KITTY WELLS
THE COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME
1991 – MCA
Produced By THE COUNTRY MUSIC FOUNDATION
1. It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels
2. I Heard The Jukebox Playing
3. Icicles Hanging From My Heart
4. My Cold, Cold Heart Is Melted Now
5. I Gave My Wedding Dress Away
6. Release Me
7. Making Believe
8. I’d Rather Stay Home
9. Searching (For Someone Like You)
10. I Can’t Stop Loving You
11. Mommy For A Day
12. Amigo’s Guitar
13. Heartbreak, U.S.A.
14. Will Your Lawyer Talk To God
15. Password
16. A Woman Half My Age
Who is the queen of country music? There is only one answer. Her name was Ellen Muriel Deason. Better known as Kitty Wells. In 1952, female country singers didn’t get record deals. They didn’t have hits. And they certainly were not stars. Kitty Wells changed all of that. She had a hit with what became one of the most important country songs of all time, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels”, and things were never the same. This Country Music Hall Of Fame compilation contains some of her greatest work, and shows what an absolute treasure she is. There is not a single weak moment here, and the album is a powerful reminder that this woman should never be forgotten. “Honky Tonk Angels” was a biting response to the Hank Thompson hit “The Wild Side Of Life”, and it gave women a true voice in not just country music, but in popular music overall as they had never really had before.
Kitty Wells deserves to be always remembered. She was the first woman with a #1 single on the country charts. The first to sell 1 million records. The first to headline a major tour. The first with a syndicated TV show. She was voted the top country female singer for 14 straight years. A lifetime achievement Grammy. Kitty Wells did it all, and she did it first. Between 1952 and 1965, she had 29 top ten hits. She released 36 studio albums, and also published more than 60 songs, including her hit “Amigo’s Guitar”. And although her popularity gave way to new waves of female stars from the late 60’s on, she remained an icon, and made music long after her last album in 1975, which was recorded with members of The Allman Brothers Band and The Marshall Tucker Band. Wells was married to singer Johnnie Wright in 1937, and they stayed married for 74 years until his death in 2011. Kitty Wells died the following year at age 92. This album? Some of the greatest country music ever recorded. Period. Long live Kitty Wells.
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SARAH MCLACHLAN
AFTERGLOW
2003 – ARISTA
Produced By PIERRE MARCHAND
1. Fallen
2. World On Fire
3. Stupid
4. Drifting
5. Train Wreck
6. Push
7. Answer
8. Time
9. Perfect Girl
10. Dirty Little Secret
When Sarah McLachlan released Surfacing in 1997, it seemed the sky was the limit. She had found the hit formula, she had Lilith Fair, and she was the face of the ASPCA. And even though it took her six years to put out the follow up record, Afterglow, there was reason enough to be excited. So when this did drop, it was kind of a shock. McLachlan, while very busy over the last six years, had seemed to lose touch with her audience and the state of music. She sounds overly sad, and her songs never really take off the way they had in the past. Yes, there were hits here. But the hits on Afterglow just didn’t have the same punch as her earlier ones…and the rest of the tracks were lesser as well. Don’t get me wrong. Afterglow is not a bad album. But neither is it a step forward from an artist whose career up to this point had been just that: steps forward.
Afterglow is very top heavy. The first three songs are the only ones that are really necessary. “Fallen” and “World On Fire” are okay hits, though neither are as memorable as “Sweet Surrender” or “Building A Mystery”. “Same for “Stupid”. The only other song worth mentioning is “Answer”, which was the answer song to “Angel”, and was used to illicit just as much guilt over sad homeless cats and dogs. Nothing else on Afterglow is worthy of mentioning, or hearing more than once, for that matter. This album went 5 times Platinum, and was nominated for a ton of awards, none of which it really deserved. McLachlan recovered and has done okay, although it’s been over a decade now without an album that’s no about Christmas. Let’s hope there’s more to come. But as for Afterglow…not her strongest effort.
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LOS SUPER SEVEN
CANTO
2001 – LEGACY
Produced By STEVE BERLIN
1. Siboney
2. Calle Dieceseis
3. El Que Siembre Su Maiz
4. El Pescador
5. Me Voy Pa’L Pueblo
6. Compay Gato
7. Qualquem Coisa
8. Teresa
9. Drumi Drumi Mobila
10. Campesino
11. Paloma Guaramera
12. Baby
Los Super Seven was considered by many to be a supergroup, but that’s not really accurate. This was a collective of musicians, a stable, if you will, that were enlisted from a pool depending on what was needed for the project at hand. In fact, only two people appeared on all of their albums: Rick Trevino and Ruben Ramos. The lineups were impressive, pulling members from bands like Los Lobos & Texas Tornados, along with solo artists like Rodney Crowell and Delbert McClinton. They made three albums between 1998 and 2005. Canto is the second of those, coming out in 2001. Contrary to their name, there are twelve members present here, including Raul Malo (The Mavericks), Caetano Veloso and four members of Los Lobos. Canto is more of a Latin rock record, which makes sense with the people involved. It wasn’t very popular (Latin albums in English speaking markets rarely are), but it did fairly well on the US Latin charts.
Because of the heavy involvement from Los Lobos, the Los Super Seven catalog has become closely associated with them…which is not a bad thing. Canto is kind of like a Los Lobos album with lots of guests, but not in their exact style. Hard to define it much further than that. The highlights belong to the bigger named guest singers: Malo on “Siboney”, Veloso on “Qualquem Coisa” and Peruvian star Susana Baca (“Drumi Mobila”). “Teresa” is also pretty fine. This record is well played, and deserves to be better known than it is. Any of this group’s three albums are worth a listen (the debut won a well deserved Grammy for Best Mexican-American Performance). After the third release, which was named for a ZZ Top song (Heard It On The X), Los Super Seven just kind of ceased to be, although there was a benefit concert appearance in 2022. And that’s about all there is.
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ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM
DO BRASIL! THE GOLD COLLECTION
1998 – FINE TUNE
No Production Credit
1. Three Notes Samba
2. Samba De Amor
3. Cupids
4. Live For Tomorrow
5. Janelas Abertas
6. Samba Nao E Brinquedo
7. Girl Upstairs
8. Estrada Blanca
9. Incerteza
10. O Morro Nao Tem Vaz
Antonio Carlos Jobim was not only maybe the greatest musician to ever come out of Brazil, he was one of the greatest of the twentieth century. He created bossa nova, was a world class songwriter and performer, and worked side by side with giants such as Frank Sinatra and Stan Getz. He wrote “The Girl From Ipanema”, for God’s sake. His talent and his recorded output and his influence are beyond question. Jobim died in 1994, and unfortunately, that opened the door for some not so good releases of his music. Part of that was the 1997 two disc compilation album Do Brasil! The Gold Collection, which included all ten of these tracks plus music by Baden Powell, Escolas De Samba, Charlie Byrd and Joao Gilberto. Those ten Jobim tracks, which were recorded live, were released on their own the next year. On paper? This looks like it could be a pretty good find of music by one of the greatest ever.
However. This is not what you might hope it to be. These live recordings are of very poor quality, and whoever played on these recordings was not at the top of their game. These are unquestionably great songs. But these are also highly inferior performances, and less than quality recordings of those performances. There are no liner notes (so it’s impossible to know who’s to blame), and why these tracks were chosen for release will probably always be a mystery. It is clearly a budget collection, but even for the price, you can do much better than this. This attempt to cash in on Jobim’s great legacy falls completely flat, and thankfully this set will likely remain out of print forever. You can find great albums by Jobim with ease, and you can find better versions of all of these songs elsewhere. Please pass on this one. _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
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THE ROLLING STONES
BIG HITS (HIGH TIDE AND GREEN GRASS)
1966 – LONDON
Produced By ANDREW LOOG OLDHAM
1. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
2. The Last Time
3. As Tears Go By
4. Time Is On My Side
5. It’s All Over Now
6. Tell Me (You’re Coming Back)
7. 19th Nervous Breakdown
8. Heart Of Stone
9. Get Off Of My Cloud
10. Not Fade Away
11. Good Times, Bad Times
12. Play With Fire
Over the years, the very first Rolling Stones compilation album, Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass) has become somewhat forgotten. This is understandable, as there have been nearly 30 of them released over the years. And yeah…almost all of them are way more complete and cover much larger periods of time. But this set from 1966 is important in its own ways. This is all early years, from 1964-1966 (the UK version also has a song from 1963). It’s all from the more blues band version of the group, and is before they went to another level with Beggar’s Banquet and Let It Bleed. But most importantly, these songs represent the Stones with Brian Jones being a major factor in the band. And that’s worth a lot. The songs here are all by the original five members, with a few covers and the early days of the songwriting team of Jagger & Richards represented.
It's also important to note that, because it was the 1960’s, there are two very different versions of this album. This one is the US release, and there was also a 14 song UK version with several song differences. The major changes were the UK album’s inclusion of two songs that were released as singles after the US version came out: “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?” and “Paint It Black”. But even without those two songs, the US version is more solid. This covers a very important period in the evolution of The Rolling Stones, and it also stands as a testament of how important Jones was in the early days before his entire life and career went sideways. Yes, there are many Stones collections that are more complete, but this one is vital in its own way. Don’t let this one be forgotten.
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2001 – COLUMBIA NASHVILLE
Produced By MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER, BLAKE CHANCEY & JOHN JENNINGS
1. Whenever You’re Ready
2. Simple Life
3. Swept Away
4. Slave To The Beauty
5. Maybe World
6. What Was It Like
7. King Of Love
8. This Is Me Leaving You
9. Someone Else’s Prayer
10. The Dreaming Road
11. Alone But Not Lonely
12. The Long Way Home
13. In The Name Of Love
14. Late For Your Life / Goin’ Home
By 2001, the commercial peak of Mary Chapin Carpenter’s career was over. She had released the last of her hit singles five years prior, and her days of Platinum albums were past as well. Part of this was due to the changing landscape of Nashville, and part was that she wanted to make music more for herself than for the masses. Commercially, her seventh album, Time* Sex* Love* was viewed as a disappointment, as her time with Columbia Records was drawing to a close. But as we know, a lack of sales does not always equate to a drop in quality. Carpenter has always been a top notch songwriter, and she’s in full stride on this record. Just because there aren’t any hits here, that’s okay. It’s not Mary’s fault that folks just didn’t get what she was doing anymore. It’s still really good music from one of the best.
The album’s title is an abbreviation of how producer John Jennings described the content. “Time is the great gift, sex is the great equalizer, love is the great mystery.” And if you have an idea of the songwriter she is, that’s a pretty accurate line to describe not just this album, but her work overall. Songs like “This Is Me Leaving You” and “Simple Life” show that Carpenter hadn’t lost a step…it was just that she had slipped below the radar. Time* Sex* Love* is an underrated gem of a record that deserved a better fate…but Mary’s true fans get to reap the benefits. Despite not having any hits for such a long time, Carpenter still soldiers on, having made sixteen albums to date, including a collaboration with Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart to start off 2025. Still, and always, a true gem of a songwriter.
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1. Come On Up To The House – Joseph
2. Hold On – Aimee Mann
3. Georgia Lee – Phoebe Bridgers
4. Ol’ 55 – Shelby Lynne & Alison Moorer
5. Take It With Me – Angie McMahon
6. Jersey Girl – Corinne Bailey Rae
7. Ruby’s Arms – Patty Griffin
8. Time – Rosanne Cash
9. You Can Never Hold Back Spring – Kat Edmondson
10. House Where Nobody Lives – Iris DeMent
11. Downtown Train – Courtney Marie Andrews
12. Tom Traubert’s Blues – The Wild Reeds
The head of Dualtone Records, Scott Robinson, came up with the idea of an album of Tom Waits songs performed by female artists. He enlisted Warren Zanes, a noted producer, critic, and former guitarist for The Del Fuegos, to make it happen. Zanes let the artists choose the songs they wanted to record, and all of the performances were made specifically for this album. The results combine to make what a tribute album should be: carefully chosen versions of songs by the artist done with love and care. It helps that Waits is an out of this world songwriter, and it’s also big that these are mostly far from the style that he originally sang them in. These more straight ahead versions of songs that Waits did in his own quirky and sometimes frightening style shows just how great a writer he is, even when the songs are stripped down and put in much simpler terms.
It also doesn’t hurt that the artists here are top notch. Just having the likes of Aimee Mann, Rosanne Cash, Corinne Bailey Rae, Patty Griffin and Iris DeMent on one disc is a pure win: pairing these artists with a songwriter like Tom Waits is as good as it gets. The beauty of tracks like “Georgia Lee” (by Phoebe Bridgers), “Downtown Train” (by Courtney Marie Andrews) and “Ol’ 55” (by Shelby Lynne & Alison Moorer) makes this little known set a true gem. Released just before Waits’ 70th birthday, Come On Up To The House didn’t get a lot of attention, which is too bad. This is really a beautiful album, one that you’ll want to come back to time and again. This is everything you could want in a tribute album, and if you’re a fan of Tom Waits, this is one you will truly appreciate. Twelve perfect tributes to one of the master songwriters of our time.
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RODNEY CROWELL
THE RODNEY CROWELL COLLECTION
1989 – WARNER BROS NASHVILLE
Produced By BRIAN AHERN, RODNEY CROWELL & CRAIG LEON
1. Ashes By Now
2. ‘Til I Gain Control Again
3. Voila, An American Dream
4. Queen Of Hearts
5. Shame On The Moon
6. Old Pipeliner
7. Stars On The Water
8. Heartbroke
9. I Don’t Have To Crawl
10. Leaving Louisiana In The Broad Daylight
11. Victim Or A Fool
12. I Ain’t Living Long Like This
At the beginning of Rodney Crowell’s career, he released a trio of albums for Warner Bros. Despite being an up and coming songwriter, his own recordings were not yet catching on, and sales were low. He recorded a fourth album in 1984 for the label, which they rejected. Crowell then negotiated his way out of his deal with Warners and signed with Columbia. In 1988, he released his breakthrough hit album Diamonds & Dirt, which prompted Warner Bros. to put out The Rodney Crowell Collection a year later. Consisting of songs from the first three albums (plus one from the rejected album), this was clearly the label making an effort to cash in on Crowell’s recent success. Did it work? Well, it remains the best selling of the nine Crowell compilation albums. And even though the material is lesser known and nearly a decade old, it’s a great look at his earliest albums, which did not sell a lot when they were initially released.
And there are some important tracks here. “Shame On The Moon” was not a hit for Crowell in 1981, but it sure was for Bob Seger in 1982. “I Don’t Have To Crawl” (from the unreleased fourth album) was originally released by Emmylou Harris. And the excellent “Leaving Louisiana In The Broad Daylight”, a hit for both Harris and The Oak Ridge Boys, is one of Crowell’s all-time best songs. Did Warner Bros. drop the ball by letting Crowell walk? I would say so. His career continues to this day, and while the hits don’t come the way they used to, he remains a highly respected songwriter and well loved performer. Those first three albums can be a bit hard to track down, so The Rodney Crowell Collection is a good way to get the highlights from his first years. An interesting and important document from one of the very best.
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PIG DESTROYER
PROWLER IN THE YARD
2001 – RELAPSE
Produced By SCOTT HULL
1. Jennifer
2. Cheerleader Corpse
3. Scatology Homework
4. Trojan Whore
5. Ghost Of A Bullet
6. Heart And Crossbones
7. Strangled With A Halo
8. Intimate Slavery
9. Mapplethorpe Grey
10. Evacuating Heaven
11. Tickets To The Car Wash
12. Naked Trees
13. Sheet Metal Girl
14. Preacher Crawling
15. Pornographic Memory
16. Murder Blossom
17. Body Scout
18. Snuff Film At Eleven
19. Hyperviolet
20. Starbelly
21. Junkyard God
22. Piss Angel
The term “not for the faint of heart” is an absolute understatement here. Pig Destroyer is a Virginia grindcore band. If you’re not familiar with that genre, grindcore is a fusion of hardcore punk and thrash metal. It’s fast, it’s loud, and it does not fuck around. Songs tend to be very short and to the point. Vocals are not so much sung as they are shrieked, growled, and roared savagely. And in the late nineties came one of grindcore’s most influential bands, Pig Destroyer. This band made a massive sound with only guitar and drums…they didn’t employ a bass player until 2013. Guitarist Scott Hull is one of the leaders in the genre’s sound, and the vocals and lyrics of J.R. Hayes are must haves for fans. Their first album, Explosions In Ward 6, got lots of notice, but it was Prowler In The Yard that made Pig Destroyer into metal heroes.
Of course, you won’t find a hit here, or anything close to one. You also won’t find a track that reaches the two minute mark until number 19, “Hyperviolet”. The 22 songs come in at just 36 minutes, and yes, it all moves very quickly. This is not just heavy…it’s downright furious. Because the songs are so short, there are not a lot of lyrics, but the ones that are here are, while not for the meek (it gets pretty gross and terrifying), are very well written. You’ll have to read them, though…if you can understand what Hayes is singing, then you’re a better man than I am. The truth is, ten years ago me would have never made it two minutes into this album. Also true…most, if not all of you won’t like this. At all. I am happy that I can appreciate this now, as it is art and expression…just not done in a commercially acceptable way. This is one of the best albums of its genre, and it’s better than most give it credit for.
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THE STORY
THE ANGEL IN THE HOUSE
1993 – ELEKTRA
Produced By ALAIN MALLET & BEN WITTMAN
1. So Much Mine
2. Missing Person Afternoon
3. The Gilded Cage
4. When Two And Two Are Five
5. At The Still Point
6. The Angel In The House
7. Mermaid
8. The Barefoot Ballroom
9. In The Gloaming
10. Fatso
11. Love Song
12. Amelia
13. Fatso, Part 2: Yo Estoy Bien Asi
Riding the wake of the surprising success of Indigo Girls at the end of the eighties was The Story, a female folk rock duo from Amherst College in Massachusetts. Jonatha Brooke and Jennifer Kimball had the harmonies, and they had some fine songs. They also had an unfortunately short career together, releasing just a pair of studio albums before going their separate ways in 1994. The Angel In The House is the second and last Story album. The duo was dominated by Brooke: she wrote the songs, played guitar and keyboards, and was the more visible of the pair: Kimball’s contributions were important, but they were all vocals. So it kind of made sense for Brooke to pursue a solo career when the prospects for The Story looked less than bright. But that was not for a lack of trying. The Angel In The House has its moments, and it does shine pretty brightly.
There were no hits here, which may have led to the breakup. And both Brooke and Kimball have downplayed the music they made together. Still, the Latin tinged folk pop of The Angel In The House is a joy to listen to. Lots of ballads, but the layers of intricate harmonies are hard to turn away from. “So Much Mine” and “When Two And Two Are Five” are definitely the highlights, showcasing everything that was good about the duo. Both of their albums are about equal, and will leave you wishing they had done more together. But that was not to be. Brooke released the album Plumb in 1995 as Jonatha Brooke & The Story, without Kimball. Her solo career has had its ups and downs, but she never quite got big. Kimball has been mostly quiet since the breakup. The Story’s two album output is worth seeking out, if for no other reason than to hear how expertly the pair could harmonize together.
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