MISFITS
1986 – CAROLINE
Produced By MISFITS & SPOT
1. She
2. Hollywood Babylon
3. Bullet
4. Horror Business
5. Teenagers From Mars
6. Night Of The Living Dead
7. Where Eagles Dare
8. Vampira
9. I Turned Into A Martian
10. Skulls
11. London Dungeon
12. Ghouls Night Out
13. Astro Zombies
14. Mommy Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight?
15. Die, Die My Darling
16. Earth A.D.
17. Devilock
18. Death Comes Ripping
19. Green Hell
20. Wolfs Blood
The question about Misfits is how much do you value the original lineup to be the one that really counts? The band, formed in 1977 by Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only, made it only to 1983. They released two studio albums, five singles and three EP’s before splitting up. After a dozen years of courtroom drama, Only put the band back together (minus Danzig) in 1995, and they’ve been at it ever since (including Danzig since 2016). But those early recordings, when they were a trailblazing American punk band, are what this is about. In 1986, Danzig put together this compilation album that shows what the early incarnation of this band was all about. It’s known as Misfits, Collection (that’s the title on mine), and Collection I. Twenty of the most important Misfits songs on one disc. That’s a pretty special deal for ya.
This album collects the best songs from Walk Among Us and Earth A.D. / Wolfs blood, the studio albums the band released in the early 1980’s. More important are the singles and EP tracks that are included here, like “Bullet”, “Where Eagles Dare” and “London Dungeon”. The early years with Danzig at the helm are the most important, and this compilation does a decent enough job of capturing that. If this album whets your appetite, then you’ll definitely want to go get those two albums…but even if you have them, this record is still pretty essential. Misfits since 1995 has been, of course, just not the same, although their 1996 comeback album Static Age (without Danzig) is pretty decent. They’ve made four more albums since Static Age, but none since 2011’s The Devil’s Rain. That’s okay. Stick with the originals.
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SPARKLEHORSE
DREAMT FOR LIGHT YEARS IN THE BELLY OF A MOUNTAIN
2006 – ASTRALWERKS
Produced By MARK LINKOUS & DANGER MOUSE
1. Don’t Take My Sunshine Away
2. Getting It Wrong
3. Shade And Honey
4. See The Light
5. Return To Me
6. Some Sweet Day
7. Ghost In The Sky
8. Mountains
9. Morning Hollow
10. It’s Not So Hard
11. Knives Of Summertime
12. Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain
Mark Linkous died in 2010, 47 years old, committed suicide. Depression is a terrible thing. At age 33, he formed Sparklehorse. He was the one constant member of the band, which released four albums between 1995 and 2006. Dreamt For Light Years was the last of the four, and took five years to complete because of Linkous’ battle with depression. Much of the music here, about half of it, actually…had been previously released in other forms. There are fragments and discarded songs from the previous album, It’s A Wonderful Life. The result is a sometimes difficult album that works in spots, but isn’t as strong as the previous Sparklehorse records. That it’s a good album at all speaks top the talent of Linkous, as well as the production talents of Danger Mouse, who also collaborated on the Dark Night Of The Soul album.
The best track here by far is “Don’t Take My Sunshine Away”. Other highlights include “Knives Of Summertime” and “Ghost In The Sky”. There’s a lot of pain in this album…a reminder, again, that depression sucks. Depression makes it difficult to write. To create. And to get out of bed and make what you do the best happen. The fact that Linkous was able to finish the album is a huge achievement. His career is too often overlooked. Truth is, albums like It’s A Wonderful Life and the debut, Vivadixie… deserve to be heard and appreciated. Dreamt For Light Years is indeed the lesser of the Sparklehorse albums, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad and should be ignored. It’s sad, but there’s also a beauty to it that defies the mood of the artist. Very much worth at least a listen or two. An audio reminder that yes, depression is a terrible thing.
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ELTON JOHN
THE ONE
1992 – MCA
Produced By CHRIS THOMAS
1. Simple Life
2. The One
3. Sweat It Out
4. Runaway Train
5. Whitewash County
6. The North
7. When A Woman Doesn’t Want You
8. Emily
9. On Dark Street
10. Understanding Women
11. The Last Song
The descending arc of Elton John’s career has been, thankfully, graceful and slow. Meaning that while his newer material hasn’t had the same impact as it did in the decade of the seventies, he has been able to remain fairly consistently good. The One is Elton’s 23rd album, and the first one he had recorded sober. It marked his most successful American album since 1976, and while not on a par with his output from that decade, is still one of his better efforts from the eighties and forward. The One was dedicated to Vance Buck, with whom Elton had a relationship until Buck’s death from AIDS in 1992. It’s also notable for Elton returning to playing acoustic piano, after playing digital piano almost exclusively on his last two records. The album is good without anything really jumping out at you as being great.
There are solid songs here. “Simple Life”, “The Last Song” and the title track are the best of the lot. “Runaway Train” is a duet with Eric Clapton”, while “Understanding Women” features David Gilmour on guitar. But like all of Elton’s later albums, there is more than enough filler as well. He was always prolific (his last studio album came out in 2016), which has always had the side effect of watering down his albums. But this is Elton John. His performance keeps even the lesser material enjoyable enough, and one thing he’s never been is boring. The nineties was the beginning of the not as prolific Elton John…after nine albums in the eighties and thirteen in the 70’s, he slowed down to no more than three per decade. Though his discography is covered in average albums like this one, his career success is more than warranted.
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DAVE ALVIN
PUBLIC DOMAIN: SONGS FROM THE WILD LAND
2001 – HIGHTONE
Produced By DAVE ALVIN
1. Shenandoah
2. Maggie Campbell Blues
3. A Short Life Of Trouble
4. What Did The Deep Sea Say
5. Engine 143
6. Delia
7. Dark Eyes
8. Walk Right In
9. Murder Of The Lawson Family
10. Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down
11. Railroad Bill
12. Texas Rangers
13. Mama, ‘Tain’t Long For Day
14. East Virginia Blues
15. Sign Of Judgement
16. Untitled Instrumental Track
Dave Alvin is a national treasure. Or, at least, he should be. After rocking with his brother Phil in The Blasters in the 80’s, Alvin has had a pretty terrific and varied career. He’s played with X, The Knitters and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. He produces, is known as a top songwriter, and plays some mean guitar. He’s also, through it all, had a nice solo career. Public Domain is his seventh solo release. And it’s a pretty special document. As the title suggests, these songs (mostly traditional) are old folk songs from days long past. This is REAL Americana music. He plays them with his band, so even though they are old and quite dusty, Alvin makes them work in a way that his audience can relate to. You’ll hear a lot of familiar phrases and songs here…that’s because the music here was popular and relevant long before any of us were born.
You know you’re in for a treat right away. “Shenandoah” is the most recognizable song here. Dating back to the early 19th century, the song is brought back to life by Alvin in a way that sounds like it’s being played on a dusty old prairie. His singing works well with this material, but it’s the guitars that shine the most here. And of course, the songs. “Delia” is the true story of a 14 year old African American girl who was gunned down in 1900. “Engine 143” tells of a train wreck in 1890. “Murder Of The Lawson Family” is just that, the story of a man who murdered his wife and six children in 1929. All is not that grim, but it shows how songs were used to record historical events back in the day. Alvin handles this material with the respect it deserves, and it’s great to have this music shared with an audience that otherwise may have let it slip away into nothing. This is a fine record, and very worthwhile.
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ANTIPOP CONSORTIUM
TRAGIC EPILOGUE
2000 – 75 ARK
Produced By HIGH PRIEST, BEANS, E. BLAIZE & SAYYID
1. Laundry
2. Nude Paper
3. Your World Is Flat
4. PSA2
5. 9.99
6. Rinseflow
7. Here They Come Now
8. Moon Zero X-M
9. Lift
10. Eyewall (Feat. Electro Foetus)
11. Sllab
12. Monster Sex
13. Smores
14. Driving In Circles
15. 3 Digit Wiz
16. Antontonebarr NE-0
17. Heatrays (Feat. Aceyalone)
18. Disorientation (Feat. Apani B-Fly MC)
19. What Am I (Feat. Pharoah Monch & L.I.F.E.)
Antipop Consortium were interesting, but minor players in the world of hip hop in the 2000’s. The quartet of High Priest, M. Sayyid, Earl Blaize, and Beans formed the group in New York City in 1997. Their first studio album was Tragic Epilogue in 2000. It was self-described as a “eulogy to the end of hip-hop”, a prophecy that did not come out very well. It has been praised for its interesting use of electronics and unconventional beats, although the group would become more experimental on future releases. This is not music designed for hits, and thus, their popularity was limited. The rapping is odd and not like anything that was selling records at the time. This is hip hop better suited for sitting back and listening to intently than it is for dancing. One thing that Antipop could never be accused of was being boring.
The closest thing to a hit here was maybe “Lift” and “What Am I?”, but neither of those were setting radios on fire. “Your World Is Flat” has a catchy as hell chorus, but the verses are very much not hit material. Their experiments are admirable, and the wordplay is very well done. This album is interesting at best, more so as an experimental electronic record than as a rap album. Antipop took more chances…and became more obscure…on their next three albums before they split up in 2002. They reunited five years later, made one record in 2009, and since have been touring (without Beans), without releasing any new material. The best example of what Antipop was all about may be the album track “Here They Come Now”, a strange and spacey track of odd sounds and weird rap. They were pretty original…gotta give em that.
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FIONA APPLE
FETCH THE BOLT CUTTERS
2020 – EPIC
Produced By FIONA APPLE, AMY AILEEN WOOD, SEBASTIAN STEINBERG & DAVID GARZA
1. I Want You To Love Me
2. Shameika
3. Fetch The Bolt Cutters
4. Under The Table
5. Relay
6. Rack Of His
7. Newspaper
8. Ladies
9. Heavy Balloon
10. Cosmonauts
11. For Her
12. Drumset
13. On I Go
Fiona Apple has always been one of the most artistically honest people I have ever seen or heard. And that honesty is not rooted in sunshine and roses. She has always made music on her own terms, and never as thoroughly as on Fetch The Bolt Cutters. It’s just her fifth album in a career that has now spanned thirty years. Recorded mostly at home, it’s a strangely perfect record. The recordings are all imperfect…which makes it even better. It’s covered in strange kitchen sink percussion, vocals that come not just from left field, but every field, a minimalistic band approach, and her always honest and straightforward lyrics, rooted in truth and experience. The theme of the album is the quote “Fetch the bolt cutters and get yourself out of the situation you’re in”. It’s weird, unconventional, in your face, beautiful, and perfect. What more could you ask for?
The album captures the prison in our own homes reality of the Covid-19 pandemic perfectly. It plays more like a weird Tom Waits record than a pop disc, and is most relatable. For me, it’s “Heavy Balloon”, a song that directly takes on depression, and how one can become a prisoner of their own sadness. She pulls no punches, she opens herself to us on every track, and she allows herself to be as creative as she can be throughout. Fetch The Bolt Cutters is Fiona Apple doing what she does best: playing by her own rules and baring her soul for all of us to hear. She’s never made a bad album, but here, she makes a truly great one. It’s right there with The Idler Wheel and When The Pawn…but for me, it’s better than those because of how her spirit dominates the recording. I truly hope that makes sense. More than any of her other works, this one moves me. A simply great album.
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GEORGE WINSTON
DECEMBER
1982 – WINDHAM HILL
Produced By WILLIAM ACKERMAN & GEORGE WINSTON
1. Thanksgiving
2. Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head
3. Joy
4. Prelude
5. Carol Of The Bells
6. Night, Part One: Snow
7. Night, Part Two: Midnight
8. Night, Part Three: Minstrels
9. Variations On The Kanon By Johann Pachelbel
10. The Holly And The Ivy
11. Some Children See Him
12. Peace
13. A Christmas Song
14. Sleep Baby Mine
George Winston was a unique player. His love of piano was inspired by Vince Guaraldi and his performances in the Peanuts television specials, as well as stride piano (Fats Waller) and the rhythm and blues of New Orleans (Professor Longhair). Most of his work was as a solo pianist, playing not only traditional songs, but also interpreting works by modern artists like The Doors. He also played guitar and harmonica. December was his fourth album, his third for Windham Hill Records, and his absolute commercial peak. The album is not just a Christmas holiday disc, but a tribute to the season of winter. December went triple platinum, and made Windham Hill a label to be taken seriously. It also was partly responsible for branding Winston as a new age artist, a tag which he vehemently denied for his entire career.
December is a true solo album…the only instrument you will hear is Winston’s piano. “Joy” is a Bach piece based on a guitar instrumental by David Qualey. “Prelude” was inspired by Guaraldi, and several tracks are either traditional or based on classical works. Four of the songs are Winston originals, including the opener “Thanksgiving’. The last two are additions to the 20th Anniversary Edition. Music from the Windham Hill label is often overlooked as being new age, but Winston’s work, especially his first three for that label, deserves to be heard. December is a fine album that does not regurgitate the same old carols that seem to be on every other holiday album ever produced. Winston released fourteen albums in his lifetime before he passed away in 2023. December remains his high water mark. A fine recording from one of the better pianists of his era.
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FischmanRockMonster, JazzMeister, Bluesboy,ClassicalMasterProfile Land of Enchantment
GEORGE WINSTON
DECEMBER
1982 – WINDHAM HILL
Produced By WILLIAM ACKERMAN & GEORGE WINSTON
1. Thanksgiving
2. Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head
3. Joy
4. Prelude
5. Carol Of The Bells
6. Night, Part One: Snow
7. Night, Part Two: Midnight
8. Night, Part Three: Minstrels
9. Variations On The Kanon By Johann Pachelbel
10. The Holly And The Ivy
11. Some Children See Him
12. Peace
13. A Christmas Song
14. Sleep Baby Mine
George Winston was a unique player. His love of piano was inspired by Vince Guaraldi and his performances in the Peanuts television specials, as well as stride piano (Fats Waller) and the rhythm and blues of New Orleans (Professor Longhair). Most of his work was as a solo pianist, playing not only traditional songs, but also interpreting works by modern artists like The Doors. He also played guitar and harmonica. December was his fourth album, his third for Windham Hill Records, and his absolute commercial peak. The album is not just a Christmas holiday disc, but a tribute to the season of winter. December went triple platinum, and made Windham Hill a label to be taken seriously. It also was partly responsible for branding Winston as a new age artist, a tag which he vehemently denied for his entire career.
December is a true solo album…the only instrument you will hear is Winston’s piano. “Joy” is a Bach piece based on a guitar instrumental by David Qualey. “Prelude” was inspired by Guaraldi, and several tracks are either traditional or based on classical works. Four of the songs are Winston originals, including the opener “Thanksgiving’. The last two are additions to the 20th Anniversary Edition. Music from the Windham Hill label is often overlooked as being new age, but Winston’s work, especially his first three for that label, deserves to be heard. December is a fine album that does not regurgitate the same old carols that seem to be on every other holiday album ever produced. Winston released fourteen albums in his lifetime before he passed away in 2023. December remains his high water mark. A fine recording from one of the better pianists of his era.
A most glorious and sublime tribute to the season. Never gets old.
I have spent many hours with the sheet music for this album trying to recreate Winston's magic. Everything is more intricate than it sounds on the surface.
As a Montana native, He performed there often and I was fortunate to see him during my tenure there. Both he and his lesser known Windham Hill stalemate Philip Aaberg, also a Montana native, were always wonderful.
JAMES
WHIPLASH
1997 – FONTANA
Produced By STEPHEN HAGUE, BRIAN ENO & DAVID BAYNTON-POWER
1. Tomorrow
2. Lost A Friend
3. Waltzing Along
4. She’s A Star
5. Greenpeace
6. Go To The Bank
7. Play Dead
8. Avalanche
9. Homeboy
10. Watering Hole
11. Blue Pastures
This British band, named after their bass player, started out in the early eighties, and has been moderately successful over their 18 album career. Their fifth album, Laid, brought them really their only American success in 1993. After the experimental follow up, 1994’s Wah Wah, they returned in 1997 with Whiplash. This was not an easy record for the band. They lost their brief hold in the US, and the album was delayed to make room for a release by their singer Tim Booth. Their American tour was cancelled after Booth suffered a pair of ruptured discs in his neck, and they had difficulty with the production between Steven Hague and Brian Eno. The mix of folk rock and electronic music worked well…on about half the album. In all, Whiplash showed the band to be treading water more than anything else.
“She’s A Star” was the hit here, reaching the British top ten for the first time since “Sound” had done it in 1991. “Waltzing Around” and “Tomorrow” are also fine, but the remaining tracks are average at best. While recorded during the band’s peak period, this is not their strongest album, and is, in fact, a bit of a lull. Their next release, Millionaires, was a strong return to form, but 2001’s Pleased To Meet You was the prelude to the band’s breakup. James is a decent band (they reformed in 2007) that has far outlived its relevancy, and whose best years are far behind them. If you’re a fan, then Whiplash will be okay for you…although I seriously doubt it will set your musical world on fire. This is an average album from a band that was just starting to show how average they really were. Stick with Laid or Millionaires. This one is simply just okay.
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THE ROLLING STONES
TATTOO YOU
1981 – ROLLING STONES
Produced By THE GLIMMER TWINS
1. Start Me Up
2. Hang Fire
3. Slave
4. Little T & A
5. Black Limousine
6. Neighbours
7. Worried About You
8. Tops
9. Heaven
10. No Use In Crying
11. Waiting On A Friend
One of the most misunderstood and mis-rated albums in the history of ever. My personal opinion is that the Stones should have hung it up immediately after Some Girls in 1978. That album was followed up with the disappointing Emotional Rescue in 1980. In 1981, they were getting ready to tour, but had no album to promote. Their engineer put together a bunch of outtakes and song fragments and told the band they could make something usable out of those. The result was Tattoo You. Hailed as a return to form, it was really the band leaning back on their recent past, to a time when they were still on fire and writing productively. The album was a success, and it put on temporary hold the truth that the band was done as far as being a force in the studio. Yes, it has its moments…but it should not be ignored that this release was done with a lot of smoke and mirrors.
None of the songs here were written for Tattoo You…but many of them (not all) were finished for it. The big hit, “Start Me Up”, was mostly recorded during the Some Girls sessions. “Waiting For A Friend” and “Tops” were so old (1973) that they included Mick Taylor on guitar, and not Ronnie Wood. The album’s most underrated song, “Little T & A”, was from the Emotional Rescue sessions. Fact is, most of what was new for Tattoo You were Mick Jagger’s lead vocals and the sax solos by Sonny Rollins on two songs. And yet, Tattoo You has been hailed as one of their better albums. Probably because at the dawn of their decline, these songs shone much brighter than they should have, and gave a ray of hope that the Stones were still relevant. It does have enjoyable moments, but it’s most definitely not the great comeback studio album that many believe it to be. That album simply never happened.
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