REVIEW: Pocket Reviews #6 - Female vocalists win out again
Richard Lloyd
single and album reviews from my personal CD collection. All CDs are sourced
from the UK unless otherwise specified.
Pocket Reviews Contents #6 (sub-titled: Female vocalists win out again)
==========================
CD album Artist
"Baby Animals" Baby Animals
"Please Yourself" (Double CD) Bananarama
"The Best Of Nanci Griffith" Nanci Griffith
"Live At Phoenix" (German CD album) Rachel Morrison *BEST ALBUM*
"GP/Grevious Angel" Gram Parsons
"Rick's Road" Texas
CD single Artist
"I Love I Hate" (Disc 1) Neil Arthur
"I Love I Hate" (Disc 2) Neil Arthur
"I'll Wait" Taylor Dayne
"Bye Bye Baby" Madonna
"I'll Remember" Madonna
"Graham Robert Wood EP" Pooka
"Love Sneakin' Up On You" Bonnie Raitt
"I Really Like The Idea" Scarlet
"So In Love With You" (Disc 1) Texas
"So In Love With You" (Disc 2) Texas *BEST SINGLE*
CD Album Pocket Reviews #6
==========================
Album: "Baby Animals" by Baby Animals.
Details: 11 tracks / Total time 45:13 / Released 1991 on Imago.
Singles: "Early Warning" (8 out of 10), "Painless" (8 out of 10).
Style: Guitar rock.
Bought: 4th February 1994 - 7.99 pounds.
Comment: If this disc was as good throughout as the first three tracks here
("Rush You", "Early Warning" and "Painless"), then this would be a
stunner of a debut from this Aussie band fronted by the attractive
Suze DeMarchi. However, from the fourth track onwards it's a roller-
coast in quality terms, with "Big Time Friends" being the only
latter track really to hit home with me. Sometimes, Baby Animals
stray frighteningly close to Heart-style hairdryer rock with tracks
like "Make It End" and "One Too Many", whilst "One Word" sounds like
a suspect rip-off off Queen's "One Vision" ! Overall, I'd say the
band rely on heavy guitar too often at the expense of melody (a
classic problem riddling some 95% of hard rock/metal), but you can
see they have potential if they turned down the macho guitar postur-
ing and concentrating on the lyrics and melodies more.
Rating: 7 out of 10. Some very appealing tracks here, so there's still hope.
Album: "Please Yourself" by Bananarama (Double CD).
Details: 10+6 tracks / Total time 39:18+39:14 / Released 1993 on London.
Style: Dance pop.
Bought: 21st January 1994 - 5.99 pounds.
Comment: This was the Nana's first release as a duo after Jacqui O'Sullivan
quit in 1991 and also [unfortunately] renews their production
acquaintance with the dreaded Stock & Waterman (yes, they are a duo
now too !) after dabbling with Youth on a few hits. It goes to show
that production values can severely affect your project - Bananarama
projects with Swain & Jolley at the helm have been much more palat-
able. Here we get the usual robotic backing and some dubious cover
versions thrown in ("More More More" is pretty soulless for
instance). Even what appear to be originals like the singles "Movin'
On" and "Last Thing On My Mind" sound derivative and Disc 1 generally
leaves the listener [me !] cold. However the whole reason for buying
this is that Disc 2 contains 6 remixes of their hits and is a lot
more fun, although it's not clear if the remixes are new incarnations
or just lifted off 12" vinyl/CD singles. There's some clever segueing
to join the tracks together which seems to imply that it may be
specific to this disc and you can't go wrong with these remixes of
"Venus", "I Want You Back", "Love In the First Degree", "Really
Saying Something" and "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye".
Rating: 6 out of 10. Dragged down by Disc 1 - a shame that 6 tracks on Disc 2
weren't tacked onto the end of Disc 1 to make a 16 track/78 min CD.
Trivia: I'm not sure the writer's guild would be happy that's there's *no*
songwriting credits mentioned anywhere on the sleeve or discs !
Album: "The Best Of Nanci Griffith" by Nanci Griffith.
Details: 19 tracks / Total time 71:52 / Released 1993 on MCA.
Singles: "Heaven" (9 out of 10).
Style: Folk.
Bought: 23rd February 1994 - 9.99 pounds.
Comment: This compilation is carefully put together, except perhaps for the
surprising omission of her "Heaven" single which would have rounded
the disc to a more sensible 20 tracks/76 minutes. We do, however, get
the non-album "Tumble And Fall" (ironically previously only available
on the rare "Heaven" UK CD single [which I have]) and a live
rendition of "The Road To Aberdeen". Everything else here is
extracted from albums up to "Other Voices Other Rooms" and includes
the definitive "From A Distance", a great cover of John Prine's
"Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness", "Listen To The Radio" and
"Outbound Plane". The fine tracklist is backed up with an equally
good booklet, introduced by a glowing tribute from an NME writer,
then track copyright details, full song lyrics and finally musician
credits. Almost the ideal introductory disc for people who haven't
discovered Nanci's charm yet.
Rating: 9 out of 10. Just short of heaven :-)
Trivia: This compilation did not get a US release, which is shame because
Nanci's original albums are often sub-40 minutes and cry out for a
compilation like this. Nanci has a new album out in the US in October
1994, so this compilation doesn't mark the end by any means...
Album: "Live At Phoenix" by Rachel Morrison. German CD release.
Details: 8 tracks / Total time 36:10 / Released 1993 on Anderland.
Style: Heartfelt pop.
Received: 9th April 1994 - from Germany.
Comment: This is an extremely rare CD only available in German WOM stores and
it's the first CD release I know of from the ex-Bliss lead singer.
In this short set we have Bliss songs ("I Hear You Call" and "Gotta
Give Up"), a cover ("Natural Woman") and 5 brand new compositions
(which presumably will appear on her debut solo studio album). The
live performance (February 1993 at Phoenix - presumably a German
club) is a wonderfully stripped down acoustic one, allowing Rachel's
amazing voice to shine. Of the new songs, I enjoyed the emotional
"The Universe" and the fragile "When He Left" the most. In general,
the mood is one of tenderness and heartbreak, but we do get a medium
tempo chugging number "You Got The Rhythm" [for once, the guitar
backing upstaged Rachel !]. My only complaint is that I would be
upset if a concert lasted only 36 minutes...
Rating: 9 out of 10. This begs for 3 or 4 more tracks !
Album: "GP/Grievous Angel" by Gram Parsons.
Details: 20 tracks / Total time 75:11 / Released 1990 on Reprise.
Style: Country rock.
Bought: 8th February 1994 - 7.49 pounds.
Comment: For once, a record company has given customers value for money by
putting 2 "old" albums on one CD (if only The Beatles had done
this !). Emmylou Harris (Parsons' girlfriend at the time and now back
in vogue - she just appeared on the dreadful Michael Ball show here
in the UK) supplies a significant vocal contribution on both albums
and makes it a much more palatable disc than would otherwise be the
case, because it does suffer a little from the traditional "twang" of
fiddle/pedal steel/banjo accompaniment that is the main reason people
pigeon-hole (and dislike) country music. For me, the plaintive
ballads like "She", "$1000 Wedding" and particularly the cover of
the "Love Hurts" classic worked better than the countrified numbers.
Perhaps the most crossover country rock song has to be the uptempo
"I Can't Dance" (nothing to do with the Chris Rea song - probably
closer to Elton John's "Bite Your Lip (Get Up And Dance)" :-) ). The
booklet is pretty good here, with the usual multi-page tribute from
a couple of Gram fans and a complete set of song lyrics.
Rating: 7 out of 10. A disc more likely to make me a fan of Emmylou !
Trivia: Gram died of a heroin overdose just after completing "Grievous
Angel", which was released 5 months after his death.
Album: "Rick's Road" by Texas.
Details: 12 tracks / Total time 46:43 / Released 1993 on Vertigo (Phonogram).
Singles: "So Called Friend Discs 1 & 2" (9 and 7 out of 10),
"You Owe It All To Me Discs 1 & 2" (8 and 7 out of 10),
"I'm So In Love With You Discs 1 & 2" (8 and 10 out of 10).
Style: Guitar pop/rock.
Received: 2nd May 1994 - a birthday present !
Comment: You know, there's very few CDs I will play both often and completely
from start to finish and Texas' debut album "Southside" is one of
those rare beasts. Since then, Texas have released "Mother's Heaven"
(added percussion wrecked their fine guitar sound, plus the songs
were weaker) and now this album, "Rick's Road", which I reckon is
somewhere inbetween the two. The three singles "So Called Friend",
"You Owe It All To Me" and "I'm So In Love With You" (beautifully
fragile ballad that would have been even better purely acoustic)
are classic Texas showcases with Sharleen Spiteri's crystal clear
voice and the band's guitar playing really shining through. However,
some of the non-singles tracks don't stand up too well to close
inspection with annoying vocal distortion on "Fade Away" and a wall
of electric guitar thrash in the right speaker during "Beautiful
Angel". Perhaps the best non-single track is "You've Got To Live A
Little", so if you're reading this Vertigo, that's the next one to
release :-)
Rating: 8 out of 10. It's difficult to get accepted by UK music critics as a
Scottish band nowadays - Texas are accused of sounding too American,
The Proclaimers of sounding too Scottish and Wet Wet Wet of sounding,
well, just completely crap.
Trivia: "Rick's Road" is the name of the road leading up to the Bearsville
Studios (New York) where this album was recorded.
CD Single Pocket Reviews #6
===========================
Single: "I Love I Hate Disc 1" by Neil Arthur.
Details: 3 tracks / Total time 12:30 / Released 1994 on Chrysalis.
Parent: Unknown.
Siblings: See review below.
Style: Synth-pop.
Bought: 9th April 1994 - 25p.
Comment: I've always had a soft spot for early OMD, Human League or even
The Pet Shop Boys ("Disco" remix album), but I never really got into
Blancmange so this solo release from an ex-Blancmange member was a
bit of a risk, but I actually like the title track ! It's got a nice
backing vocal track and is quite catchy despite Neil's naturally
morose voice [why is it that all synth pop has depressing lead
vocals ?]. Also here is Arthur's "Festival" (a DREADFUL chorus !)
and a remix of the 1987 UK #7 Blancmange hit "Living On The Ceiling"
[did nothing for me].
Rating: 7 out of 10. Surprisingly good title track.
Trivia: This is in a thick plastic jewel case, which normally costs 50-55p,
so this cost less than the packaging it's in !
Single: "I Love I Hate Disc 2" by Neil Arthur.
Details: 4 tracks / Total time 21:07 / Released 1994 on Chrysalis.
Parent: Unknown.
Siblings: See review above.
Bought: 9th April 1994 - 25p.
Comment: In a nice touch for beleaguered UK 2-CD single buyers, the title
track is supplied in a different version here (extended mix), with
added percussion - not that it needed it - and a longer intro and
bridge. Yes, guitar [complete with feedback] is shockingly prominent
on the track "Wendy You're A Bore" which confusingly mixes "When did
I..." with "Wendy" during the chorus. "Oh No Not Yet" is just plain
bizarre, starting with an echoed repeating of the title phrase for
90 seconds and apart from looped backing nothing much else happened !
Finally, Chrysalis strangely decided to include a 12" mix of the
Blancmange minor UK hit "Feel Me" [why not "Blind Vision" or "Don't
Tell Me" ?], which really wasn't good enough to deserve a remix in
the first place.
Rating: 6 out of 10. It's like going back a decade listening to this stuff...
Trivia: Blancmange probably obtained the most fame for doing BETTER in the
UK charts (#22) with Abba's excellent "The Day Before You Came" than
the original version (#32).
Single: "I'll Wait" by Taylor Dayne.
Details: 4 tracks / Total time 30:56 / Released 1994 on Arista.
Parent: "Soul Dancing" album.
Siblings: "Can't Get Enough Of Your Love" (7 out of 10).
Style: Pop.
Bought: 5th April 1994 - 99p.
Comment: Taylor is definitely the "Queen Of Scream" in my books, but I think
she lost the wild image when she changed into a blonde dance diva
instead of rough banshee :-) Unfortunately, "I'll Wait" *isn't* a
Barry White cover and suffers by comparison because there's far too
much repetition and mechanical dance backing in all 4 remixes here.
For the record these are the "Hot Mix", "Soul Mix", "7 Minutes Of
Silk" and an over-long 14:47 "New Anthem Mix". What surprised me was
that Shep Pettibone - the only consistently good remixer of the last
decade IMHO - produced the original album version, but *didn't*
supply a remix on this disc :-(
Rating: 4 out of 10. Soulless dancing more like.
Single: "Bye Bye Baby" by Madonna.
Details: 7 tracks / Total time 31:51 / Released 1993 on Maverick/Sire/Warner.
Parent: "Erotica" album.
Siblings: "Bad Girl" (7 out of 10), "Deeper And Deeper" (7 out of 10),
"Fever" (5 out of 10), "Rain" (3 out of 10).
Style: Pop.
Bought: 7th July 1994 - 2.99 pounds.
Comment: Just listing the versions of the title track gets you out of breath:
"Album Version", "N.Y. Hip Hop Mix", "California Hip Hop Jazzy",
"Madonna's Night On The Club", "Rick Does Madonna's Dub", "House
Mix" and "Madonna Gets Hardcore". To be honest, this track from
"Erotica" wasn't one of the more obvious singles (it's criminal that
"Thief Of Hearts" was never released as a single) - Maddy's voice is
annoyingly distorted [WHY do so many artists play this stupid
trick ?] and she virtually talks her way through the song. To be
honest, the remixes don't sound that much different from each other
(apart from some tracks' backing - "Madonna's Night On The Club" and
"Rick Does Madonna's Dub" beef up the beat substantially for
instance).
Rating: 5 out of 10. I'd have liked an "Undistorted Mix" :-)
Trivia: This may be a German import because I don't remember seeing it
get a regular UK release and this disc was previously selling at
7.99 pounds [until HMV got bored and put in a sale] !
Single: "I'll Remember" by Madonna.
Details: 4 tracks / Total time 20:21 / Released 1994 on Maverick/Sire/Warner.
Parent: "Without Honors" movie soundtrack album.
Style: Pop.
Bought: 30th March 1994 - 1.99 pounds.
Comment: I always think Maddy sounds at her weakest with ballads and this one
isn't much cop (mind you, it's not as bad as the awful "This Used To
Be My Playground"). Also here are two William Orbit remixes of the
title track: the unsurprisingly named "Orbit Remix" (more subdued
backing than the original and I preferred it that way) and the
"Guerilla Beach Mix" (predictable waves-on-the-beach samples and too
much echo really annoyed me !). Finally we get the live (from Sydney)
version of her poor "Why's It So Hard" track from "Erotica" (the live
track is taken directly from her "The Girlie Show - Live Down Under"
video).
Rating: 4 out of 10. Sorry Maddy, your voice isn't good enough for ballads.
Trivia: MTV Europe erased all mention of this single whilst it was in the UK
charts (yes, it made the UK Top 10) - refusing to play the promo
video whilst it was in the charts and also deleting its position from
the "Hit List UK" rundown. Extreme and bizarre anti-Madonna behaviour
from those MTV Europe idiots, because it's the least controversial
song and video she's probably ever released !
Single: "Graham Robert Wood EP" by Pooka.
Details: 4 tracks / Total time 15:28 / Released 1994 on Warner.
Parent: "Pooka" album.
Style: Acoustic folk.
Bought: 9th April 1994 - 99p.
Comment: Don't ask me who Pooka are [all I can tell you is that they are
two women] or who Graham Robert Wood is ! Pooka sing a sort of
harmonised folk with acoustic guitars, but before you get all excited
I must say that I found them a bit of a disappointment: they're no
UK version of the Indigo Girls, that's for sure. For a start, the
harmonies are rather discordant (the end of "Blue Star" here is
excrutiating for instance) and the songs here seem to meander
without any hook. For the record, we have the title track, "Blue
Star", "Stuart Strange" and "Sex On" [the best of a bad lot], but
they all exhibit the symptoms I've described. Put it this way, I'm
amazed Warner signed this pair without forcing them to go for
singing lessons !
Rating: 2 out of 10. If this is typical of their work, then no wonder
no-one's ever heard of them...
Trivia: This comes with a pre-paid reply card for more info - guess where
that's ended up ?
Single: "Love Sneakin' Up On You" by Bonnie Raitt.
Details: 4 tracks / Total time 15:03 / Released 1994 on Capitol.
Parent: "Longing In Their Hearts" album.
Style: R&B.
Bought: 29th March 1994 - 99p.
Comment: One slightly disappointing feature of Bonnie's career over the years
is her heavy reliance on other songwriters (or the use of covers) and
the title track here is no exception (written by Tom Snow and Jimmy
Scott). Having said that, it fits it well very well with Bonnie's
recent [and very popular] style, but it's not exactly ground-
breaking. The reasonable "Hell To Pay" is next up, but with a title
like that, I'd have expected a Jeff Healey Band stormer instead of
Bonnie's typical laidback style. Even MORE laidback is "Baby Mine"
(a cover ?), here performed with Was (Not Was). We finish off with
the best track ("Nick Of Time"), but I wish there was another new
track on this disc instead of falling back on safe territory.
Rating: 7 out of 10. Perfect mellow music, but you have to be in the mood.
Trivia: "Nick Of Time" and "Hell To Pay" are wrongly listed (twice on the
sleeve and once on the non-playing side of the CD) as being tracks
2 and 4 respectively, when in fact they are tracks 4 and 2 !
Single: "I Really Like The Idea" by Scarlet.
Details: 3 tracks / Total time 10:14 / Released 1994 on Warner.
Parent: Unknown.
Style: Pop.
Bought: 9th April 1994 - 25p.
Comment: Scarlet are the female trio of Joe Youle, Cheryl Parker and Joanna
Fox and have a style similar to Forget-Me-Nots, Fuzzbox or Voice Of
The Beehive - "busy fun pop" would be a reasonable description of
the title track which is also in the extended "I Really, Really Like
The Idea" form [just repeated instrumental bridge]. There's a change
of pace with the "So Big" piano ballad and the group harmonise quite
well in the chorus. A question remains as to who actually performs
on guitar/piano/percussion since I seem to remember the promo video
having session musicians in silhouette in the background.
Rating: 8 out of 10. Throwaway bubblegum pop that needed a fourth track on
the disc.
Single: "So In Love With You Disc 1" by Texas.
Details: 4 tracks / Total time 14:46 / Released 1994 on Vertigo (Phonogram).
Parent: "Ricks Road" album (see review above).
Siblings: "So Called Friend Discs 1 & 2" (9 and 7 out of 10),
"You Owe It All To Me Discs 1 & 2" (8 and 7 out of 10),
also see review below.
Style: Guitar pop/rock. The best band ever to come out of Scotland IMHO.
Bought: 1st February 1994 - 1.99 pounds.
Comment: Vertigo have been very canny with these Texas singles - the title
tracks are the best efforts on the parent album and the remaining
non-album tracks on the discs have been eminently collectable - it
still prevented this high quality music from making the dance-crud
infested UK Top 10. This disc comes with the album version of the
title track (a fine ballad) and three live tracks recorded at the
Carnegie Deli, New York for BBC Radio 1: "So Called Friend", a
cover of Bob Marley's "One Love" and "You Owe It All To Me". To be
honest, these live recordings are somewhat smooth (no audience for
instance) - I probably enjoyed "You Owe It All To Me" the most.
Rating: 8 out of 10. I'd have preferred a more raw live sound.
Single: "So In Love With You Disc 2" by Texas.
Details: 4 tracks / Total time 21:33 / Released 1994 on Vertigo (Phonogram).
Parent: "Ricks Road" album (see review above).
Siblings: "So Called Friend Discs 1 & 2" (9 and 7 out of 10),
"You Owe It All To Me Discs 1 & 2" (8 and 7 out of 10),
also see review above.
Style: Guitar pop/rock.
Bought: 1st February 1994 - 1.99 pounds. Gatefold Digipak.
Comment: Oh just W-O-W W-O-W W-O-W ! After complaining that "So In Love With
You" on the album would sound better acoustic, we get exactly that
here as the first track on this magnificent disc - a gorgeous live
acoustic guitar version: Sharleen has a voice to die for, that's for
sure. If you hanker for a full guitar band sound, then a live "Why
Believe In You" delivers absolutely brilliant electric guitar
playing, far surpassing the studio version on the "Mother's Heaven"
album. Next up is a live "Prayer For You" (very good, although I've
been brainwashed to prefer the album version, having played it an
enormous number of times :-) ) and finally we get a live version of
one of my faves from their debut album, "Everyday Now", which again
is good here but I prefer the album version.
Rating: 10 out of 10. A sensational CD release - up there as one of the best
CD singles of 1994 in my books.
Trivia: All live tracks were recorded at the Old Fruit Market, Glasgow on
7th November 1993 - the same location used for the very good "Loudon
& Co." UK TV series [which had Texas on its final show ironically !].
Notes:
* Please don't send me any begging e-mail asking to send you copies of
these CDs. I already have enough international contacts !
* If you have WWW access, check out http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/users/rkl/cds/
for an analysis of my CD collection.
* The next Pocket Reviews (#7) will include Kate Bush, Mary-Chapin Carpenter,
Alison Moyet, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Chris Rea, Matthew Sweet and
Paul Young.
* CDs acquired since 1st March 1994 awaiting a Pocket Review:
51 albums and 63 singles = a total of 114 CDs.
Richard K. Lloyd, E-mail: r...@csc.liv.ac.uk
Computer Science Dept., WWW: http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/users/rkl/
Liverpool University,
Merseyside, England,
Great Britain.