LENNY KRAVITZ
LET LOVE RULE
1989 – VIRGIN
Produced By LENNY KRAVITZ
1. Sittin’ On Top Of The World
2. Let Love Rule
3. Freedom Train
4. My Precious Love
5. I Build This Garden For Us
6. Fear
7. Does Anybody Out There Even Care
8. Mr. Cab Driver
9. Rosemary
10. Be
11. Blues For Sister Someone
12. Empty Hands
13. Flower Child
Nobody was really ready for Lenny Kravitz in 1989, His mix of heavy guitars, soul and funk was a throwback to the seventies, and despite his successes over the years, he’s always been seen as a different animal. Let Love Rule is his debut album from ’89, and while it wasn’t a massive hit, it did put the music business on notice that this was an up and coming talent. Kravitz, who is the son of Roxie Roker from The Jeffersons, grew up in show business and was right at home even at this stage of his career. Highly talented, he wrote, played and produced almost everything on his debut (his then wife, Cosby Show star Lisa Bonet wrote some lyrics). Kravitz wasn’t a big star just yet, but it was on the way. And this was a good way to start.
The best songs on Let Love Rule are pretty great. “Let Love Rule”, “I Build This Garden For Us”, and “Mr. Cab Driver” are among the top moments of the end of the eighties. The hooks are tight, and the seventies soul vibe is electric. “Does Anybody Out There Even Care” and “Be” are pretty great as well. The other five tracks are not as solid, but still, this is a very good debut effort. Kravitz would go on to bigger and better things (Are You Gonna Go My Way and Circus), and he’s still making records to this day. His best efforts are from the 20th century, when he made his first and best five albums. He’s always been interesting, he’s undeniably talented, and he blends genres as well as anyone. Let Love Rule isn’t perfect, but it is a fine place to begin with Lenny Kravitz.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
BRYNDLE
1995 – MUSICMASTERS
Produced By JOSH LEO & BRYNDLE
1. Take Me In
2. I Want To Touch You
3. Under The Rainbow
4. Savannah
5. The Lucky One
6. We Walked This Road
7. On The Wind
8. Streets Of Your Town
9. Till The Storm Goes By
10. Mulberry Street
11. The Wheel
12. River Of Stone
13. Daddy’s Little Girl
14 Just Can’t Walk Away
Bryndle was a band that will always be tied closely to the career of Linda Ronstadt. They formed in the late sixties, but the recording for their debut album fizzled in 1970, and they disbanded having released only a single. Each of the four members of Bryndle worked with Ronstadt. Kenny Edwards was Linda’s bandmate in the Stone Poneys. Andrew Gold was her main guitarist for years. Wendy Waldman was a friend who toured with her for quite some time. And Karla Bonoff was one of the many songwriters in the seventies who benefitted from Ronstadt recording her material. These four stayed busy through the seventies. And the eighties. And finally, twenty five years later, they reunited and were able to make an album together. It was about time.
This self titled debut album isn’t a group of young musicians trying to make a go of a career. They were now seasoned pros, each having had success on their own. The result is an album that is very well made, perfectly sung, but ultimately lacking in great material. You get the feeling that each of these members of Bryndle had already done their best work. This isn’t so much folk rock as it is SOFT rock…if it’s really rock at all. It’s really great that, after 25 years, they were finally able to make a record together. In fact, they made a second one in 2001…after which they split up for good. Both Edwards and Gold have since passed away, meaning that we’re not getting any more Bryndle. It would have been great to hear what this quartet could have done at the dawn of the seventies when their sound was the in thing…but at least we have this…too little too late. A nice effort that simply falls flat.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
SHANIA TWAIN
COME ON OVER
1997 – MERCURY
Produced By ROBERT JOHN “MUTT” LANGE
1. Man! I Feel Like A Woman!
2. I’m Holdin’ On To Love (To Save My Life)
3. Love Gets Me Every Time
4. Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You)
5. From This Moment On
6. Come On Over
7. When
8. Whatever You Do! Don’t!
9. If You Wanna Touch Her, Ask!
10. You’re Still The One
11. Honey, I’m Home
12. That Don’t Impress Me Much
13. Black Eyes, Blue Tears
14. I Won’t Leave You Lonely
15. Rock This Country!
16. You’ve Got A Way
The collaboration between Shania Twain and Robert John “Mutt” Lange reached its peak in 1997 with the album Come On Over. Her third album wasn’t just a hit…it destroyed like very few albums in history ever had. Coming off of the huge success of The Woman In Me, no one expected this much more in the way of sales. 40 million worldwide. Twelve of the sixteen tracks were released as singles, with eight in the top ten. Three went to number one. Just in America. Twain and Lange had found a formula, alright. And it was, at least for a few years, a winner. But more than that. This is the album where the line was crossed into the dark world of pop country. And unfortunately, Nashville has never been the same since. So there’s that.
Come On Over has some great moments. “When” and “From This Moment On” are more country than pop, and are great. But those aren’t the songs that made this a smash. “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!”, “That Don’t Impress Me Much”, and the awful “Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You)” formed the unholy trilogy of pop country excess. Fiddles and twangy guitars can’t hide the fact that this record is less country than pop, the keyboards are awful and out of place, and Twain’s trademark “whoo” is more than tired by this time. But none of that matters. Because Come On Over made Twain a massive star, it made pop country a thing that is chased to this day, and it defined Twain as less of a country artist and more of a pop star. All of which is too bad, because the majority of this album is not bad. Not great, but not as terrible as its legacy suggests.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
THE CHARLIE DANIELS BAND
SIMPLE MAN
1989 – EPIC
Produced By JAMES STROUD
1. (What This World Needs Is) A Few More Rednecks
2. Was It 26
3. Oh Atlanta
4. Midnight Wind
5. Saturday Night Down South
6. Play Me Some Fiddle
7. Simple Man
8. Old Rock ‘N Roller
9. Mister DJ
10. It’s My Life
The down south hippie Charlie Daniels we all knew from his southern rock hits in the seventies took a pretty wide turn sometime during the eighties. He actually went from stating that politics had no place in his music, to openly supporting Jimmy Carter for President, and then turning about as right wing conservative as a country boy can get. This is important because Daniels chose to open his sixteenth album with the far right anthem “(What The World Needs Now) Is A Few More Rednecks”, and the title track, which advocated for personal vigilantism. It gained Daniels a lot of attention, and it didn’t hurt the album sales, either: Simple Man was his first hit album in nearly a decade. He would put out another 14 discs before his death in 2020, but this was his last really successful one.
Despite the pair of alarmingly politically charged songs, there is plenty to like about Simple Man. “Was It 26” stands as one of his best songs. “Oh Atlanta” and “Mister DJ” are fine as well. Daniels had moved away from Southern rock by this time, so this is mainly a country album. “It’s My Life” is a shorter version of a song from 1976, and “Midnight Wind” brings to mind Asleep At The Wheel. It’s hard to overlook his conservative hard line views on those two songs, but what’s important is the music he made that’s not tied to that. I will say that you’ll probably enjoy Simple Man more if you skip the first track (unless you’re a Republican…in which case, add another star) In the end, Daniels had a long career with thirty studio albums and some memorable seventies hits. Simple Man is the best of his later works, and is worth taking out for a spin.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
PJ HARVEY
IS THIS DESIRE?
1998 – ISLAND
Produced By FLOOD, MARIUS DE VRIES, HEAD & PJ HARVEY
1. Angelene
2. The Sky Lit Up
3. The Wind
4. My Beautiful Leah
5. A Perfect Day Elise
6. Catherine
7. Electric Light
8. The Garden
9. Joy
10. The River
11. No Girl So Sweet
12. Is This Desire?
Maybe the best thing about PJ Harvey is that she is always moving forward. She never makes an album that sounds like the last one, and she isn’t afraid to try anything musically. Harvey had her breakthrough with her 1995 third album, To Bring You My Love. Is This Desire? is her next studio effort, and the two sound nothing alike. This album goes in a completely different direction. She switches from the guitar driven rock of the previous album to a hypnotic and understated electronic sound, and she doesn’t miss a beat. This one didn’t sell as well as To Bring You My Love, but it was critically acclaimed, and has become right at home on the list of Harvey’s best albums. Not that she’s ever made a bad record. I doubt at this point that she’s capable of that.
“A Perfect Day Elise” actually became her biggest UK hit, and did fairly well in America. “The Wind” is also a highlight. But, like the rest of Harvey’s records, this is best experienced as a whole. These songs all work together as a bigger piece, with all twelve tracks becoming quite a story and a worthwhile journey. Because Harvey is an album artist, more than a producer of hit singles. Her albums are exciting and fresh because she never sets out to make the same one twice. Her ability to slip from one type of sound to another at will is admirable, and makes her forever interesting. Is This Desire? may not be her most famous work, or her most accessible, but don’t sleep on it. Like everything else she does, this is beautiful, important, and endlessly entertaining.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
SIERRA HULL
SECRETS
2008 – ROUNDER
Produced By RON BLOCK & SIERRA HULL
1. Secrets
2. From Now On
3. Two Winding Rails
4. Smashville
5. Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool
6. Pretend
7. If You Can Tame My Heart
8. That’s All I Can Say
9. The Hard Way
10. Hullarious
11. Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder
12. Only My Heart
13. Trust And Obey
Here's a child prodigy story you can feel good about. Sierra Hull was discovered playing mandolin at talent shows, and released her first album when she was just ten years old…after having played for just two years. She was then taken under the wing of Alison Krauss, who has also been a prodigy. Krauss wrote the glowing introduction to the album that’s on the back, and she also has plenty of help from members of Krauss’ band Union Station. She’s taken her mentoring from Alison quite seriously…there’s plenty of the Krauss sound here. But make no mistake…the star of this show is Sierra Hull. She was fifteen at the time this was recorded. Her mandolin playing is flawless, her vocals sweet and pristine, and she even shows early chops as a songwriter.
Secrets is a bluegrass album, through and through. And Hull is a bluegrass player. Her songwriting contributions, 3 songs, are very good, especially “Pretend”, which sounds like vintage Alison Krauss at her best. Her instrumental, “Hullarious”, is dazzling, and “Trust And Obey” is perfection. She holds her own with an impressive cast of musicians that includes Tony Rice, Dan Tyminski, Jerry Douglas and Ron Block. Even better, Hull has gone on to have a nice career with four straight top ten bluegrass albums. Sure, Secrets is by a fifteen year old. But this fifteen year old has the confidence and the ability of an artist with a lot more experience than she had here. Sierra Hull is a gem, and she’s grown up just fine, thank you. Very much recommended.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
THE BROTHERS COMATOSE
RESPECT THE VAN
2012 – SELF RELEASED
No Production Credit
1. Modern Day Sinners
2. Pie For Breakfast
3. The Scout
4. 120 East
5. Strings
6. Morning Time
7. Feels Like The Devil
8. Pennies Are Money Too
9. Sleep
10. The Van Song
11. Blackbirds
California bluegrass. From San Francisco? You bet. The Brothers Comatose, led by brothers Alex and Ben Morrison, have been playing bluegrass festivals all over the country for the last fifteen years, and doing quite well, thank you. This five piece band is blessed with expert playing, some pretty sharp songwriting, and exceptional vocals. They started out as a group of guys who sat around the house playing like they were in the deep south, but with a big love for rock music. The rock influence is not evident on Respect The Van, their second self released album. This is a beautifully done record, and as true to Americana as you can be. They play guitar, banjo, bass, mandolin and fiddle. That’s really all you need, and they make it work nicely.
Two songs really stand out here. “120 East” is a should have been hit, if only this kind of music actually had hits. The other is “Morning Time”, a beauty of a duet with singer-songwriter Nicki Bluhm. Faster tracks like “Feels Like The Devil” and the whip-smart “Pie For Breakfast” show off their instrumental prowess. “Pennies Are Money Too” is a wild showcase of solos from each member. Bluegrass gets overlooked a lot, but the reality is that it’s great instrumental music, and when you add in fine vocals (like on “Sleep”) and songwriting, it’s great music that’s more American than anything else. There are another four studio albums (and a live set) out there by The Brothers Comatose. This is a fine place to start with them…you might just fall in love with their excellent style.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
THE MORNING BENDERS
BIG ECHO
2010 – BEGGARS / ROUGH TRADE
Produced By CHRIS TAYLOR
1. Excuses
2. Promises
3. Wet Cement
4. Cold War (Nice Clean Fight)
5. Pleasure Sighs
6. Hand Me Downs
7. Mason Jar
8. All Day Day Light
9. Stitches
10. Sleeping In
The Morning Benders are an American band, now known as Pop Etc. In 2012, they changed their name because there are places in the world where the word bender is used as a negative. The Morning Benders was a much better name, but that’s understandable. Big Echo is their second album, and the last released under the Morning Benders moniker. Produced by Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear, the album is a bright and upbeat affair, loaded with impressive harmonies and a cool pop sound that sounds surprisingly British. The singing is what carries this album, but the songs themselves are not the strongest. Instrumentally, there’s a lot of great sounding guitar along with a fine rhythm section and intriguing synth work. An interesting sound, to be sure.
The album starts off with a bang. “Excuses” and “Promises” are both really fine, and give the album credibility. After that, the songwriting drops in quality, but the playing and singing does not. Unfortunately, any momentum that may have been gained from this album was lost in their name change, a move they have still not fully gained their traction back from…also, they have not been able to match the quality of Big Echo on the three subsequent releases. Big Echo stands as the band’s best work, under either name. And even though the songs are the weakest point, the band sounds really great and large on this record. It’s too bad that they haven’t been able to build from this moment. An album well worth hearing. Turn it up loud…it sounds great that way.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
LOUIS ARMSTRONG & DUKE ELLINGTON
THE GREAT SUMMIT: THE MASTER TAKES
2001 – BLUE NOTE
Produced By BOB THIELE
1. Duke’s Place
2. I’m Just A Lucky So And So
3. Cottontail
4. Mood Indigo
5. Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me
6. The Beautiful American
7. Black And Tan Fantasy
8. Drop Me Off In Harlem
9. The Mooche
10. In A Mellow Tone
11. It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)
12. Solitude
13. Don’t Get Around Much Anymore
14. I’m Beginning To See The Light
15. Just Squeeze Me
16. I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)
17. Azalea
For two days in April of 1961, two of the biggest legends of jazz met in the studio for the first and only time. They recorded seventeen songs together, which were split into a pair of albums: Together For The First time was released that year, and The Great Reunion two years later. Starting in 1970, those sessions were released as a single compilation album a number of times under many different and confusing titles, including this one in 2000. It was originally packaged as The Great Reunion, but all of the versions from over the years contain the same seventeen songs. The Great Summit: The Master Takes also came out as The Complete sessions, which included a second disc called The Making Of The Great Summit. This version has just the one disc. Phew!
The bottom line is that this is some phenomenal and historic music. The band is Armstrong’s combo with Ellington on piano, with Louis providing vocals and trumpet. The two are on top of their game here, and the song selection is perfect. Ellington (who wrote most of the music here) hits like “Mood Indigo” and “Black And Tan Fantasy” receive great treatment, with Armstrong’s vocals being very strong. And his trumpet playing was still very good here. Benny Bigard (clarinet) and Trummy Young (trombone) are great, and the rhythm section of Danny Barcelona and Mort Herbert are as solid as you will hear. It’s no wonder this set has had so many releases over the years…it’s truly great. A winner in whatever form you can find it. Two of the very best together for…the only time ever.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
NICO
DESERTSHORE
1970 – REPRISE
Produced By JOHN CALE & JOE BOYD
1. Janitor Of Lunacy
2. The Falconer
3. My Only Child
4. Le Petit Chevalier
5. Abscheid
6. Afraid
7. Mutterlein
8. All That Is My Own
Christa Paggen was a German actress and model who also became the musician known as Nico. She was working on a film with Andy Warhol in 1966 when he kind of forced her into working together with The Velvet Underground on their first album (she sang lead on three of the songs). She continued to work with John Cale of the Velvets, and in 1970, the pair made her third solo album, Desertshore. Nico plays harmonium, with Cale playing everything else on the record. Her songwriting here was coming along nicely…she wrote all of the songs here. Maybe the biggest plus on Desertshore is that she was becoming a more emotional singer. Nico had once been described as having a voice that sounded like a cello getting up in the morning. She still sounds stiff, but not nearly as much so as she did on earlier records.
Keep in mind that this is not pop music. You’re not getting hits with Nico. But her brand of avant-garde is actually quite appealing, and despite her vocal limitations, Desertshore is a fine album. “Janitor Of Lunacy” was written as a tribute to her good friend, the late Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones. “My Only Child” is quite pretty, and “Mutterlein” is dense and surprisingly interesting. Nico would make another three albums, none with a drop of commercial success, but to her absolute credit, she continued to grow as a musician. Nico struggled with heroin addiction for many years, and in 1988, she fell off of her bicycle, hit her head and died at age 49. She is most remembered for her contributions to that first Velvet Underground release, but there are also her six solo albums out there that are more worth hearing than you may think.
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
