THE CHARLATANS UK
TELLIN’ STORIES
1997 – BEGGARS BANQUET
Produced By THE CHARLATANS, DAVE CHARLES & RIC PEET
1. With No Shoes
2. North Country Boy
3. Tellin’ Stories
4. One To Another
5. You’re A Big Girl Now
6. How Can You Leave Us
7. Area 51
8. How High
9. Only Teethin’
10. Get On It
11. Rob’s Theme
The Charlatans have been very successful in their native United Kingdom since their debut album in 1990, and are almost completely unknown in the United States. All thirteen of their studio releases have charted in the top 40 in England. Not one of them has made a dent in the US charts. Okay. So Britpop isn’t a big thing in America. But how have we missed out on the entire thirty plus year career of a band? I don’t know’ the answer to that. Tellin’ Stories is the band’s fifth album, and their third UK number one. It’s their best selling album, their highest charting, and boasted five top twenty singles. In the UK. In America, nothing. What do the British know that we don’t? It’s filled with great songs, great playing, and a fine mix of rock and hip hop beats. I don’t know either.
“One To Another” was the lead single, and it’s great. The title track, along with “North Country Boy” and “How High” are also big highlights. The guitars from this band are big and full, the keyboards are soulful and the singing by Mark Burgess is fine. Keyboardist Rob Collins died in a car accident during the making of the album, which didn’t slow them down a bit. Tellin’ Stories is a really good album, a definite high point for The Charlatans. They have remained good and consistent, although it’s been seven years now since their last record. They do continue to tour, but no new music has been announced. The band’s thirteen albums are all out there just waiting for American audiences to get on board with one of Britain’s better groups. Maybe someday we will.
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GORDON LIGHTFOOT
SUNDOWN
1974 – REPRISE
Produced By LENNY WARONKER
1. Somewhere U.S.A.
2. High And Dry
3. Seven Island Suite
4. Circle Of Steel
5. Is There Anyone Home
6. The Watchman’s Gone
7. Sundown
8. Carefree Highway
9. The List
10. Too Late For Prayin’
Gordon Lightfoot spent the 1960’s as an unknown artist, even in his native Canada. He released a number of singles and four studio albums that went nowhere. And then, the seventies happened. His 1970 album Sit Down Young Stranger contained the hit “If You Could Read My Mind”, and his career was suddenly off to the races. Lightfoot owned the decade, with nine number one singles in the US and Canada. He released nine studio albums between 1970 and 1980, with eight making the top ten in Canada, including a stretch of four of five getting to number one. Sundown was his ninth album, his third straight number one, and his only record to reach the top of the American charts. He was no longer an unknown, and had by this time become the very picture of the seventies’ singer/songwriter.
Sundown is a nearly perfect album, led mostly by Lightfoot’s vocals and acoustic guitars. It contains a pair of significant hits: the title track and “Carefree Highway” both went to number one, and were a huge part of radio in 1974. Lightfoot’s folk sensibilities are on full display: this is an artist at his peak. He’s beginning to add more electric instruments at this point, never overdoing it and remembering what got him to this point. This is, along with Summertime Dream, his best work, and should not be missed. Lightfoot faded into the eighties and recorded sporadically after that until his death in May of 2023. It’s his work in the seventies that made him a legend, and Sundown is at the very center of a fine career. Definitely recommended.
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DEEP PURPLE
DEEP PURPLE IN ROCK
1970 – WARNER
Produced By DEEP PURPLE
1. Speed King
2. Bloodsucker
3. Child In Time
4. Flight Of The Rat
5. Into The Fire
6. Living Wreck
7. Hard Lovin’ Man
8. Black Knight (Original Single Version)
9. Studio Chat (1)
10. Speed King (Piano Version)
11. Studio Chat (2)
12. Cry Free (Roger Glover Remix)
13. Studio Chat (3)
14. Jam Stew
15. Studio Chat (4)
16. Flight Of The Rat (Roger Glover Remix)
17. Studio Chat (5)
18. Speed King (Roger Glover Remix)
19. Studio Chat (6)
20. Black Knight (Unedited Roger Glover Remix)
In which the classic lineup of Deep Purple recorded together for the first time. In Rock is the band’s fourth album, and their first attempt at a really heavy and loud sound. They had heard the first Led Zeppelin album and wanted to move in that direction. In Rock is a band that was really just learning to write songs, and learning how to play together. Despite the band’s growing pains at the time, this album has become a landmark of early metal. Deep Purple would go on to perfect this sound, culminating in the classic album Machine Head just two years later. On In Rock, there are still longer songs (three are over seven minutes and one, “Child In Time” is over ten minutes long) and plenty of progressive sections, but things are most definitely much heavier.
Deep Purple In Rock is regarded as one of the three great 1970 albums that formed metal for the decade (the others are Black Sabbath’s Paranoid and the self titled album from Uriah Heep). This is heavy and big, and you can’t help but play it loud. The songwriting would get better, but this is still worth having. As for my copy…if you know me, then you will know that if a reissue has more bonus tracks than the original album, then I am not a fan. The studio chat tracks on this 25th Anniversary edition are short garbage, and the only song worth hearing in the bonus section is “Black Knight”, a single only release that is still the band’s best charting hit. Everything else is unnecessary remixes and outtakes that aren’t very good. Also, the fake autographs on the jewel case cover are flat cheesy. Add a half star for the original seven tracks only version.
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THE GAME
THE DOCUMENTARY
2005 – AFTERMATH / G-UNIT / INTERSCOPE
Produced By 50 CENT, DR. DRE, BUCKWILD, CHE VICIOUS, COOL & DRE, DANJA, EMINEM, FOCUS, HAVOC, HI-TEK, JEFF BHASKER, JEFF REED, JUST BLAZE, KANYE WEST, LUIS RESTO, MARK BATSON, MIKE ELIZONDO, NEEDLZ, SCOTT STORCH & TIMBALAND
1. Intro
2. Westside Story (Feat. 50 Cent)
3. Dreams
4. Hate It Or Love It (Feat. 50 Cent)
5. Higher
6. How We Do (Feat. 50 Cent)
7. Don’t Need Your Love (Feat. Faith Evans)
8. Church For Thugs
9. Put You On The Game
10. Start From Scratch (Feat. Marsha Ambrosius)
11. The Documentary
12. Runnin’ (Feat. Tony Yayo & Dion)
13. No More Fun And Games
14. We Ain’t (Feat. Eminem)
15. Where I’m From (Feat. Nate Dogg)
16. Special (Feat. Nate Dogg)
17. Don’t Worry (Feat. Mary J. Blige)
18. Like Father, Like Son (Feat. Busta Rhymes)
Talented indeed, The Game has always had a difficult time keeping himself out of trouble. A long history of legal problems, public feuds with other artists…it’s not a good look. Enough of that. His major label debut was The Documentary, a can’t lose album that featured a who’s who of west coast hip hop. The list of producers is dreadfully long, but somehow the album works. The Game was set up brilliantly to succeed, and he does not disappoint. The album took 2 and a half years to complete, with the artist working closely with both 50 Cent and Dr. Dre. It’s not surprisingly his most successful work: you can’t have a roomful of industry giants helping you make an album every time, and you’re lucky if it happens once. It happened here.
Lyrically, The Game is sharp as a tack…and angry as a rabid pitbull. The musical tracks around his words are mostly great. This record can wear you out, as the rage is quite palpable, and the overdone name dropping gets tired. But outside of that, there are six well crafted singles here, and the guests add a lot. There’s Kanye, 50 Cent, Eminem, Faith Evans, Mary J. Blige, and a bunch of others lending their talents to The Game’s efforts. Even though most of his albums have reached number one, he has never been able to match The Documentary, for whatever reasons. The Documentary is proof that a community of like-minded artists can come together to create a success for one of their own. This is well worth the time, a classic and could have been perfect record.
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STEPPENWOLF
THE SECOND
1968 – DUNHILL
Produced By GABRIEL MEKLER
1. Faster Than The Speed Of Life
2. Tighten Up Your Wig
3. None Of Your Doing
4. Spiritual Fantasy
5. Don’t Step On The Grass, Sam
6. 28
7. Magic Carpet Ride
8. Disappointment Number (Unknown)
9. Lost And Found By Trial And Error
10. Hodge, Podge, Strained Through A Leslie
11. Resurrection
12. Reflections
1968 was the year of Steppenwolf. Formed just a year earlier, the band put out both of its first two albums within ten months, each one with a massive hit single that put the band on radio playlists to this day. The self-titled first album contained the biker anthem “Born To Be Wild”, and The Second had the trippy “Magic Carpet Ride”. The Second would go on to become the group’s most successful album on the strength of that song, but no one saw their rapid fall into obscurity coming. After one more top ten disc in 1969, Steppenwolf ran out of hits and were gone by 1972. They regrouped several times, ending up with singer John Kay being the only original member, and they were never the same again, living out their existence on the strength of those two 1968 hits until Kay finally called it a day in 2018.
The Second was highly praised when it was released. It mostly rocks very well, with a few trippy moments that haven’t aged very well (“None Of Your Doing” and “Spiritual Fantasy”), and changing the words to “Messin’ With The Kid” to “Tighten Up Your Wig” seems unnecessary. The last five songs constitute a pretty creative bluesy medley. And, of course, there’s “Magic Carpet Ride”, which has not only a very infectious chorus, but also a fine instrumental freak out in the middle. It’s their best song, and showed much promise for the band. But Steppenwolf never built on the success of this album, and they were all but forgotten just five years later. In all, Steppenwolf released thirteen studio albums, the last being in 1990. But all you really need are the first three.
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DARLENE LOVE
THE BEST OF DARLENE LOVE
1992 – ABKCO
Produced By PHIL SPECTOR
1. He’s A Rebel
2. Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
3. My Heart Beat A Little Faster
4. He’s Sure The Boy I Love
5. Why Do Lovers Break Each Other’s Hearts?
6. (Today I Met) The Boy I’m Gonna Marry
7. Chapel Of Love
8. Not Too Young To Get Married
9. Wait Til My Bobby Gets Home
10. Run Run Runaway
11. A Fine, Fine Boy
12. Stumble And Fall
13. (He’s A) Quiet Guy
14. Long Way To Be Happy
15. Lord, If You’re A Woman
Do you know who Darlene Love is? It’s okay if you don’t. One of the lesser known heroes of the early days of rock and roll, soul and R&B music, Love has left her mark on more songs than most people realize. Many of her early hits were credited to groups like The Crystals and Bob B. Sox & The Blue Jeans. She was a singer for producer Phil Spector, but she didn’t receive the recognition she deserved for much of her work. Later, she became a much sought after backup singer and sang on many hits in the late sixties and early seventies. She came back as a solo artist in the eighties, and was rightfully elected to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2011. But this is about her work with Spector between 1962 and 1965 (with the last track from 1975).
The Best Of Darlene Love covers that period. These songs are beautifully produced by Spector, but it’s Love’s vocals that make them magic. “He’s A Rebel”, “Not Too Young To Get Married”, “A Fine, Fine Boy” and “He’s Sure The Boy I Love” are all great, and should have made her a star…but Spector repeatedly credited her vocals to groups and other singers. There are 2 great things about this compilation: one is that the music here is simply amazing. Love shows that she was as good as anyone else in music at the time. The second thing is that this 1992 release helped Love gain ground and to win a lawsuit a year later that forced Spector to pay her $250k in unpaid royalties. Sometimes there is justice, and sometimes it comes with some great music as a bonus.
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JANET JACKSON
THE VELVET ROPE
1997 – VIRGIN
Produced By JANET JACKSON, JIMMY JAM & TERRY LEWIS
1. Interlude – Twisted Elegance
2. Velvet Rope (Feat. Vanessa-Mae)
3. You
4. Got ‘Til It’s Gone (Feat, Q-Tip & Joni Mitchell)
5. Interlude – Speaker Phone
6. My Need
7. Interlude - Fasten Your Seatbelts
8. Go Deep
9. Free Xone
10. Interlude – Memory
11. Together Again
12. Interlude – Online
13. Empty
14. Interlude – Full
15. What About
16. Every Time
17. Tonight’s The Night
18. I Get Lonely
19. Rope Burn
20. Anything
21. Interlude – Sad
22. Special
Janet Jackson had spent her entire life as the little sister of the Jackson 5…and more specifically, of her impossibly famous brother Michael. Just watching Michael’s transformation into a very messed up adult, you had to know that the youngest Jackson would have her own issues. She certainly did. And they all came to the forefront on The Velvet Rope, her sixth album. Not in a bad way…this album is the work of an artist fighting her way to the other side of a publicly problematic life. Janet had a mental breakdown before going into the studio to record this, and to her credit, she made a record that was personally healing, very open, and brutally honest about her demons. The Velvet Rope is about Janet as a lost person with pain and trying her best to deal with it. Rarely does an artist make an album so raw and truthful, but that’s what Janet did.
Her music has always taken a back seat to everyone else in her family, especially Michael. It’s never helped her that she sounds so similar to her siblings. But give this girl credit…she does have her own voice, and she’s not afraid to use it, no matter how much it hurts. Musically, The Velvet Rope might seem like empty dance pop in spots, but pay attention to her lyrics, because that’s what’s important here. The chances she takes aren’t in the instrumentation, but in her words. She deals with her sexual issues, her childhood issues, and her insecurities being who she just so happens to be. Janet Jackson has always been a star, but she has also always struggled to be taken seriously. The Velvet Rope is as close to knowing who she really is as we have ever gotten.
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THE BYRDS
THE NOTORIOUS BYRD BROTHERS
1968 – COLUMBIA
Produced By GARY USHER
1. Artificial Energy
2. Goin’ Back
3. Natural Harmony
4. Draft Morning
5. Wasn’t Born To Follow
6. Get To You
7. Change Is Now
8. Old John Robertson
9. Tribal Gathering
10. Dolphin’s Smile
11. Space Odyssey
12. Moog Raga
13. Bound To Fall
14. Triad
15. Goin’ Back (Alternate – Version One)
16. Draft Morning (Alternate Ending)
17. Universal Mind Decoder
The Byrds walked into 1968 as the same band (minus Gene Clark) that had formed in 1964 and made their name playing jangly Bob Dylan covers. By the end of the year, only Roger McGuinn remained from that original band. They went from a folk rock band to a country rock band to gone five years later. But despite the member turnover and all of the changes, The Byrds remained prolific, releasing eight studio albums between 1968 and 1973. The Notorious Byrd Brothers, despite the turmoil, has been hailed as one of their best albums and is considered a classic…despite containing no hits. It’s a beautiful album, played mainly by McGuinn and Chris Hillman. Drummer Michael Clarke plays on half of the album…he was let go afterwards.
David Crosby also played on half of Notorious before being fired. Clark returned for three weeks, then left again. Studio musicians filled in the blanks. And somehow, this became a great album. “Change Is Now”, Crosby’s “Draft Morning” and the King-Goffin penned “Goin’ Back” and “Wasn’t Born To Follow” are great, and you can hear the beginning of a more country sound coming (Gram Parsons came on board for the next record, Sweetheart Of The Rodeo). The 1997 re-issue is notable for the six bonus tracks, most importantly the controversial song that was instrumental in Crosby’s firing, “Triad” (later recorded by Jefferson Airplane). This album sometimes gets overlooked, but its actually a fine record despite the trouble that came along with it. One of their best.
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1. 1969
2. I Wanna Be Your Dog
3. We Will Fall
4. No Fun
5. Real Cool Time
6. Ann
7. Not Right
8. Little Doll
Punk rock in the 1960’s? You bet. The Stooges debut album was unlike anything else at the time of its release in 1969, predating the punk explosion by almost a decade. Coming out of Michigan, the original band, led by Iggy Pop, lasted just two albums before breaking up for the first time in 1970. There have been many versions of The Stooges over the years, with Iggy being the only constant (and only living original) member. The important Stooges albums are the first three: this one, Fun House (1970), and Raw Power (1973). This first album was produced by John Cale of The Velvet Underground, and his influence is easily heard, especially on the ten minute plus track “We Will Fall”, an eerie and slow dirge that contains a chant and Cale’s viola.
“1969” and “I Wanna Be Your Dog” are fantastic pre-punk moments, and show Iggy Pop to be a force vocally. The band had to struggle to come up with enough material for the album, but they were able to do so…but the first half is definitely stronger. This record did not sell well, but it has been rediscovered since as a landmark album in the development of punk, and for launching the career of Iggy Pop. Reissues of the album and its original eight songs are bloated to as many as 17 bonus tracks…my opinion is that you don’t need any of them. Material left on the cutting room floor should stay there. But you should still be able to find the original album in it’s raw form (eight songs only), and that’s what’s important about The Stooges’ debut.
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NIK KERSHAW
TO BE FRANK
2001 – EAGLE / KOCH
Produced By NIK KERSHAW
1. Wounded
2. Get Up
3. Die Laughing
4. Jane Doe
5. How Sad
6. Take Me To The Church
7. Hello World
8. Already
9. One Day
10. All Is Fair
11. Show Them What You’re Made Of
Nik Kershaw came out of the gate running. This British singer-songwriter released his first two albums in 1984, both of which reached the top ten in the UK. In just over a year, he had eight consecutive top twenty UK singles. And then he cooled off…fast. His reputation from his success in the mid eighties has carried him through the rest of his career, even though his star has steadily decayed since then. He’s also had almost zero success in the United States. By 2001, and the release of his sixth album, To Be Frank, Kershaw had all but faded away. He had released no albums between 1989 and 1999, and his last record had gone almost completely unnoticed. To Be Frank did not fare any better, and it would be another five years before Kershaw would try again.
“Wounded”, which sounds like nothing else on To Be Frank, was a failed single. The rest of the album doesn’t stray far from the singer and songwriter with an acoustic guitar formula, and the songs aren’t fantastic enough to make that work very well. There isn’t much in the way of upbeat material, and while he sounds good, there just aren’t any moments that will make this a memorable disc. Kershaw’s days as a charting and successful artist are long gone here, as is the time and musical landscape that he had once thrived in. Since To Be Frank, Kershaw has become a bit more invisible with each of his three subsequent releases. This record is more bland than it is pleasant, and won’t stick in your head for very long. A very average effort from a once promising artist.
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