VARIOUS ARTISTS
INTENDED PLAY SPRING 2001
2001 – MATADOR
VARIOUS PRODUCERS
1. Jenny & The Ess-Dog – Stephen Malkmus
2. I Wanna Destroy You – The Soft Boys
3. The Boy With The Hammer In The Paper Bag – Mark Eitzel
4. Love Detective – Arab Strap
5. Blaze Rhymez – Large Professor
6. The Hurt (Early Years Version) (Feat. Jean Grae) – Mr. Len
7. We Be About – Arsonists
8. Fishies Fuck – Khan
9. Celebration – Mount Florida
10. Take Me Somewhere Nice – Mogwai
11. Doch Endlich – Couch
12. Lipsostudio…And So On – Matmos
13. Sunrise – Bardo Pond
Once, I ordered an album online and they sent this compilation sampler as a freebie along with it. Well, hell…I’m not one to turn down a free album! Matador Records is the home to several cool bands, including Pavement, Yo La Tengo, Belle & Sebastian, and Queens Of The Stone Age. Back in 2001, when this compilation was issued, they had the artists listed above, which included some hip hop acts and some pretty out there bands. This is like a lot of label samplers…you get a little bit of the familiar, some stuff that turns out to be really gem worthy, and a bit of stuff that they tried to market that ultimately didn’t work out. In other words, it’s a grab bag. The familiar artists, for me anyway, are at the beginning. The tracks by Stephen Malkmus, The Soft Boys, and Mark Eitzel are excellent, and shows great promise for the rest of the disc. But then, things meander off into a completely different direction, with predictably mixed results.
After the Arab Strap track, the album suddenly shifts gears into hip hop. The songs are okay (not great), but they really don’t seem to fit the album very well. After four tough tracks, the sampler goes into instrumental post rock music. “Doch Endlich”, by Couch, turns out to be the surprise find here…it’s a fine track, and stands out above everything else here. After a four track excursion into post rock (including the ten minute unremarkable song by Mount Florida), there’s one final shift. Bardo Pond is a psychedelic band, and “Sunrise” is unlike anything else here…heavy, hazy, and strange. So, what we end up with is what label samplers usually are…hit and miss, not bad, not great, and with one discovery that makes it all worthwhile. Which is probably what the good folks at Matador were shooting for. Plus, it was free. And if you know anything about me, you know that I will never turn down a free album. I’m just that guy.
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VARIOUS ARTISTS
PRIVATE PARTS: THE ALBUM
1997 – WARNER BROTHERS
Produced By PETER AFTERMAN, JEFF GOLD & RICK RUBIN
1. Pig Virus
2. The Great American Nightmare (Rob Zombie & Howard Stern)
3. Mama Look…A Boo Boo
4. I Make My Own Rules (LL Cool J With Flea, Dave Navarro & Chad Smith)
5. The Match Game
6. Hard Charger (Porno For Pyros)
7. Moti
8. The Suck For Your Solution (Marilyn Manson)
9. Lance Eluction
10. Pictures Of Matchstick Men (Ozzy Osbourne & Type O Negative)
11. The Contest
12. Tired Of Waiting For You (Green Day)
13. WRNW
14. Pinhead (Ramones)
15. Oh Howard
16. The Ben Stern Megamix (Charlie Clouser)
17. The Howard Stern Experience
18. Smoke On The Water (Deep Purple)
19. WCCC
20. I Want You To Want Me (Cheap Trick)
21. The Antichrist
22. Cat Scratch Fever (Ted Nugent)
23. WNBC
24. Jamie’s Crying (Van Halen)
25. Crackhead Bob
26. You Shook Me All Night Long – Live (AC/DC)
27. Howard You Stink
28. Ladies & Gentlemen
29. Tortured Man (Howard Stern & The Dust Brothers)
Some albums are bought. Some are found, some are free, and some just kind of appear in your collection. Private Parts: The Album is an unfortunate product of an album ripping its way into my collection via relationship. The first thing I must be clear about is this: I do not like Howard Stern. From the first moment I heard him spewing out of a radio in Los Angeles, I have never laughed at a single thing he has said or done. Not one time. That’s important in rating this album, because he’s all over this thing. Private Parts is the movie about Stern’s life, and this is the soundtrack to that film. I did find the movie surprisingly interesting (not funny), but this album is something altogether different. It was set up to resemble a radio program, with bits from the movie alternating with music. But if you’ve ever heard Stern’s radio show, you will know that this album is nothing at all like reality. It’s not even close.
The Stern radio show is pretty much 40 minutes of Stern spouting off with his human laugh track Robin, a gang of commercials, and MAYBE a song. This album contains more music than you’ll ever hear on The Howard Stern show in a month. He’s not a disc jockey...he’s a radio personality who is all about crude attempts at humor, insults, and naked women on the radio. But as for the music here. There are 14 songs, 2 of which include Stern as a horrible vocalist. The rest is Stern babbling. These are songs that Stern would mostly never play on his show if he did play songs, up until “Smoke On The Water”. After that, it’s just another collection of same old classic rock songs in the middle of Stern pretending that this is a radio show. In short, Private Parts: The Album is a mess. It’s not necessary, it’s not funny, and musically, it adds nothing to the universe. If you’re a fan of his, just stick with his show. If you’re not, like me, just avoid him entirely. On a positive note, the movie really was okay.
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MEN AT WORK
BUSINESS AS USUAL
1981 – COLUMBIA
Produced By PETER MCIAN
1. Who Can It Be Now?
2. I Can See It In Your Eyes
3. Down Under
4. Underground
5. Helpless Automaton
6. People Just Love To Play With Words
7. Be Good Johnny
8. Touching The Untouchables
9. Catch A Star
10. Down By The Sea
11. Crazy
12. Underground (Live)
13. Who Can It Be Now? (Live)
14. F-19
In 1981, the world of music was ripe for a takeover by a band like Men At Work. With New Wave on the rise, as well as MTV, along with an apparently bubbling fascination with all things Australian, these guys were in the exact right place at the exact right time, and their debut album, Business As Usual, became a huge hit. These from nowhere guys won the hearts and turntables of the world, and even won the Grammy for Best New Artist. Quirky and fun, Men At Work was, for a pair of albums, highly successful. On Business As Usual, they made their mark on the strength of three fine singles. “Who Can It Be Now” introduced the band to the world with a spiky saxophone intro by Greg Ham, and the slightly paranoid sounding blip in the vocals of Colin Hay worked perfectly. “Be Good Johnny” updates the rock and roll world of Chuck Berry quite nicely, with a nifty chorus that somehow makes “Be good, be good” repeated over and over a catchy thing.
But the song that really made Men At Work the stars they were is “Down Under”. It taught us not only how catchy the Men could be, but it also introduced us to the wonders of Vegamite. These three tracks are as good as anything released in the early part of the eighties, and they would continue with about the same level of success on their next album, Cargo, before suddenly slipping into 80’s band oblivion. As for the rest of Business As Usual, it’s surprisingly, compared to the three better tracks, bland. Well crafted and well played filler, but filler nonetheless. But listenable. Ultimately, this is a good, not great album…the best way to experience Men At Work is on a hits compilation that allows you to skip over a lot of the lesser material they recorded. The last four songs are bonus tracks: two are B sides to singles from the album, and the live tracks are from a 1998 live album. These guys are fun, but the fun does start to wear thin over the course of an entire album.
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THE GREGG ALLMAN BAND
PLAYIN’ UP A STORM
1977 – CAPRICORN
Produced By RUSS TITELMAN & LENNY WARONKER
1. Come And Go Blues
2. Let This Be A Lesson To Ya’
3. Brightest Smile In Town
4. Bring It On Back
5. Cryin’ Shame
6. Sweet Feelin’
7. It Ain’t No Use
8. Matthew’s Arrival
9. One More Try
To say that 1977 was an interesting year for Gregg Allman would be quite an understatement. The Allman Brothers Band had broken up after a pair of forgettable albums and a bunch of fighting between the members. Allman was in the middle of his strange marriage to Cher, and just a few months after Playin’ Up A Storm was released, the Allman And Woman album came out. It is still considered to be one of the worst albums ever made, and has never been released either on CD or digitally…and probably never will be. But in the midst of Allman’s chaotic life, Playin’ Up A Storm was a beacon of light. The Gregg Allman Band has been his musical refuge since the early 70’s, a band where he has been able to escape his more expensive and famous group. As with pretty much any Gregg Allman solo album, this has some really fine highs, but not nearly enough of them to make the album a great one.
The biggest highlight here is his reworking of the Allman’s classic, “Come And Go Blues” from Brothers And Sisters. “Brightest Smile In Town” is a soulful Ray Charles cover. “Sweet Feelin’” rolls nicely with some cool horns, and “Cryin’ Shame” displays more funk than we’re used to hearing from Brother Gregg. There aren’t any bad tracks on this one at all. It’s consistent, has a nice feel while you’re listening to it, and in the end, leaves you with nothing memorable. In other words, Allman as a solo artist is here as he has always been…average at best. His albums are mostly interchangeable, never poor, never great, always a good enough effort. Playin’ Up A Storm is more interesting because of the time in Allman’s life it took place in. Was it a healing record for him? The following year, he and Cher divorced, the Allman Brothers Band got back together, and his life seemed back on it’s destined course. This is the best product from what may be his lost years.
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SUPERCHUNK
FOOLISH
1994 – MERGE
Produced By BRIAN PAULSON
1. Like A Fool
2. The First Part
3. Water Wings
4. Driveway To Driveway
5. Saving My Ticket
6. Kicked In
7. Why Do You Have To Put A Date On Everything
8. Without Blinking
9. Keeping Track
10. Revelations
11. Stretched Out
12. In A Stage Whisper
Not the most attractive of album covers to be sure…but Foolish gets better after that. Superchunk is a fine rock band from North Carolina that has made a nice ten albums so far career for themselves. They’ve never been really big, maybe because they’ve tried to stay away from the big labels. And they always seem to follow up whatever big steps forward that they take with an equal step backwards. They’ve never made a truly great album…and they’ve never made a truly bad one, either. Foolish is one of those equal step backwards efforts. Coming on the heels of the greatly improved On The Mouth, Foolish is, in comparison, a disappointment. They slow down the tempo, and the end of the relationship between singer Mac McCaughan and bassist Laura Ballance takes the band from a whole lot of fun to a bit uncomfortable. McCaughan sounds strained here, and the overall songwriting is just not as sharp.
There are some great moments here. “Like A Fool” is simply terrific, and “Driveway To Driveway” could have been a hit for a more outgoing band. The rest of Foolish is well played, but never really rises much above the level of average. At their best, Superchunk has been described as a “happy Nirvana”, but there isn’t enough of that going on here. If it’s possible for this band to make a downer album, then Foolish would be that album. They have since had their ups and downs, never quite reaching the top while never falling off the planet. They continue to tour and record, although Ballance no longer tours with them because of a medical condition that affects her hearing. Foolish is not as memorable or as good as some of their other works: to hear the best of what Superchunk has to offer, go with either On The Mouth, No Pocky For Kitty, or Come Pick Me Up. As for Foolish…never bad, never great.
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JASON ISBELL
SOUTHEASTERN
2013 – SOUTHEASTERN
Produced By DAVID COBB
1. Cover Me Up
2. Stockholm
3. Traveling Alone
4. Elephant
5. Flying Over Water
6. Different Days
7. Live Oak
8. Songs That She Sang In The Shower
9. New South Wales
10. Super 8
11. Yvette
12. Relatively Easy
Maybe the greatest musical joy of the last decade and a half plus has been watching the growth and rise of Jason Isbell. He joined Drive-By Truckers in 2001, and his powerful songwriting was a big part of that band for the three albums he was with them. But you could tell it wouldn’t last long. You can’t keep a phenomenal songwriter like Isbell to 3 or 4 songs per album for very long. He left the Truckers in 2007, and immediately embarked on a solo career. His writing and his albums have improved ever since, and Southeastern has to rate as one of the very best albums of the 2010’s. Written and recorded in the aftermath of an intervention and rehab, the now sober Isbell lets it all fly free on this album…and it’s beautiful. One song after another is simply masterful, and by the last song you’re not ready for it to end, but you find yourself wishing instead that he’d made this a double album. If you think the album as an art form is dead, then you have simply not heard Southeastern.
The highlights on this album are breathtaking. “Cover Me Up” sets the tone for this most personal and gorgeous work. “Traveling Alone” is everything great about Americana. Then you have the great “Flying Over Water”, “Different Days”, “Live Oak”, and the beautifully touching “Songs That She Sang In The Shower”. And THEN you have the stunning "Elephant". Southeastern is an instant classic, an album you will fall in love with immediately, and a truly great work. Isbell’s songs touch the heart, and he paints a picture as fine as anyone ever before him. He’s that rare kind of writer where you find yourself identifying with nearly everything he writes, and you find yourself wishing you could live the world through his eyes. Southeastern is a simple album of amazing songs stacked gently one on top of the other, and it’s absolutely perfect. His follow up, Something More Than Free, continues to show his mastery, but Southeastern is where Isbell reaches the peak. This is a must have, without question.
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THE CRANBERRIES
EVERYBODY ELSE IS DOING IT, SO WHY CAN’T WE?
1993 – ISLAND
Produced By STEPHEN STREET
1. I Still Do
2. Dreams
3. Sunday
4. Pretty
5. Waltzing Back
6. Not Sorry
7. Linger
8. Wanted
9. Still Can’t…
10. I Will Always
11. How
12. Put Me Down
There were two interesting things about The Cranberries. One is that their original name was The Cranberry Saw Us. The other was their lead singer, Dolores O’Riordan. As a band, the rest of the Berries didn’t stand out much…they played a kind of dreamy pop that fades pretty quickly into the background. What gave life to the band was O’Riordan and her alternately powerful and sweet vocals. Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We is their debut album, and brought them instant success on the strength of the singles “Dreams” and “Linger”. The high points here may be “Still Can’t…” and “How”, which forgoe the sweet mellowness and actually rock a bit, giving a glimpse of what O’Riordan and the rest of the Berries were capable of when they'd wake up and get things moving, an unfortunate rarity for them. They did this to greater effect on the big hit from the next album, “Zombie”. There should be more moments like these here, but there aren’t.
Although “Zombie” from No Need To Argue may be their best song, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? remains their best and most consistent album. “Linger" is still a pretty irresistible single, and O’Riordan’s unique voice is truly the strength of the band…and they knew it very well. She’s the centerpiece of every track, as she should be. The Cranberries, unfortunately, didn't have a lot of great ideas, but except for a break between 2004 and 2008, they stayed true to themselves and to their sound until O'Riordan's death ended the band in 2018. They released a final album and then called it a day. O’Riordan also released some solo albums, but the best place to experience her part yodeling, fully Limerick vocals is on this album. The Cranberries may not be the most exciting band in the world, but, especially here, what they do is quite pretty and worth hearing. (Saw them live at the Whisky in LA before their hiatus…it was unfortunately not very memorable).
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NEIL YOUNG WITH CRAZY HORSE
EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE
1969 – REPRISE
Produced By NEIL YOUNG & DAVID BRIGGS
1. Cinnamon Girl
2. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
3. Round & Round (It Won’t Be Long)
4. Down By The River
5. The Losing End (When You’re On)
6. Running Dry (Requiem For The Rockets)
7. Cowgirl In The Sand
After Neil Young left Buffalo Springfield, he released his self-titled debut album in 1969. It was average at best. Then he found himself jamming with the furious LA band Crazy Horse, and Neil Young as we know him was born. Released later in 1969, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere is his first album with Crazy Horse, his first classic, and it remains one of his finest albums, even more than 40 years later. This album is highlighted by three tracks which made Neil a household name, and which still sound powerful and fresh today. The story is that Young wrote the songs “Cinnamon Girl”, “Down By The River”, and “Cowgirl In The Sand” in a single day, while suffering a 103 degree fever. However they were written, these three songs would be a career for most artists…for Young, they are a drop in the bucket. The other four songs, including the hit title track, aren’t weak by any means, and serve as a reminder among all of the guitar fury of just how versatile Young really is.
“Cinnamon Girl” is short, sweet, and introduced the world to Young’s trademark single note guitar solo. It’s a simple, catchy tune surrounded by lots of loud guitar. And you can hear plenty of the vocal interplay between Young and Danny Whitten that makes the songs even more enticing. “Down By The River” is where they stretch things out. It’s almost like the Grateful Dead with their amps turned up to eleven. Nine minutes of pure jam. Which is eclipsed by the ten minute joyride of “Cowgirl In The Sand”, still one of Young’s greatest songs and one of Crazy Horse’s best moments. This album is where Young really lifted off and launched the long and storied career he has been blessed with. He’s played folk, country rock, rockabilly, electronica, new wave, protest music…you name it, Neil Young has done it. But he always comes back to Crazy Horse, and he always comes back to the sound of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. A true classic album.
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