studio album by the Mothers Of Invention, led by Frank Zappa. You won’t find any hits here, but you will find some very interesting music. Beginning with “Inca Roads”, which may be the most complex Zappa piece ever (and there are a LOT of Zappa pieces), this may not contain songs that would be considered entertaining, but the playing on this record is pretty exceptional. The closest thing to a hit here is “San Ber’dino”, a comedic piece that plays as modern jazz when the lyrics aren’t happening. Zappa was always an acquired taste, and his albums could be trying. One Size Fits All is surprisingly listenable, especially when he isn’t singing. This album contains jazz freakouts, it rocks, and it’s smart as hell.
Johnny “Guitar” Watson adds vocals on the last two tracks, and Captain Beefheart plays some nice uncredited harmonica. The two “Sofa” tracks (one has vocals, one does not) became an important part of Zappa’s shows. As for the Mothers, the personnel had changed a lot over the years, and the band split after this album and the live Bongo Fury (also from 1975). Zappa, of course, remained highly prolific until his death in 1993. While the earlier Mothers albums tend to be more solid, One Size Fits All is maybe the best played of their efforts. The songs aren’t very memorable, but to their credit, they do play the crap out of them. A good, but not great, transitional album from one of the very best. Zappa always was a true genius, and the Mothers were a great compliment to his talent.
BIG HEAD TODD & THE MONSTERS
SISTER SWEETLY
1993 – GIANT
Produced By DAVID Z
1. Broken Hearted Savior
2. Sister Sweetly
3. Turn The Light Out
4. Tomorrow Never Comes
5. It’s Alright
6. Groove Thing
7. Soul For Every Cowboy
8. Ellis Island
9. Bittersweet
10. Circle
11. Brother John
Part of being from Colorado is that you have to acknowledge the greatness of Big Head Todd & The Monsters. The reality is that this band is never much more than above average, even though their sizable Mountain time zone following suggests otherwise. They hit it big in 1993 with their third album, Sister Sweetly, which spawned some hits, one massive (“Bittersweet”), and made them, for a time, big stars on more than just a regional level. It is their most accessible and listenable album, making for pleasant enough driving music that you’ll most likely not remember as soon as you reach your destination. The Monsters are good enough players, but Todd Park Mohr’s songwriting, while not terrible, is also never exceptional.
The songs of Sister Sweetly are shorter than they had been from the band in the past, which helped them in gaining a wider audience. High points include “Circle” and “Broken Hearted Savior”, but most of the rest is a blur. “Bittersweet” is a six minute hit that hasn’t aged particularly well…its chorus of “It’s bittersweet / more sweet than bitter / bitter than sweet” can be annoying if you listen too closely. The rest of the album is redeemed not by the songs, or by Mohr’s singing, but by the fact that the band can most definitely play. Instrumentally, Sister Sweetly is really very good, and well worth a listen. This is their commercial and creative peak. The band still soldiers on, but they’ve been quiet since 2017’s New World Arisin’, their 13th studio album...although a new album is due in spring of 2024.
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Of dying history
AVERAGE WHITE BAND
PICKIN’ UP THE PIECES: THE BEST OF AVERAGE WHITE BAND
1992 – RHINO
Produced By DAVID MCLEES & BILL INGLOT
1. Pick Up The Pieces
2. Person To Person
3. Got The Love
4. You Got It
5. Work To Do
6. Cut The Cake
7. If I Ever Lose This Heaven
8. School Boy Crush
9. Queen Of My Soul
10. Cloudy (Live)
11. A Love Of Your Own
12. Soul Searching
13. I’m The One (Live)
14. Get It Up
15. Your Love Is A Miracle
16. When Will You Be Mine
17. Let’s Go ‘Round Again
18. For You, For Love
Just the way everyone loves their funk and R&B music…played by a band of Scotsmen. Strange, but true, from 1973 to the end of the eighties, Average White Band were big, with several soul and disco hits. They were discovered by none other than Eric Clapton, who gave them an opening spot in his comeback concert in 1973, and later got them signed to Atlantic Records. Their second album, 1974’s AWB, featured the huge instrumental hit, “Pick Up The Pieces”, and they were off and running. Their drummer, Robbie McIntosh, died of a heroin overdose that same year, and was replaced by future Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers drummer Steve Ferrone. On their next album, 1975’s Cut The Cake, the title song was also a big hit. They remained popular through the rest of the decade, but their star began to fade in the early eighties, and they split up for about six years.
Pickin’ Up The Pieces is a nice Rhino Records overview of the band’s entire career. It includes the two songs listed above, which are the ones they are remembered for…but there’s a lot more here than that. AWB were an ace R&B band that had many minor hits, especially in the US where they were always more popular. Songs like “Queen Of My Soul”, “Get It Up”, and “School Boy Crush” are excellent. The tracks here are well chosen, and there’s even a pair of nice live tracks from their 1978 album Person To Person. Average White Band reformed at the end of the eighties, and they still perform today…although they have released just one album since 2003. Pickin’ Up The Pieces is a fine set of tunes from a band that may have been the grooviest group of white boys ever. Well worth a spin.
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Of dying history
BOB DYLAN
THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’
1964 – COLUMBIA
Produced By TOM WILSON
1. The Times They Are A-Changin’
2. Ballad Of Hollis Brown
3. With God On Our Side
4. One Too Many Mornings
5. North Country Blues
6. Only A Pawn In Their Game
7. Boots Of Spanish Leather
8. When The Ship Comes In
9. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
10. Restless Farewell
Bob Dylan just kept on breaking new ground. His first two albums were mixes of originals and cover songs…The Times They Are A-Changin’, his third, was all Dylan songs, to go along with the music being played by only Bob Dylan. While it lacks the diversity and humor of the previous records, this is Dylan at his political and topical best, and is captures the political atmosphere of the decade better than maybe any other album. The title track itself is maybe the most important description of the sixties ever recorded. But that’s not all that’s important here. This album contains several tracks that helped define Dylan’s legend, and is central to his legendary folk singer years. His writing is sharp, as is his playing. His singing is as good as any of his earlier records.
He was a songwriting machine at this time. “With God On Our Side”, “Boots Of Spanish Leather” and “When The Ship Comes In” are just such great examples of how fully matured a writer he already was, and point towards even greater tracks. It was regarded at the time as being the lesser of his first three efforts, but today, it’s marvel that showcases everything great about the man. Like so many of his recordings from the sixties, it’s a pure classic album, brimming with perfection and excellence that musicians to this day are still trying to match. All of Bob Dylan’s early albums are essential, and this one is no exception. In less than a year, he would begin bringing electric instruments into his music, but this was Dylan still at his acoustic best.
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Of dying history
DEPECHE MODE
ULTRA
1997 – MUTE
Produced By TIM SIMENON
1. Barrel Of A Gun
2. The Love Thieves
3. Home
4. It’s No Good
5. Uselink
6. Useless
7. Sister Of Night
8. Jazz Thieves
9. Freestate
10. The Bottom Line
11. Insight
12. Jr. Painkiller
Depeche Mode has been going steadily since the dawn of the eighties…but if there was a dark period for the band, it would definitely be the second half of the nineties. Following the big success of Violator and Songs Of Faith And Devotion, things almost fell apart. Keyboardist Alan Wilder left the band in 1995, and singer Dave Gahan was deep into heroin addiction. They were able to pull things together, and while Ultra is not their finest album, it definitely can be viewed as a successful comeback for them. The record put them back on top in the UK, and contains four singles that had varying degrees of success. Ultra was their last number one album, and it would be another four years before they would release their follow up. It was Ultra that kept Depeche Mode from disappearing in the late nineties.
The biggest hit here is “Barrel Of A Gun”. “Useless”, “Home”, and “It’s No Good” are also high points, showing that Depeche Mode were growing up and beginning to embrace a more adult sound in their music. Ultra is good…it’s not great, by any means. It runs a full hour…there is about fifteen minutes that could have been shaved off to make this a much better disc. Three of the songs are instrumentals, which is never what you want to seek out on a Depeche Mode album. And some of the tracks simply do not hold up. But in all, Ultra is good enough, and helped keep an important band from falling away before it was their time to do so. In that way, Ultra does just fine. Depeche Mode are survivors, and Ultra will always be proof of that.
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Of dying history
THE SMITHEREENS
ESPECIALLY FOR YOU
1986 – ENIGMA
Produced By DON DIXON
1. Strangers When We Meet
2. Listen To Me Girl
3. Groovy Tuesday
4. Cigarette
5. I Don’t Want To Lose You
6. Time And Time Again
7. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
8. In A Lonely Place
9. Blood And Roses
10. Crazy Mixed-Up Kid
11. Hand Of Glory
12. Alone At Midnight
13. White Castle Blues
14. Mr. Eliminator
The Smithereens came out of New Jersey in 1986 with their debut album, Especially For You. After having been rejected by pretty much every label in music, they found one that was interested. Enigma Records signed them and paired the band with former R.E.M. producer Don Dixon, and they were off and running. The breakout hit here is the excellent “Blood And Roses”, but there’s more to this debut than just that song. The Smithereens were a great band, led by Pat DiNizio, that was alternative but with one foot in more traditional rock and roll. Dinizio proves to be an ace songwriter, and guitarist Jim Babjak turned out to be quite the secret weapon. The band had a long and fruitful career, but their best moments were in the eighties and early to mid-nineties.
With The Smithereens, it’s always, more than anything, the songs. Outside of “Blood And Roses”, they also scored a hit with “Behind The Wall Of Sleep” (DiNizio and myself both understand the value of a hot female bass player). Also of note are “Strangers When We Meet” and “In A Lonely Place” (which features a then little known Suzanne Vega). Especially For You is a very promising debut…one on which The Smithereens would deliver upon repeatedly for the next decade. DiNizio died in 2017, but the rest of the band continues on by utilizing various guest vocalists. This is one of the bands that the cool kids were digging in the eighties and nineties, and this album is an important part of their legacy. Definitely worth at least a listen or two.
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Of dying history
THE KILLS
NO WOW
2005 – DOMINO
Produced By THE KILLS
1. No Wow / Telephone Radio Germany
2. Love Is A Deserter
3. Dead Road 7
4. The Good Ones
5. I Hate The Way You Love
6. I Hate The Way You Love Pt. 2
7. At The Back Of The Shell
8. Sweet Cloud
9. Rodeo Town
10. Murdermile
11. Ticket Man
The Kills are a duo, consisting of American singer Alison Mosshart and British guitar player Jamie Hince. No Wow is their second album, and features guitar as its main instrument. Their biggest success to date would come on their next record, 2008’s Midnight Boom, but No Wow is well worth hearing. They use drum machines…but this duo does rock, and their sound is cool as hell. The better tracks here point to a promising future for The Kills, but there is also an almost equal amount of filler here. That’s okay…the duo were still finding themselves and their sound (it was meant to be a synth album, but they were forced to use more guitar here because Hince’s keyboard was damaged). There are growing pains, for sure…but those pains are listenable.
The best songs here are “The Good Ones”, “Love Is A Deserter”, and the title track. That their music lies somewhere between post punk and blues is a pleasant surprise, and they prove more than capable. At this juncture, what The Kills were lacking was songs, an area that would improve over time. But there was no new material from them for almost seven years until 2023'sa God Games…good to see that this band has not run out of ideas. Because when The Kills are on point, they are pretty terrific. Their later records (Midnight Boom, Blood Pressures and Ash & Ice) are better, but don’t sleep on No Wow. A band with a great sound and all the right influences that still has some room to grow. Here’s to the possibility of even better Kills music to come.
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Of dying history
ALANIS MORISSETTE
SUPPOSED FORMER INFATUATION JUNKIE
1998 – MAVERICK
Produced By GLEN BALLARD & ALANIS MORISSETTE
1. Front Row
2. Baba
3. Thank U
4. Are You Still Mad
5. Sympathetic Character
6. That I Would Be Good
7. The Couch
8. Can’t Not
9. UR
10. I Was Hoping
11. One
12. Would Not Come
13. Unsent
14. So Pure
15. Joining You
16. Heart Of The House
17. Your Congratulations
It's easy to say in hindsight, but even while Jagged Little Pill was riding high on the charts, you kinda got the feeling that Alanis Morissette wasn’t going to be able to maintain her stardom. Just a year before Jagged, she was known primarily as the Debbie Gibson of Canada, as she had released two below average albums of teen dance pop. Jagged Little Pill, of course, changed everything…but the question soon became, what would she do for an encore? Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie came out of the gates like a rocket and sold a gazillion copies, of course…and a few weeks later, it plummeted down the charts, sending Alanis back to obscurity. So, what happened? Why did this young woman who struck pure gold with her angry and vengeful persona fall so quickly?
First of all, she ditched the anger in favor of a serenity she got on a trip to India. Putting it simply, tranquil, happy and zen Alanis was not nearly as much fun as the pissed off jilted lover she had been just an album before. The best track here is “Thank U”, and only because the chorus is great. Here, her once adventurous songwriting became badly repetitious, and she stopped singing about experiences and started singing what sounded like lists she had made of things she may have felt. Content and mellow Alanis, it turns out, had not much of anything to say, and her music, without the excitement of those loud power chords, was dull and had no edge. And so it was that Alanis became what she has always been before…ordinary. That Jagged Little Pill of hers now had smooth edges…which made it ultimately much less interesting.
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Of dying history
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
GOO GOO DOLLS
A BOY NAMED GOO
1995 – WARNER BROS
Produced By LOU GIORDANO & GOO GOO DOLLS
1. Long Way Down
2. Burnin’ Up
3. Naked
4. Flat Top
5. Impersonality
6. Name
7. Only One
8. Somethin’ Bad
9. Ain’t That Unusual
10. So Long
11. Eyes Wide Open
12. Disconnected
13. Slave Girl
Early in the band’s career, Johnny Rzeznik publicly admitted that Goo Goo Dolls was “kind of a stupid name”. On this, I agree. I also am not a fan of the band riffing on the Johnny Cash tune “A Boy Named Sue” for the title of this album. But whatever. They have chosen to live with this name for going on 40 years…their cross to bear. Otherwise, Goo Goo Dolls had some pretty terrific success for a couple of decades, and it started with A Boy Named Goo. It’s their fifth album, and their breakthrough. “Name” was their first real hit, and the album boasts five singles that helped to put the band (finally) on the map. Their biggest hit, “Iris” and their biggest album, Dizzy Up The Girl, were still on the horizon, but this is the beginning of the band’s peak, which would last for a full decade.
In the world of 90’s rock, Goo Goo Dolls were a mid shelf name at best. This album boasts a few of their better songs beside “Name”. “Only One”, “Long Way Down” and “Naked” were examples of what the Dolls could do when they were on…but they were not always at their best. A Boy Named Goo contains as many really promising tracks as it does duds, which ended up being the story of this band. Their hits keep them remembered…their album tracks keep them from being memorable. Their band name kept them from being cool, and this album title helped keep them from the consistency a band like this needs to be remembered as great. A Boy Named Goo shows promise that the band never was able to live up to. Average, like almost everything else they have done.
I'm really intrigued why Dizzy Up The Girl is currently #7 of all time for you, given the bold comments above, as well as these comments on Dizzy Up The Girl in your chart:
Quote:
The reality, though, is that no matter how much you polish up a set of average songs, they are still going to be average songs. And Dizzy Up The Girl is nothing more than average.
Quote:
The reality is that this album is just perfectly average, decent but never great from beginning to end.
GOO GOO DOLLS
A BOY NAMED GOO
1995 – WARNER BROS
Produced By LOU GIORDANO & GOO GOO DOLLS
1. Long Way Down
2. Burnin’ Up
3. Naked
4. Flat Top
5. Impersonality
6. Name
7. Only One
8. Somethin’ Bad
9. Ain’t That Unusual
10. So Long
11. Eyes Wide Open
12. Disconnected
13. Slave Girl
Early in the band’s career, Johnny Rzeznik publicly admitted that Goo Goo Dolls was “kind of a stupid name”. On this, I agree. I also am not a fan of the band riffing on the Johnny Cash tune “A Boy Named Sue” for the title of this album. But whatever. They have chosen to live with this name for going on 40 years…their cross to bear. Otherwise, Goo Goo Dolls had some pretty terrific success for a couple of decades, and it started with A Boy Named Goo. It’s their fifth album, and their breakthrough. “Name” was their first real hit, and the album boasts five singles that helped to put the band (finally) on the map. Their biggest hit, “Iris” and their biggest album, Dizzy Up The Girl, were still on the horizon, but this is the beginning of the band’s peak, which would last for a full decade.
In the world of 90’s rock, Goo Goo Dolls were a mid shelf name at best. This album boasts a few of their better songs beside “Name”. “Only One”, “Long Way Down” and “Naked” were examples of what the Dolls could do when they were on…but they were not always at their best. A Boy Named Goo contains as many really promising tracks as it does duds, which ended up being the story of this band. Their hits keep them remembered…their album tracks keep them from being memorable. Their band name kept them from being cool, and this album title helped keep them from the consistency a band like this needs to be remembered as great. A Boy Named Goo shows promise that the band never was able to live up to. Average, like almost everything else they have done.
I'm really intrigued why Dizzy Up The Girl is currently #7 of all time for you, given the bold comments above, as well as these comments on Dizzy Up The Girl in your chart:
Quote:
The reality, though, is that no matter how much you polish up a set of average songs, they are still going to be average songs. And Dizzy Up The Girl is nothing more than average.
Quote:
The reality is that this album is just perfectly average, decent but never great from beginning to end.
It's an interesting question. I will attempt to give you as good an answer as I can.
I write these short reviews in part because it helps me to re-evaluate albums after a period of time. Do I always revise my reviews? No, I don't. Why? Because who has time for that? Besides trying to have a life, I have a collection of CD's that is approaching 3900 in number. It takes ridiculous time to keep the rankings in order, as well as the physical albums...keeping the reviews up to date would not be feasible for me. So, yeah...many of these aren't going to be updated as my thoughts on an album change. I simply do not have time.
But also...my rankings are not based solely on the reviews that I write. Sometimes, a review can be quite a small piece of where I choose to rank an album. I have many albums that I have strong connections to outside of a written review...good or bad. Dizzy Up The Girl is an album that right now has a lot of meaning to me in ways that I choose not to share online. There are many like that. That's as much as I am willing to give you as to why an album that I find, in some ways, not as strong as it could be, important enough to me personally to rate higher. In other words...my rankings are not as simple as black and white, as I'm sure several people here would agree with.
I understand that you are curious about the difference between my words and my ranking...that's fine. And know that I'm not meaning to cause confusion. But what I have said is all I will say about it. I also will tell you that I have found it not necessary or productive to question what others think about albums...or what others feel about it. I have my reasons as to why albums are ranked as they are, and it's not really anyone else's business as to why. And I believe everyone else has that right as well. All you need to know (if you must know) is that right now, Dizzy Up The Girl is my #7. We all have different charts for our own different reasons, and right now, that's where I am.
I hope that's not too vague, but that's where I am. _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
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