JEAN-LOUIS MURAT
LE MANTEAU DE PLUIE
1991 – VIRGIN
Produced By JEAN-LOUIS MURAT
1. Je N’ai Plus Que Toi, Animal
2. Col De La Croix-Morand
3. Cours Dire Aux Hommes Faibles
4. Le Lien Defait
5. Sentiment Nouveau
6. L’Ephemere
7. L’Infidele
8. Le Parcours De La Peine
9. Gorge Profonde
10. Le Manteau De Pluie Du Sings
Being an American rock and alt-country kind of guy, there is admittedly a lot of music that falls outside of my comfort zone. Part of what just doesn’t get heard a lot in my world is French rock. Jean-Louis Murat is someone I had never heard of, much less listened to. Time to fix that one. Murat has been around since the early eighties, and has released 34 albums to date. Le Manteau De Pluie (The Rain Coat) is his fifth album, and was quite successful. It boasts a pair of sizable hits in “Col De La Croix-Morand” (the name of a mountain pass in France) and “Sentiment Nouveau”. Also of note is “Le Lien Defait”. The music here is very guitar based, and while some of it does rock, it’s more atmospheric and mellow (but in a good way).
The songs here are all sung in French, of course. Murat’s voice is fairly ordinary…he doesn’t show a lot of range, at least here. But what he does sing works well…he understands what his music needs from him. And anyway, it’s the instrumental beauty of this album that will win you over. Murat overdoes nothing. Not even the synths, which for the time this was recorded, overdoing those was quite in the vogue. So, I have discovered a new (for me) musical direction. Murat impresses me enough with this album to make me want to hear more from him, and from others like him. This will not blow you away, but it is a really cool and pleasant listen. Even if I can’t understand a word he’s saying. French rock. Who woulda known? I’ll be listening to more of it for sure.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
SUGAR RAY
14:59
1999 – ATLANTIC
Produced By DAVID KAHNE & RALPH SALL
1. New Direction
2. Every Morning
3. Falls Apart
4. Personal Space Invader
5. Live & Direct (Feat. KRS-One)
6. Someday
7. Aim For Me
8. Ode To The Lonely Hearted
9. Burning Dog
10. Even Though
11. Abracadabra
12. Glory
13. New Direction
It was 1999, and Sugar Ray was everywhere. They were still riding high from their massive hit “Fly” from a couple of years before, and this was the much anticipated follow up. Truth is, Sugar Ray was never going to be amazing and great…they simply didn’t have that in them. But “Fly” had opened a window for them, and to their credit, they took full advantage of it. And so, the three Sugar Ray albums released between 1997 and 2001 (Floored, 14:59 and Sugar Ray) sold a gazillion copies and made them stars. 14:59 is the band’s third album, their biggest seller, and their best work. These guys were not dummies (the album title aptly describes their career trajectory: they were right at about their 15 minutes of fame), and they did have some hooks in them. Artistically, Sugar Ray wasn’t setting the world on fire. But…you could dance to it.
“Every Morning” was the big hit here. They also had minor hits with “Someday” and “Falls Apart”. And to their credit, not everything sounds the same here. It’s just not very deep, and there are enough weaker tracks here to keep this from greatness…songs like “Even Though” and a pointless cover of Steve Miller’s “Abracadabra” are not very good at all. Sugar Ray slipped into oblivion after the next album, but singer Mark McGrath stays in the spotlight by having become the least likely of game show hosts. Sugar Ray still exists today, and will gladly play “Fly” and “Every Morning” to help you relive those glory days of the late nineties. This album is both likeable and grating, which is the story of their now long career.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
BESSIE SMITH
THE COLLECTION
1989 – COLUMBIA
Produced By JOHN HAMMOND & FRANK WALKER
1. Downhearted Blues
2. ‘Tain’t Nobody’s Bizness If I Do
3. My Sweetie Went Away (She Didn’t Say Where, When Or Why)
4. Weepin’ Willow Blues
5. St. Louis Blues
6. Reckless Blues
7. You’ve Been A Good Ole Wagon
8. I Ain’t Gonna Play No Second Fiddle
9. Young Woman’s Blues
10. Muddy Water (A Mississippi Moan)
11. Mean Old Bedbug Blues
12. Empty bed Blues (Parts 1 & 2)
13. Nobody Knows When You’re Down And Out
14. Black Mountain Blues
15. Do Your Duty
16. Gimme A Pigfoot
When the origins of American blues music is talked about, the name Bessie Smith never comes up enough. She was one of the earliest and greatest blues singers, and basically everything she ever recorded is a national treasure. Between 1923 and 1931, Smith recorded about 160 tracks for Columbia…an impressive number considering the recording process of the time. She stopped recording in 1933, and had been found by producer John Hammond working in a speakeasy as a hostess in Philadelphia. She recorded four sides that year and was done. Four years later, Smith was killed in an automobile accident (she was not driving). She was 43 at the time of her death. Her legend remains intact, but she also remains an underrated force in blues and jazz.
This compilation is strange…the cover indicates that it may be a reissue of an earlier album, but I can’t find anything close to it. At sixteen tracks, this is most certainly a cherrypicked best of. Which is fine, depending on what you want from her. There are large (and pretty pricey) sets that include most of her recorded output, and there are smaller sets like this that cover her highlights nicely. Either way, you cannot go wrong with Bessie Smith. Every track here is golden, and some you may even recognize (like “Nobody Knows When You’re Down And Out”). The quality is also quite good for the times. Not a thing bad can be said about this disc, and what better time to take a listen…almost an even 100 years after she began her short recording career.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
KAISER CHIEFS
YOURS TRULY, ANGRY MOB
2007 – UNIVERSAL MOTOWN
Produced By STEPHEN STREET
1. Ruby
2. The Angry Mob
3. Heat Dies Down
4. Highroyds
5. Love’s Not A Competition (But I’m Winning)
6. Thank You Very Much
7. I Can Do It Without You
8. My Kind Of Guy
9. Everything Is Average Nowadays
10. Boxing Champ
11. Learnt My Lesson Well
12. Try Your Best
13. Retirement
If you like your British rock with lots of “nanananana”…then Kaiser Chiefs are just the band for you. They are highly successful in the UK, and not so much at all in America. Yours Truly, Angry Mob is their second album, the follow up to their big hit debut from 2005, Employment. No pressure here…just the need to follow up fun hits like “I Predict A Riot” and “Everyday I Love You Less And Less”. Kaiser Chiefs simply delivered with “Ruby”, their biggest hit to date and their only track to make it to the top 20 in America. “Ruby” went to number one in four countries, and catapulted the album to multiple platinum sales. Yours Truly remains their second best record (after Employment). It’s good, but it lacks the exuberance and, outside of “Ruby”, the catchy bounciness that made the debut so exciting.
The better songs here make this worthwhile. “The Angry Mob” may be the best track here. “Love’s Not A Competition” and “Everything Is Average Nowadays” are fine as well, but after that, there is a noticeable drop off. Not that the songs are bad…they are just not as memorable as the band can be at their best. They do rock…but you will want them when they truly bounce, which they did better on Employment. Kaiser Chiefs made a push towards America in 2012, which did not gain them a foothold here at all. They continue to record and tour, having released six albums since Yours Truly, Angry Mob. They remain big hits in Britain, and nowhere else. Kind of a regional favorite, I guess. Worth hearing, but not as exciting overall as their singles may suggest.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
THE FLAMING LIPS
CLOUDS TASTE METALLIC
1995 – WARNER BROS
Produced By THE FLAMING LIPS & DAVE FRIDMANN
1. The Abandoned Hospital Ship
2. Psychiatric Explorations Of The Fetus With Needles
3. Placebo Headwound
4. This Here Giraffe
5. Brainville
6. Guy Who Got A Headache And Accidentally Saves The World
7. When You Smile
8. Kim’s Watermelon Gun
9. They Punctured My Yolk
10. Lightning Strikes The Postman
11. Christmas At The Zoo
12. Evil Will Prevail
13. Bad Days (Aurally Excited Version)
It's a fact that The Flaming Lips have been out there since 1983. They released their first album in 1986. And nobody knew who they were until they released “She Don’t Use Jelly” from their sixth album, 1993’s Transmissions From The Satellite Heart. The expectations were high for the follow up, 1995’s Clouds Taste Metallic. This was a band that was finally due to have an album be a real commercial success. And, of course, the album did what the previous six Flaming Lips albums did…it sold almost nothing, and the Lips remained not much more than a curiosity. And it would take another four years and two albums before the band started to become as popular as they deserved to be, starting with The Soft Bulletin in 1999. Leave it to The Flaming Lips to take the long way to stardom.
As for Clouds Taste Metallic, the album was immediately deemed a failure and a dark spot on the band’s legacy. But…over the years, as they have become better understood by fans and critics, it turns out that this was actually a pretty good record. Yes, there were three failed singles…but we’ve since learned that this is not a singles band. As it turns out, Clouds Taste Metallic is a very steady and very good album by a band that was just discovering their powers. And a band that had not yet been found by their audience. The best song here is “The Abandoned Hospital Ship”, but there are several tracks here that can win you over if you can be patient. There is nothing bad here…it’s a very consistent work that has lots of hidden rewards, and it foreshadows nicely their more adventurous future work. Well worth hearing and sadly underrated.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
THE KINKS
ONE FOR THE ROAD
1980- ARISTA
Produced By RAY DAVIES
1. Opening
2. Hard Way
3. Catch Me Now I’m Falling
4. Where Have All The Good Times Gone
5. Intro: Lola
6. Lola
7. Pressure
8. All Day And All Of The Night
9. 20th Century Man
10. Misfits
11. Prince Of The Punks
12. Stop Your Sobbing
13. Low Budget
14. Attitude
15. (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman
16. National Health
17. ‘Till The End Of The Day
18. Celluloid Heroes
19. You Really Got me
20. Victoria
21. David Watts
Had it on vinyl. Back in the day…got it as soon as it came out. After my record collection was stolen, I always knew it was out there…but there were other priorities. Finally, not long ago, I picked up a CD copy of this. Pretty excited, as I remembered being stoked to have had it before, and that I had gotten to see The Kinks at Red Rocks in the late 70’s. So, when the reality of One For The Road sunk in this time around…I was pretty disappointed. This is a double live album from one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Recorded while they were still relatively young. What could go wrong here? How could a live album from this band at this time not be absolutely brilliant? An album with this amazing dream setlist? What happened?
It seems like almost every track is rushed. Energy? Maybe…but you can play with energy without having to fly though each song. The interaction between Ray Davies and the audiences is grating at best. There is far too much audience participation. And, this was 1980. There is pretty much no way to prepare yourself for how shrill and terrible the keyboards on this record sound. What keeps this from being simply terrible is the setlist (even though this was recorded at multiple locations over the space of a full year). So many great songs…and to be fair, the version here of “Celluloid Heroes” is magnificent. This is a live album that I truly want to love. I really do. There just isn’t enough of what makes The Kinks great here to make that happen.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
THE REPLACEMENTS
PLEASED TO MEET ME
1987 – SIRE
Produced By JIM DICKINSON
1. I.O.U.
2. Alex Chilton
3. I Don’t Know
4. Nightclub Jitters
5. The Ledge
6. Never Mind
7. Valentine
8. Shooting Dirty Pool
9. Red Red Wine
10. Skyway
11. Can’t Hardly Wait
The Replacements had a stunning three album run in the mid eighties that is pretty tough to beat. Let It Be (from 1984) and 1985’s Tim were downright amazing. The third in that trio was Pleased To Meet Me from 1987. And while it’s not quite on a par with the pair of records that came before it, this is still a terrific release. It was recorded as a trio…guitarist Bob Stinson had left the band and didn’t play here (although he did play on some of the demos), and his replacement, (heh), Slim Dunlap, was not there yet. The album is less punk than their previous works, but it still rocks. And Pleased To Meet Me has some really memorable moments. It’s also helped out by the production of Memphis legend Jim Dickinson, who was able to bring in The Memphis Horns and his son Luther to help out.
And, of course, Alex Chilton. Not only is that the title of the best track on the album, they were also able to get Chilton himself to contribute some guitar on “Can’t Hardly Wait”. “The Ledge” brought controversy, due to its lyrical depiction of suicide. The rest works just fine, as the band shows that, at least for now, they still had it. But after a pair of lesser albums, The Replacements were done by 1990…it just seems fitting that this band didn’t go on after their decade of the eighties. Yeah, there was a brief reunion in the 2010’s, but no albums came from that. The Replacements were a band of the eighties for sure, and the best way to get them at their best is that three album run from ’84 to ’87. (Also, drummer Chris Mars was a member of the Minneapolis supergroup, Golden Smog.)
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
British reggae inspired by Bob Marley. Steel Pulse came together in 1975, and have been playing ever since. They hold the distinction of being the first non-Jamaican reggae band to win a Best Reggae Album Grammy Award. Earth Crisis is their fifth album, and marks their first decade together. And as pleasant and danceable as it sounds, it covers some serious ground. The album cover gives you ample warning about that…Reagan and Andropov are shown as leaders of the cold war. It also includes images of the Pope, the Ku-Klux Klan, Vietnam refugees and starving African children. Quite the picture. The music is not that depressing, even with the subject matter not being all about love and roses.
“Steppin’ Out” was a hit, and everything else follows suit. Earth Crisis is labeled as a serious protest album, but it’s really not much more than some danceable reggae. Nothing really stands out, making it basically background music. This was a step back from their previous album, True Democracy, and a step behind their next, which would be the Grammy winning Babylon The Bandit. Their label, at the time of Earth Crisis, was trying to move the band into a more mainstream direction, which may be why this seems a bit tentative. Even though they are still together, Steel Pulse has slowed way down. Since 2004, they have released just a pair of records (although the last was nominated for another Grammy). Unfortunately, Earth Crisis is simply not remarkable enough to hold much interest.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
AEROSMITH
PERMANENT VACATION
1987 – GEFFEN
Produced By BRUCE FAIRBAIRN
1. Heart’s Doin’ Time
2. Magic Touch
3. Rag Doll
4. Simoriah
5. Dude (Looks Like A Lady)
6. St. John
7. Hangman Jury
8. Girl Keeps Coming Apart
9. Angel
10. Permanent Vacation
11. I’m Down
12. The Movie
For the record, Aerosmith never stopped…they just spent some time down the wrong road. And we all know what road that was. After their excellent 1976 album Rocks, Aerosmith took that trip, and it took the awhile to get back on track. Draw The Line was still pretty good, but something wasn’t right. Night In The Ruts was aptly named, and then Rock In A Hard Place and Done With Mirrors saw the band seeming to be almost done. Almost. And then, after what amounted to a lost decade, they were back with Permanent Vacation. They had actually resurfaced the year before with Run-D.M.C.’s cover of “Walk This Way”, which the band was included on. Here, guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford were both back, and Aerosmith found a new direction…pop metal.
And it worked. Only three of the songs here were written by only Aerosmith members…the rest includes outside writers like Jim Vallance and Desmond Child. After “Hangman Jury” failed as a single, they hit big with “Dude” (Looks Like A Lady)”, “Rag Doll” and “Angel”, which introduced Aerosmith to the world of the power ballad. “I’m Down” is a Beatles cover…but outside of these tracks, they were still finding their way back. Not to worry…the comeback would be complete on their next record, 1989’s Pump. Permanent Vacation is a goodbye to the dangerous hard rockers they once were, and a hello to Aerosmith as a pop band. There are always reminders of where they came from on their albums, and Steven Tyler is always a red hot vocalist. But this is the new Aerosmith. Like it or not, they came back from that detour a changed band.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
MARILYN MANSON
MECHANICAL ANIMALS
1998 – INTERSCOPE
Produced By MICHAEL BEINHORN, SEAN BEAVAN & MARILYN MANSON
1. Great Big White World
2. The Dope Show
3. Mechanical Animals
4. Rock Is Dead
5. Disassociative
6. The Speed Of Pain
7. Posthuman
8. I Want To Disappear
9. I Don’t Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me)
10. New Model No. 15
11. User Friendly
12. Fundamentally Loathsome
13. The Last Day On Earth
14. Coma White
When this came out, I was, honestly, not interested. I saw Marilyn Manson as more of an attention grab than as a serious musician. I have since learned that musicians have every right to express themselves in more ways than just with their songs. Took me awhile. But today, older me can appreciate this a whole lot more than younger me ever could. Mechanical Animals is their third album, and the second of a three part concept suite of releases. The songs deal with drugs (lots of them) and fame, and it’s actually a bit reminiscent of the Ziggy Stardust period of David Bowie. It’s heavy and loud…but there is also room for some pretty good hooks. And when the better songs are on, they will definitely reel you in…provided you are open to letting the music of Manson do that for you.
“We’re all stars in the dope show”…what a great hook and description of a life with drugs. “The Dope Show” couldn’t help but be a hit. “Rock Is Dead” and “I Don’t Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me)” are definite highlights here, and prove that despite the horror show visuals, this can be a lot of fun. Brian Warner (who uses the name Marilyn Manson for himself and the band) doesn’t have the strongest voice, but he makes up for it with his persona, effects and the drama of it all. Mechanical Animals does have some weak spots, but for the most part, it’s a pretty good and entertaining record. Warner has become the only constant member, but he’s still at it…there are 11 Marilyn Manson albums to date. Mechanical Animals will definitely not bore you. And that’s something.
Link _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
