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Josh Friedberg: Music Historian's Corner writesRediscovering Our Record Collections: Joan Osborne’s “Relish”
by Joshua Friedberg
Any discussion of Joan Osborne’s career begins—and often ends—with her one hit, the controversial “One of Us,” a song that was everywhere c. 1995. The problem is that as great as that single is, it doesn’t show off her soulful voice. I’ve seen reviews of her music that express surprise that she can sing at all, but her multiplatinum disc, Relish, includes plenty of surprises for the average listener who purchased it for that one hit.
When I first got into this album around seventh grade, I was listening to a lot of canonical classic rock, and I seriously thought that Relish was one of the greatest albums ever made. I was shocked when I didn’t see it on “best albums of the 1990s” lists. Of course, today, having heard more music from the ‘90s, I can see the relative folly of my youthful judgment, but going back to this album, I’m surprised at how well most of it holds up.
Granted, this is a more retro-sounding album than more acclaimed albums of 1994-95, such as PJ Harvey’s To Bring You My Love and Hole’s Live Through This. But the electric piano straight from ‘70s soul, the swampy harmonica groove of “Dracula Moon,” and the eerie slowness of her cover of Bob Dylan’s “Man in the Long Black Coat” are appealing to me, regardless of whether or not they would be to most rock critics oriented towards innovation.
The album sounds more akin to the swaggering rock ‘n’ soul of the Black Crowes than to most of the Lilith Fair crew of singer-songwriters that Osborne toured with in 1997: there’s a real groove in tracks like the rocking “Right Hand Man” and the T. Rex-sampling “Ladder” that you don’t associate with the music of (admittedly talented) artists like Sarah McLachlan and Tori Amos.
So, this album holds up as a retro (some might say “timeless”) collection of songs. Other highlights include “St. Teresa,” “Pensacola,” and “One of Us,” of course. Just a warning, though: much of the album doesn’t sound at all like that one hit.
SKaiser writes@CHIRPRADIO (Week of February 13)
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Kyle writesThe 40th Anniversary of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours”: Ranking the Tracks
by Kyle Sanders
On February 4th, 1977, Fleetwood Mac released Rumours, their eleventh studio album and second release featuring American duo Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Forty years later, it ranks as one of the best selling albums of all time, with over forty-five million copies sold worldwide.
It not only ranks as the band's most successful album, but also garnered their only Grammy win for Album of the Year. The album's legacy has inspired dozens of musicians since its release, an eleven track tell-all of rock and roll's greatest soap opera, harmonized and produced with raw emotion and rhythmic energy.
The album's creation is a memorable narrative of mythic proportions, and is ripe for a segment on "Drunk History" or even a Broadway musical: coming off the success of their "White Album" with hits like "Say You Love Me" and "Rhiannon," the band went to work at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California, and during the twelve month production, relationships floundered. Christine and John McVie got divorced, Stevie and Lindsey broke up, and Mick Fleetwood suffered marital woes when he discovered his wife was having an affair with his best friend (Nicks and Fleetwood would eventually have a brief affair as well).
Throughout all the tumultuous drama, the trio of singer-songwriters Buckingham, McVie, and Nicks wrote and recorded some of the most honest and heartbreaking lyrics ever composed. Listening to all forty minutes worth of music, it's easy to hear the catchy melodies at first, but continuous plays reveal the lyrical history and goings-on within the band. From Nick's therapeutic meditations to Buckingham's stinging accusations to McVie's hopeful wishes for a better tomorrow, it's no wonder this album remains as influential now as it did four decades ago.
Upon first obtaining the album when I was thirteen, I loved the catchy songs, but it wasn't until I went through my first breakup that each song spoke to me in a different light--and it's one of the reasons the album manages to reinvent itself to me time and time again, through each new romantic trial and tribulation I endure--and there's been quite a few! To celebrate and recognize it's fortieth anniversary, I've ranked all eleven tracks from worst (which isn't even the right word to use since EVERY track is a gift to the ears) to best (which was a difficult choice between the first and second ranked songs).
CHIRP DJ writesFriday MP3 Shuffle: Happy Birthday Dave Davies Edition
by John Hardberger
Today on the MP3 Shuffle, we toast David Russell Gordon “Dave” Davies, singer and guitarist of the Kinks, who today turns 69. Dave and his brother Ray were the Kink’s most consistent member, sticking together through a variety of lineup and sound changes from the band’s formation in 1964 to its 1996 split-up. Davies was a guitar pioneer in the instrument’s earliest pop music days: he engineered the guitar tone for the band’s breakthrough single “You Really Got Me” by slashing the cone of his Elpico amplifier with a razor blade. This was one of the first distorted guitar riffs to appear in the burgeoning genre of rock and roll, and it inspired many of the earliest attempts at Heavy Metal and Punk. Though mostly known for his guitar chops (brother Ray was the lead singer and de facto frontman), Dave penned some of the Kink’s most memorable and introspective songs, like “Strangers,” from 1970 classic Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One.
To wish Dave well, let’s play the shuffle. Grab your MP3 or electronic device of your choice, press the shuffle button, and share the first 10 songs that play (in the comments below):