These tracks are in general not the best Led Zeppelin songs but the versions of the tracks that are here are to me the best versions. I really like the middle eastern atmosphere of lots of the tracks and in this respect this is one of my favorite albums ever.
I didn’t know the story about John Paul Jones but I can understand him. On the other hand that maybe makes this album so different from a regular Led Zep album.
ERIC CLAPTON
UNPLUGGED
1992-REPRISE
Produced By RUSS TITELMAN
1. Signe
2. Before You Accuse Me
3. Hey Hey
4. Tears In Heaven
5. Lonely Stranger
6. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down & Out
7. Layla
8. Running On Faith
9. Walkin’ Blues
10. Alberta
11. San Francisco Bay Blues
12. Malted Milk
13. Old Love
14. Rollin’ And Tumblin’
Unplugged is Eric Clapton’s sixth solo live album. Recorded in front of a small audience at a film studio in Windsor, it’s an all acoustic performance, and is notable for its versions of “Tears In Heaven”, a song from the Rush soundtrack that Clapton wrote about the tragic death of his son Conor, and for the very different version of the Derek & The Dominos classic “Layla”. The album has been hailed (wrongly, in my opinion) by many as his greatest album, likely because of the emotional period it represents for him. There are some great moments here, but most of what you get is the worst incarnation of Clapton: acoustic and JJ Cale-ish laid back to the point of snooziness. The album has been highly praised and has sold over 10 million copies in the US alone. The playing is exceptional, with Clapton being joined on guitar by Andy Fairweather-Low and on keyboards by Chuck Leavell. But Unplugged breaks no new ground, and is, as are most of Clapton’s laid back albums, best described as safe.
The big hits are not the best tracks. “Tears In Heaven”, while highly emotional, lacks any kind of punch and was beaten to death for years by amateur guitar players in coffeehouses everywhere. The rework of “Layla” is puzzling…Clapton turns it into a kind of lazy shuffling mess. Most of the rest consists of a different setting for his number one love…the blues. “Alberta” is nice, while “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out”, another Dominos song, is the real highlight of the show. The days of the flashy and explosive Clapton died with the death of Blind Faith, but his playing here is, as always, excellent. Overall, Unplugged is…again…safe, but it still sounds really great in spots, making it worth having. But if you’re going to go for this, get the DVD for the full effect, as well as six additional tracks you won’t hear on the album version.
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Great review. Once one sets aside the backstory and just listens to the music of it's own accord, it's really nothing special. I would call it a disappointment, but by this time, Clapton was getting fairly well known for releasing relative snoozers and uneven albums.
1. East Of Eden
2. After The Flood
3. Ways To Be Wicked
4. Don’t Toss Us Away
5. Working Late
6. Sweet, Sweet Baby (I’m Falling)
7. Pass It On
8. Wait ‘Til We Get Home
9. Soap, Soup And Salvation
10. You Are The Light
In 1985, music was at a crossroads. What is now known as classic rock was dying, and disco was dead. Hip hop was barely breathing yet, and New Wave was running its course. Hollywood glam metal was poised to fill what was becoming a huge void in the musical landscape. And in the midst of all that, a band from Los Angeles was becoming the most talked about act in a city filled with the likes of Poison and Warrant and a thousand other power ballad wielding not so tough guys. Lone Justice had been tearing up the clubs in LA since 1982 with it’s out of place brand of what is now known as alt country. Led by the fantastic voice of Maria McKee, the band had great songs, great musicianship, a great live show, and, well, Maria McKee. The band once famously stole the show at the Whisky from Arthur Lee who was trying a comeback, and were helped in getting a record deal by Linda Ronstadt. In 1985, Lone Justice was viewed as a band of superstars on the rise, a can’t miss act with a long career ahead of them. And they really were that good.
So what happened? Their debut album, Lone Justice, was released to wide critical acclaim and sold almost nothing. Rock and country audiences were baffled by it. It was not perfect, but it was a fine debut album and showed a ton of promise. One listen to “East Of Eden” and you knew that this was something entirely different. “Sweet, Sweet Baby (I’m Falling)” was the lead single, and was excellent. “Ways To Be Wicked” was written for the band by Tom Petty and Mike Campbell. And “Don’t Toss Us Away” was later a top 10 single for Patty Loveless. Campbell and Steve Van Zandt played on the album, but it was simply not the right time for Lone Justice…too bad, because it meant 7 more years of hair band winter. Frustrated, the band split after the album. McKee formed a new Lone Justice, which recorded a terrible New Wave album before breaking up for good. McKee has gone on to an interesting solo career. This one Lone Justice album should be an alt-country classic…maybe it will be rediscovered and appreciated the way it deserves to be one day.
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MADONNA
LIKE A VIRGIN
1984-SIRE
Produced By NILE RODGERS
1. Material Girl
2. Angel
3. Like A Virgin
4. Over And Over
5. Love Don’t Live Here Anymore
6. Dress You Up
7. Shoo-Bee-Doo
8. Pretender
9. Stay
The truth about Madonna is that she always has been, and always will be, a very limited singer with a very limited range and a very small zone of material that works for her. The important thing about Madonna is that she understands this very well. And although she way be responsible for inspiring more than an entire generation of pop princess divas, she also did it better than any of them that came after her. The truth is that the best way to experience Madonna is through her greatest hits album, The Immaculate Collection. But it’s also interesting to go back and hear her individual albums, many of which are not as bad as you might think. Like A Virgin, her second album, is one of those. It was, in fact, this album that really put her on the map. Produced by Chic lead guitarist Nile Rodgers, Like A Virgin is successful mainly because Madonna never leaves her comfort zone, and the songs are strong enough to keep things interesting enough. And, unlike those who came later, it’s her singing, and there’s not a trace of autotune. And no Mariah Carey-esque vocal acrobatics.
This album is important…especially if you were around in the mid 80’s, you saw it and understand it. Madonna, and Like A Virgin, gave the girls a rock star to identify with. The songs themselves are safely within her comfort range, as are most of her albums. The difference is the quality of song. “Material Girl”, “Like A Virgin”, “Dress You Up”, and “Angel”, like them or not, are pure pop gold. The closest thing to a reach here is “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”, an orchestrated ballad that works because, again, it’s not outside of Madonna’s small realm of comfort. There’s nothing fantastic here, but there’s also nothing that doesn’t work. And, when looked at in the context of how it affected the youth of the 80’s, Like A Virgin is a monster album, more so for that than the body of work it contains. The album has aged surprisingly well, especially when compared to the pop of today…this is light years ahead of what we get from today’s pop stars. The main reasons? The songs are better. And with Madonna, they didn’t have to use studio tricks to make her sound good.
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HARVEY DANGER
WHERE HAVE ALL THE MERRYMAKERS GONE?
1997-SLASH
Produced By JOHN GOODMANSON & HARVEY DANGER
1. Carlotta Valdez
2. Flagpole Sitta
3. Wooly Muffler
4. Private Helicopter
5. Problems And Bigger Ones
6. Jack The Lion
7. Old Hat
8. Terminal Annex
9. Wrecking Ball
10. Radio Silence
If one ever needed proof that Seattle wasn’t just producing grunge bands in the 1990’s, you only need to pullout this album as proof. Formed during the breakout year of Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Harvey Danger was a completely different animal. Embracing artists like Pavement, R.E.M. and Morrissey as well as Pearl Jam, this band mixed it all with loud punk guitars to forge their own sound. Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone? Is their debut, and it was an instant success, thanks to the immediate hit “Flagpole Sitta”, a joyful sounding romp that makes the exclamation “I’m not sick, but I’m not well” sound powerful. “Flagpole Sitta” brought a world of attention to the rest of the album, which didn’t have another hit on it, but did have a bunch of pretty great songs on it. The opener “Carlotta Valdez” is nearly as strong as “Flagpole Sitta”, with ferocious guitars and Sean Nelson’s superb vocals. “Private Helicopter” failed as a single, but succeeds as a high point of the album. Things even out from there, with nothing else standing out as great…but the album as a whole is most satisfying.
Unfortunately, Harvey Danger didn’t have much else in them. Their second album, King James Version, struggled badly out of the gate despite some good material (including the exceptional “Sad Sweetheart Of The Rodeo”). Their last album, Little By Little…, was recorded following a three year split and went unnoticed. The band hung it up after 17 years and only three albums in 2009, having never again gotten close to the success of “Flagpole Sitta”. But back in 1997, this was a band to watch…an exciting punky, heavy, yet sensible band from Seattle with awesome harmonies and great energy. It may not have panned out in the long run, but it was an exciting album. It still is…Merrymakers still sounds fresh and powerful, and is a great reminder that the Seattle music scene of the nineties wasn’t just about guys in flannel. There were also cool bands like Harvey Danger and cool albums like Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone?. A fading almost classic.
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HARVEY DANGER
WHERE HAVE ALL THE MERRYMAKERS GONE?
1997-SLASH
Produced By JOHN GOODMANSON & HARVEY DANGER
1. Carlotta Valdez
2. Flagpole Sitta
3. Wooly Muffler
4. Private Helicopter
5. Problems And Bigger Ones
6. Jack The Lion
7. Old Hat
8. Terminal Annex
9. Wrecking Ball
10. Radio Silence
If one ever needed proof that Seattle wasn’t just producing grunge bands in the 1990’s, you only need to pullout this album as proof. Formed during the breakout year of Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Harvey Danger was a completely different animal. Embracing artists like Pavement, R.E.M. and Morrissey as well as Pearl Jam, this band mixed it all with loud punk guitars to forge their own sound. Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone? Is their debut, and it was an instant success, thanks to the immediate hit “Flagpole Sitta”, a joyful sounding romp that makes the exclamation “I’m not sick, but I’m not well” sound powerful. “Flagpole Sitta” brought a world of attention to the rest of the album, which didn’t have another hit on it, but did have a bunch of pretty great songs on it. The opener “Carlotta Valdez” is nearly as strong as “Flagpole Sitta”, with ferocious guitars and Sean Nelson’s superb vocals. “Private Helicopter” failed as a single, but succeeds as a high point of the album. Things even out from there, with nothing else standing out as great…but the album as a whole is most satisfying.
Unfortunately, Harvey Danger didn’t have much else in them. Their second album, King James Version, struggled badly out of the gate despite some good material (including the exceptional “Sad Sweetheart Of The Rodeo”). Their last album, Little By Little…, was recorded following a three year split and went unnoticed. The band hung it up after 17 years and only three albums in 2009, having never again gotten close to the success of “Flagpole Sitta”. But back in 1997, this was a band to watch…an exciting punky, heavy, yet sensible band from Seattle with awesome harmonies and great energy. It may not have panned out in the long run, but it was an exciting album. It still is…Merrymakers still sounds fresh and powerful, and is a great reminder that the Seattle music scene of the nineties wasn’t just about guys in flannel. There were also cool bands like Harvey Danger and cool albums like Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone?. A fading almost classic.
Strange: I don’t think this band or the album reached Europe. I listened to Flagpole Sitta and I think I have never heard it and I was listening to indie radio stations at the time. I’ll have a go at the album because you made me curious
MODERN ENGLISH
AFTER THE SNOW
1982-4AD
Produced By HUGH JONES & MODERN ENGLISH
1. Someone’s Calling
2. Life In The Gladhouse
3. Face Of Wood
4. Dawn Chorus
5. I Melt With You
6. After The Snow
7. Carry Me Down
8. Tables Turning
Between 1980 and 1984, Modern English had a fair degree of success in their native country, the UK. In the United States, they are known as a one hit wonder. “I Melt With You” from their second album, After The Snow”, put the band on the map in America in 1983, and made them stars on the New Wave scene. Having the song featured prominently in the film Valley Girl didn’t hurt, either. “I Melt With You” was the perfect song for 1983, upbeat, danceable, and moody with its acapella hummed break near the end. The song was inescapable for about a year, but nothing more was ever heard from the band. Despite a couple of short breakups, Modern English continues on today, with seven studio albums…three of which contain different recordings of “I Melt With You”. Milk that hit, baby! But actually, the people who did bother to buy After The Snow and who played more than just the one song were treated to a pretty good album. There are plenty of guitars woven around the New Wave keyboards, and the songwriting is really very good. Modern English weren’t after hits, they claimed…they were artists.
The first single from the album was actually “Life In The Gladhouse”, and it’s excellent…a shame that it never caught on. “Someone’s Calling” is also a high point. The most interesting song is the title track, which noticeably changes speeds twice in strange places…not known if this was intentional or not. Overall, After The Snow stands not only as a great period piece of the 80’s New Wave scene because of “I Melt With You”, but also as a reminder that there was plenty of good enough music that didn’t get heard during the decade. The follow up album, Ricochet Days, did well in England and barely dented the American top 100, and then Modern English slipped away unnoticed. Resurrected on VH1 shows like 100 Greatest Songs Of The 80’s (where it ranked #80), and 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders Of The 80’s (it made it to #7 on that list), modern English and “I Melt With You” never quite goes away. Which is a good thing. Check out the rest of After The Snow. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.
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