GEGGY TAH
SACRED COW
1996 – LUAKA BOP
Produced By GREG KUSTIN, SUSAN ROGERS & TOMMY JORDAN
1. Granddad’s Opening Address
2. Whoever You Are
3. Lotta Stuff
4. Century Plant 2000
5. Sacred Cow
6. House Of Usher (Inside)
7. Don’t Close The Door
8. Such A Beautiful Night
9. She Withers
10. Las Vegas With The Lights Out
11. Mem
12. Shed
13. Gina
Once upon a time (specifically, the late nineties), Geggy Tah was on the verge of becoming a big thing. A funky alternative rock duo consisting of Tommy Jordan and Greg Kurstin, they were championed by the likes of Bono and David Byrne, who called them a cross between Ween and Prince. One critic said they sounded like if Donald Fagen had joined the Presidents Of The United States Of America. They were unique, and they were exciting. They were also not popular at all. Sacred Cow is their second album out of three, and it’s their best work. Which suggests that this group left a lot of work undone, given how loved they were by critics and industry insiders. Released on Byrne’s Luaka Bop label with super producer Susan Rogers on board, you’d think it would have done better. It simply did not.
“Whoever You Are” was their only hit, and it was a minor one at that. “Lotta Stuff” failed to chart. The album is filled with quirky and interesting ideas that just fail to land. In the landscape of the middle nineties, this brand of jazz rock dance fusion was out of place. Ahead of their time? Or way behind? The album builds on the promise of their debut (1994’s Grand Opening), but the next effort, Into The Oh, fell short, was delayed for two years, and was the last gasp. Geggy Tah simply slipped off the face of the earth after that, never heard from again. Jordan works as an occasional session player, while Kurstin formed the duo The Bird And The Bee with Inara George in 2006. Geggy Tah, and Sacred Cow, are now nineties footnotes, a duo that almost got it all together. Sacred Cow is interesting, but falls short of being memorable.
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GARTH BROOKS
ROPIN’ THE WIND
1991 – CAPITOL NASHVILLE
Produced By ALLEN REYNOLDS
1. Against The Grain
2. Rodeo
3. What She’s Doing Now
4. Burning Bridges
5. Which One Of Them
6. Papa Loved Mama
7. Shameless
8. Cold Shoulder
9. We Bery The Hatchet
10. In Lonesome Dove
11. The River
The most unlikely megastar ever. Garth Brooks mixed country with his love of rock music to create the monster that remains to this day as pop country. Garth has released sixteen studio albums to date, fifteen of which have reached the top ten in either the US Country, Billboard Top 100, or both. He is the biggest selling solo artist of all time, having eclipsed even Elvis Presley. Ropin’ The Wind is his third album, the follow up to his biggest seller from 1990, No Fences. Ropin’ The Wind has gone a staggering fourteen times Platinum, making it his second most successful disc. Five of the eleven tracks here were singles, three of which reached number one, all of them hit the top ten. The numbers are impressive, no matter how you slice them. Ropin’ The Wind is a huge winner for Brooks, and it proved once and for all that he was the real deal.
The hits here are undeniable. “The River”, “Papa Loves Mama” and “What She’s Doing Now” are pure early nineties country gold. “Shameless” was written by Billy Joel and was originally on his Storm Front album: Brooks does a fine job with it. And “Rodeo”, the first single from the album, went unrecorded for a decade before it became a hit. Unquestionable, Brooks knew a hit song when he heard one. The rest of Ropin’ The Wind isn’t so bad either, with “Cold Shoulder” and “Against The Grain being standout non-hits. This isn’t perfect, but it is Garth Brooks at his best. He caught a lot of flack over the years, being billed as the “Anti-Hank” and for his ill-advised side venture as Chris Gaines, but there’s no denying that Brooks is a bona-fide hitmaker, and a solid master of blending pop and country music into something highly listenable.
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BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS
LEGEND: THE BEST OF BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS
1984 – ISLAND
Produced By BOB MARLEY, CHRIS BLACKWELL, ERROL BROWN, STEVE SMITH & THE WAILERS
1. Is This Love
2. No Woman, No Cry (Live)
3. Could You Be Loved
4. Three Little Birds
5. Buffalo Soldier (7” Edit)
6. Get Up, Stand Up
7. Stir It Up (Edit)
8. One Love / People Get Ready
9. I Shot The Sheriff (Edit)
10. Waiting In Vain
11. Redemption Song
12. Satisfy My Soul
13. Exodus (7” Edit)
14. Jamming (7” Edit)
Legend is the best selling reggae album of all time, and it’s not even close. It ranks second only to Dark Side Of The Moon in time spent on both the US and UK charts. It covers The Wailers career from 1973, with Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, to the 1983 posthumous album Confrontation (Marley died in 1981). Every song here is a bona fide classic, and the album plays like a perfect hour of reggae radio. You’ll want every one of these songs, making Legend one of the greatest compilation albums ever made. If you ever were a stoner in white America, this album was most likely your soundtrack. It’s all about good vibes, filled with songs about love and peace and all that crap. As a playlist, it’s perfection. As a definitive look at the career of Bob Marley, it most definitely is not. But, to most, that really has never mattered much.
Legend was put together specifically to appeal to white listeners. What this means is that Marley’s political side is completely omitted. Marley sang all of the nice little sweet pop reggae tunes…but he was also pissed off, and sang about racism and slavery and politics and oppression. Legend ignores all of that. Legend paints a picture of Marley that is wholesome, friendly, cool, and suggests that he was a Jamaican version of Jimmy Buffett. He was not. So, while your inner college stoner will thrill at the perfection of these songs, remember that reggae was a lot more meaningful than just getting high and having a good time. Go back and check his original albums like Exodus and Uprising, Natty Dread and Live. Legend is undeniably great, but just remember that there was so much more of what this band was about.
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BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS
LEGEND: THE BEST OF BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS
1984 – ISLAND
Produced By BOB MARLEY, CHRIS BLACKWELL, ERROL BROWN, STEVE SMITH & THE WAILERS
1. Is This Love
2. No Woman, No Cry (Live)
3. Could You Be Loved
4. Three Little Birds
5. Buffalo Soldier (7” Edit)
6. Get Up, Stand Up
7. Stir It Up (Edit)
8. One Love / People Get Ready
9. I Shot The Sheriff (Edit)
10. Waiting In Vain
11. Redemption Song
12. Satisfy My Soul
13. Exodus (7” Edit)
14. Jamming (7” Edit)
Legend is the best selling reggae album of all time, and it’s not even close. It ranks second only to Dark Side Of The Moon in time spent on both the US and UK charts. It covers The Wailers career from 1973, with Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, to the 1983 posthumous album Confrontation (Marley died in 1981). Every song here is a bona fide classic, and the album plays like a perfect hour of reggae radio. You’ll want every one of these songs, making Legend one of the greatest compilation albums ever made. If you ever were a stoner in white America, this album was most likely your soundtrack. It’s all about good vibes, filled with songs about love and peace and all that crap. As a playlist, it’s perfection. As a definitive look at the career of Bob Marley, it most definitely is not. But, to most, that really has never mattered much.
Legend was put together specifically to appeal to white listeners. What this means is that Marley’s political side is completely omitted. Marley sang all of the nice little sweet pop reggae tunes…but he was also pissed off, and sang about racism and slavery and politics and oppression. Legend ignores all of that. Legend paints a picture of Marley that is wholesome, friendly, cool, and suggests that he was a Jamaican version of Jimmy Buffett. He was not. So, while your inner college stoner will thrill at the perfection of these songs, remember that reggae was a lot more meaningful than just getting high and having a good time. Go back and check his original albums like Exodus and Uprising, Natty Dread and Live. Legend is undeniably great, but just remember that there was so much more of what this band was about.
Completely agree with your assessment of this album. I would say that Exodus is my favourite Marley album closely followed by Natty Dread.
What get under my skin is that this album is often on the lists of greatest albums ever. It's a compilation! Doesn't belong on any greatest albums lists IMO but it is a great collection of songs nonetheless
HALDEN WOFFORD & THE HI BEAMS
SINNERS & SAINTS
2010 – SELF RELEASED
Produced By HALDEN WOFFORD & COLIN BRICKER
1. Invocation
2. Tear It Down
3. Sinners & Saints
4. Fade Away
5. Mauvais Song
6. Hey Bub
7. Whippoorwill
8. Mr. Pain
9. Floyd Hill Broke Down
10. The Ring
11. Mission Avenue
12. Dark And Cold
13. Pill Poppin’ Country Weirdo
14. Hang Man
15. Say Goodbye
16. Till Night Is Through
17. American Angels
Local Colorado country legend Halden Wofford impresses here with another fine album. Sinners & Saints is a collage of portraits of different characters and awesome stories separated into three parts…why, I’m not entirely sure. Doesn’t matter. What matters is that Wofford is one hell of a songwriter, an engaging singer, and a character that Nashville sure could use quite a bit of. The Hi Beams are a collective of some of the very best musicians in Colorado. Sinners & Saints absolutely does not disappoint. The best part of this album is that the lyrics are printed for your enjoyment…hell, I read the lyrics, which include added thoughts about the songs by Wofford, without even listening. And then I do listen, and it’s worth every second. This is truly an underrated man, band, and album. Worth every second.
Of course, it’s the live show that sells it all. Halden and The Hi Beams don’t play much these days, which is a shame. Because it’s seeing them on stage is what motivated me to buy their albums. This is pure Americana and honky tonk bliss. These guys are fun, energetic, and the songs are all of that. “Pill Poppin’ Country Weirdo”, “Tear It Down”, “Floyd Hill Brokedown” are all worthy of repeated listens. This, their third album is a true winner. The Hi Beams sixth (and so far last) album came out in 2018 (Hard Core Broken Heart) Hopefully, there will be more. This is a songwriter worth turning yourself on to, a band worth getting down to, and an album worth wearing out your copy. True bright lights of the Colorado scene, here’s hoping Halden & the Hi Beams have more in store for us. I will be all over it if they do.
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DAVE CARTER WITH TRACY GRAMMER
WHEN I GO
1998 – RED RIVER
Produced By MARK FRETHEM, DAVE CARTER & TRACY GRAMMER
1. When I Go
2. Don’t Tread On Me
3. Annie’s Lover
4. Grand Prairie TX Homesick Blues
5. Kate And The Ghost Of Lost Love
6. The River, Where She Sleeps
7. Lancelot
8. Frank To Valentino
9. Little Liza Jane
10. Elvis Presley
One of the great tragedies in modern music is that Dave Carter went undiscovered in his lifetime. In 2002, just as he and Tracy Grammer were being seen as the very future of folk music, Carter died of a massive heart attack. He has since been hailed as a great American songwriter. How good was he? None other than Joan Baez has stated that Carter was on the same level as one Bob Dylan. His songs have been covered by the likes of Baez, Lucy Kaplansky, Judy Collins, Willie Nelson, and many more. And yet…most people shake their heads when his name is mentioned. His first album was an out of print solo record in 1995. He began his partnership with Grammer in 1998, with the self- released When I Go. Grammer plays a lesser role on this, with Carter singing lead on all but one track. They were just figuring things out, and there were better discs to come.
But what you do get is that glimpse of what a talent Carter was becoming. The performances here are okay (the album was recorded in Grammer’s kitchen), but Carter’s songwriting is stunning. These are country songs written with the eye of a true poet. Carter wrote about Buddhism and prairies, with a bit of mythology thrown in for good measure. You can hear where he was headed, and it would have been a thrill had he actually gotten there. Carter had been exploring a gender change: he and Grammer had planned for him to make one more album as Dave Carter, then they would come back as an all girl band. But none of that ever happened. Carter and Grammer did make two more albums, with another three having been released since Carter’s death. When I Go is not their best work, but anything you can get your hands on from Dave Carter is well worth hearing.
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CARIBOU
THE MILK OF HUMAN KINDNESS
2005 – THE LEAF LABEL
Produced By DAN SNAITH
1. Yeti
2. Subotnick
3. A Final Warning
4. Lord Leopard
5. Bees
6. Hands First
7. Hello Hammerheads
8. Brahminy Kite
9. Drumheller
10. Pelican Narrows
11. Barnowl
Caribou is the domain of Canadian artist Dan Snaith. His first two albums were released under the name Manitoba, but Snaith was forced to change it when Dick Manitoba of The Dictators threatened a lawsuit. He has since released albums alternately as Caribou and Daphni, the name used for his DJ projects. The music of Caribou can be described as Folktronica, which is a mixture of electronic music with elements of folk and acoustic instruments. Interesting stuff. The Milk Of Human Kindness is his third album, and the first using the Caribou name. It has been cited as an influential album in the genre, although Snaith has since gone on to make much better albums. This is still a fine album…it’s melodic, dynamic, and always interesting. It’s just that what he did well here, he would do very well later on. The ideas here are great…the execution is simply good.
The album both opens and closes strong. “Yeti” is a powerful introduction, while “Barnowl” leaves you wishing there was more. Perhaps the best example of what Snaith does so well is “A Final Warning”, an up and down slew of dynamics and audio visions that you can actually dance to. And “Bees” sounds positively cool and laid back, as if he’s channeling Beck Hanson. Vocals seem to be an afterthought…this is an album that features the instruments. There are several tracks that clock in at under two minutes, giving the feel that some of the ideas for the album were not quite finished. It was really in the 2010’s that Snaith hit his stride, with much better albums like Our Love, Swim and Suddenly. But The Milk Of Human Kindness has its rewards as well. This is an easy to listen to slice of pop delights that will occasionally veer into Wilco like noise. Interesting and cool.
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CHEAP TRICK
THE GREATEST HITS
1991 – EPIC
Produced By JACK DOUGLAS, TOM WERMAN, CHEAP TRICK, ROY THOMAS BAKER, TODD RUNDGREN & RICHIE ZITO
1. Clock Strikes Ten (Live)
2. Dream Police
3. Don’t Be Cruel
4. Tonight It’s You
5. She’s Tight
6. I Want You To Want Me (Live)
7. If You Want My Love
8. Ain’t That A Shame (Live)
9. Surrender
10. The Flame
11. I Can’t Take It
12. Can’t Stop Fallin’ In Love
13. Voices
14. Magical Mystery Tour
Cheap Trick is a band with a two part career. Part one took place between the mid seventies and the dawn of the eighties, when they were quite possibly the coolest American band in the world. And then there’s everything since, in which they have been a shadow of what they once were. The Greatest Hits is their first compilation album, and it unfortunately spends way too much time on the latter. It contains only two tracks from their much better first five studio albums (“Surrender” and “Dream Police”), and three from Live At Budokan, the album that made them stars. Everything else is from their lesser output between 1982 and 1990, when they stopped being badass rockers and instead made radio friendly pop songs. Yeah…these were bigger hits. But that doesn’t excuse ignoring so much of their great earlier tracks. There’s not a single track here from their first two albums, which is kind of a shame.
This version is the 2003 remastered release, meaning that the live “Clock Strikes Ten” is included. The only previously unreleased track here is a Beatles cover, the outtake version of “Magical Mystery Tour”. And the songs are not in any chronological order, a pet peeve of mine. If eighties Cheap Trick is your thing, you’ll enjoy having flat hits like “Don’t Be Cruel” and “The Flame”. If you prefer the earlier version of this band, stick to their first five albums (including Budokan). The unfortunate part is that the original 2 CD Japanese only version had an excellent first disc that was loaded with 15 songs from the early days…has been out of print for what is now sixteen years. If you can find THAT edition, jump on it. But you’ll rarely, if ever, play the second disc, which is all we’re left with now. Well played, well sung, mostly inferior songs.
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ERIC CLAPTON
461 OCEAN BOULEVARD
1974 – RSO
Produced By TOM DOWD
1. Motherless Children
2. Give Me Strength
3. Willie And The Hand Jive
4. Get Ready
5. I Shot The Sheriff
6. I Can’t Hold Out
7. Please Be With Me
8. Let It Grow
9. Steady Rollin’ Man
10. Mainline Florida
Eric Clapton spent his early career unable to settle into one project. His bouncing from The Yardbirds to The Bluesbreakers to Cream to Blind Faith and Derek & The Dominos was dizzying, and it looked as if Clapton would remain a musical super ball forever. But in 1974, Clapton came back clean, and began his solo career in earnest with his second album, 461 Ocean Boulevard. He was already obsessed with the mellowness of JJ Cale, and it was here that he began to sink into that big fluffy couch of laid back Clapton. The album was very successful, thanks to his still being seen as a guitar god, and a couple of hits. The album has also been quite overrated and called one of his better solo discs. From a sales standpoint? Sure. But this is not Slowhand at his creative best, by any means. In fact, this one stands as simply average.
Clapton famously covered Bob Marley’s “I Shot The Sheriff” here, and it was a big hit…despite not deviating much from what Markey did. “Willie And The Hand Jive” is a questionable song to cover in 1974. One of only three Clapton originals on the album, “Let It Grow”, sounds more than a bit like “Stairway To Heaven”. The other two (“Give Me Strength” and “Get Ready”) are not strong at all. Better are blues covers of songs previously done by Robert Johnson and Elmore James. Clapton plays far too little guitar here, and especially the second half may be sleep inducing. The band (including his introducing of singer Yvonne Elliman) is not great, either. He did get better after this. After a pair of dud records following this one, he hit paydirt with Slowhand in 1977. This is important as a transitional record, and it’s definitely not his worst album. But neither is it his best.
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CAT STEVENS
CLASSICS VOLUME 24
1987 – A&M
Produced By CAT STEVENS, DAVID KERSHENBAUM & PAUL SAMWELL-SMITH
1. On The Road To Find Out
2. Moonshadow
3. Sitting
4. Silent Sunlight
5. The Wind
6. Trouble
7. Peace Train
8. (Remember The Days Of The) Old Schoolyard
9. 18th Avenue
10. Where Do The Children Play
11. Father And Son
12. If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out
13. Ghost Town
14. Tuesday’s Dead
15. Morning Has Broken
16. Katmandu
17. Oh Very Young
18. Novim’s Nightmare
19. Ruins
20. New York Times
Cat Stevens (Yusef Islam, or just plain Yusef) has always been controversial. He also made some pretty great music during the seventies. One of the best things A&M Records did was to celebrate their 25th anniversary in 1987 by releasing a long series of Classics albums. Volume 24 is dedicated to Stevens, who recorded for the label from 1970 through 1978, when he converted to Islam and stopped making records. He had many hits during this period…as well as a large number of misses. Classics Volume 24 collects twenty tracks from his seventies heyday, but doesn’t quite get it right. Twenty tracks is a lot, and that alone makes it pretty unforgivable to have missed having tracks like “Wild World”, “Sad Lisa”, and even his 1974 cover of “Another Saturday Night”. This collection contains enough lesser songs to make it an unnecessary part of the Stevens discography.
For the great albums Stevens released during this period, there were also some clunkers. Foreigner from 1973 (which includes the non hit “Silent Sunlight”), Back To Earth (represented here by the woeful “New York Times”), and the downright terrible Numbers (“Ghost Town” is present as well) all have songs here. Tracks from the lesser Izitso are also on this. The songs are in random order, and it just has the feel of a budget release with a lot of filler tracks. The best way to go is the 1975 compilation Greatest Hits, which is a fine twelve songs without a speck of wasted space, including “Wild World” and other songs that would have made Classics a better option. Actually, the number of Cat Stevens best of’s is pretty staggering. Pretty much take your pick…you’ll easily find one that’s better than this one.
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