The Romanelli Music Diary: Recipe For Hate

[Romanelli]

7

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Damn The Torpedoes by Tom Petty & T...rtbreakers

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS
DAMN THE TORPEDOS
1979-MCA
Produced by Tom Petty & Jimmy Iovine

1. Refugee
2. Here Comes My Girl
3. Even The Losers
4. Shadow Of A Doubt (A Complex Kid)
5. Century City
6. Don't Do Me Like That
7. You Tell Me
8. What Are You Doin' In My Life?
9. Louisiana Rain

After a slightly disappointing 2nd album (You're Gonna Get It), Petty & the band broke out big with this album. Showing some punk attitude and the frustration over a recent fight with their record comany, Petty comes out with a bit of a snarl and a collection of great songs. From start to finish, this album is loaded with well written songs. The band is dead on, and Petty sounds like he is ready to take over the world. The album has aged incredibly well, sounding just as fresh 30 years later.

Has it really been 35 years since Refugee? Damn.....
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[Romanelli]

8

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Purple Rain by Prince & The Revolution

PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION
MUSIC FROM PURPLE RAIN
1984-WARNER BROS
Produced by Prince & The Revolution

1. Let's Go Crazy
2. Take Me With You
3. The Beautiful Ones
4. Computer Blue
5. Darling Nikki
6. When Doves Cry
7. I Would Die 4 U
8. Baby I'm A Star
9. Purple Rain

Say what you want...this is a very good album. The movie was crap, but Prince went all out on the soundtrack. Every song is top notch, the Revolution is air tight, and Prince lays down some of the best guitar heroics of the time (while everyone else was trying to be Eddie Van Halen)..."Let's Go Crazy", "When Doves Cry" (a #1 dance track with no bass line!) and "Purple Rain" showcase Prince shredding on the guitar. "Purple Rain" is also the best power ballad ever. Say what you want. But it's all true.

Prince at his most mainstream is still Prince at his best. Maybe the most purely talented rock/pop musician alive, he had some good albums and a couple of great ones. This is one of those.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[Norman Bates]

I can totally get behind your praise for Purple Rain. However, I'm a bit puzzled at the "mainstream, still good" bit, to be honest. What I mean is that I never thought Prince was not "mainstream" (at least for the type of music he played, if not for his success); and, furthermore, I don't see why being "mainstream" would necessarily mean something different than good.

[Romanelli]

Norman...I was simply making mention that Purple Rain came from the period of Prince's commercial peak. I didn't mean to imply anything deeper than that.




9

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Butt Rockin' by The Fabulous Thunderbirds

THE FABULOUS THUNDERBIRDS
BUTT ROCKIN'
1981-BENCHMARK
Produced by Denny Bruce

1. I Believe I'm In Love
2. One's Too Many
3. Give Me All Your Lovin'
4. Roll, Roll, Roll
5. Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White
6. I Hear You Knocking
7. Tip On In
8. I'm Sorry
9. Mathilda
10. Tell Me Why
11. In Orbit
12. Found A New Love
13. I Got Eyes
14. Someday You'll Want Me

What was the Austin music scene like in the 1970's? It was pretty much owned by this band, who did so well playing the bar circuit that they were signed in a town that no one was getting signed from. Butt Rockin' is their 3rd album, years before they were to have a hit with "Tuff Enuff" and before they got stale and predictable. Led by singer Kim Wilson and guitarist Jimmie Vaughan (Stevie Ray's older brother), the album mixes originals with obscure covers of the Louisiana and Texas blues rock songs that made the T-Birds club favorites. They added piano and horns here for the first time, giving them a more full sound and allowing the soloing of Vaughan and Wilson (harmonica) more room to roam.

It's a well played set, though not extremely memorable. If you're a fan of Texas blues/rock, you'll dig it. "Tip On In" is the best of the covers, while "I'm Sorry" and "One's Too Many" (co-written by Nick Lowe) are the better originals. After being out of priint for years, it was reissued with 3 bonus tracks (the last 3), but there are no notes as to where they came from or any details about them.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[Norman Bates]

[Romanelli]

[Romanelli]

11

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Lollapalooza Sampler by Various Artists

VARIOUS ARTISTS
LOLLAPALOOZA SAMPLER
1994-ELEKTRA/WARNER

1. Saints (The Breeders)
2. Divine Hammer (The Breeders)
3. Basket Case (Green Day)
4. Welcome To Paradise (Green Day)
5. Do You Love Me? (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)
6. Loverman (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)
7. Can I Run (L7)
8. Andres (L7)
9. Ping Pong (Stereolab)
10. Wow And Flutter (Stereolab)
11. She Don't Use Jelly (The Flaming Lips)
12. Slow Nerve Action (The Flaming Lips)
13. Bocabola (Boredoms)
14. Budokan Tape Try: 500 Tapes High (Boredoms)

Someone gave this to me. It's a promotional only CD advertising some of the acts for Lollapalooza 1994, which I did not go to. It's about 50/50...the Green Day tracks are predictable, and the songs by Stereolab and Boredoms I can certainly live without. It's always nice to hear The Breeders, and it's wonderously creepy hearing Nick Cave snarl "Do You Love Me?". I have the rest. A nice little thing to put on when you don't want to hear the same artist over a full album, and it must have been a pretty good show.

Hey, it was free. Can't complain about that!
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[Romanelli]

12

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Two Sevens Clash by Culture


CULTURE
TWO SEVENS CLASH
1976-SHANACHIE
Produced by Joe Gibbs & Erroll Thompson

Unless your name is Marley, your chances of having a well known reggae album in the US are slim and none. Which is too bad, because Culture was one of the best reggae bands you'd ever hear. Two Sevens Clash was born as a vision by singer Joseph Hill, predicting that the date 7/7/77 would be a holy day of judgement. The album is stunning and still holds up today as strong as it did then. The vocals are great, the songs carry strong spiritual images, and reggae was never played more beautifully as it is here. In 2002, the album was named by Rolling Stone as #25 of the 50 coolest albums of all time...how cool is that? It's that good.

Culture had a career spanning 28 albums before the sudden death of Hill on tour in 2006. Like Marley, his legacy is being carried on by his son.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[Romanelli]

13

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Tones Of Home: The Best Of Blind Melon by Blind Melon

BLIND MELON
TONES OF HOME: THE BEST OF BLIND MELON
2005-CAPITOL/EMI
Produced by Chris Clough

1. Tones Of Home
2. Change
3. Paper Scratcher
4. No Rain
5. I Wonder
6. Time
7. Galaxie
8. Mouthful Of Cavities
9. Walk
10. Toes Across The Floor
11. 2 X 4
12. St. Andrew's Fall
13. Soup
14. Pull
15. Soul One
16. No Rain (Ripped Away Version)
17. Three Is A Magic Number
18. Soak The Sin (Live)
19. Deserted (Live)

I was never a big fan of Blind Melon, but they have been growing on me over the years. Maybe because the first album I heard from them was Soup, which definitely takes some getting used to. This compilation, although very long, is very well chosen and obviously put together by the band with a lot of care. It spans their short career (2 proper albums and a third which was edited pieces of music that Shannon Hoon had left behind before he died). The liner notes are good...guitarist Roger Stevens eulogises Hoon nicely, and states that they never got the chance to make their best music. I agree with that, but we'll never know what they could have done had Hoon gotten his drug problem under control. He died on the Soup tour, which he went on against the advice of his drug counselor.

The songs were carefully chosen, so that this really is their best work. The Soup songs must have been tough (Hoon admitted to not being able to remember the sessions). "Three Is A Magic Number" was recorded for Schoolhouse Rock. If you're into these guys, this is a nice compilation. It could have been about 8 tracks shorter, but they did a good job nonetheless.

This also includes a 2nd disc, a DVD with 3 videos and 3 live tracks.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[Romanelli]

14

John Prine by John Prine

JOHN PRINE
1971-ATLANTIC
Produced by Arif Mardin

1. Illegal Smile
2. Spanish Pipedream
3. Hello In There
4. Sam Stone
5. Paradise
6. Pretty Good
7. Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore
8. Far From Me
9. Angel From Montgomery
10. Quiet Man
11. Donald And Lydia
12. Six O'Clock News
13. Flashback Blues

John Prine is one of America's most underrated songwriters period. This album, his debut, is loaded with classic songs. "Illegal Smile" became the pot smokers anthem. "Spanish Pipedream" (She was a level headed dancer/On the road to alcohol"). "Sam Stone" (There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes). And on and on. Most artists never get this many good songs in one career. Prine got them all in one shot. An absolute classic album.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...