My decade-long love affair with Stereo Review was pretty much over by this time. John and I had just moved well south of downtown Urbana, to our basement apartment on Michigan Avenue; it was a swell spot, but I missed being a stone’s throw from my favorite diner, The Courier Café. Maybe even more importantly, I could no longer make the easy, one-block trek to the Urbana Free Library, so it wasn’t nearly so easy to get my music magazine fix, Rolling Stone subscription aside.
That doesn’t mean we can’t take a look inside an issue from then, though–right?
Articles
Mark Peel Interviews Thomas Dolby
Dolby had just released his first album in four years, Aliens Ate My Buick, and Peel uses the occasion to get TD on the record about producing (Prefab Sprout, Joni Mitchell), soundtrack-writing (Howard the Duck, Gothic), making videos, and, of course, his new album. Among other things, Mr. Blinded with Science defends his lyrics on the first single (“It’s not about women, it’s about airheads.”), and goes on about working with George Clinton, who wrote “Hot Sauce” (“George doesn’t even confine himself to this planet.”).
Polygram’s First Compact Disk Videos
I never bought a CDV—not even sure I ever knew they existed until now—but apparently folks were trying to jump-start the DVD era even before the 80s closed out. CDVs featured one video and four audio tracks. SR identifies twenty titles in the first (only?) wave of releases, including titles by Bon Jovi, Cameo, Cinderella, John Cougar Mellencamp, the Moody Blues, and Rush. Wondering how many of these are in the hands of the folks over at the CD Project…
Our reviewers this month include a couple of new ones for me: Chris Albertson, Phyl Garland, Ron Givens, Roy Hemming, Alanna Nash, Mark Peel, and Steve Simels.
Best of the Month
–k.d. lang, Shadowland (AN) “…perhaps this record is only a side excursion from what promises to be a certain, if circuitous, trip to the top.” lang lured Owen Bradley, Patsy Cline’s producer, out of retirement for this stunning work.
–Marti Jones, Used Guitars (RG) “…an incomparable voice—thick and sensuous on the bottom, clear and silvery on top—and an incurably romantic personality.” It’s one of the last new vinyl LPs I ever purchased; it became a CD-only world for me very soon after the fall of 1988.
One of the rare cases where I own both BotM features; they’re fabulous.
Selected Other LPs Reviewed (* = featured review)
Rock/Pop/Country/Soul:
–*Camper Van Beethoven, Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart (SS) “Best Sixties Album Made in 1988 by a College Radio Band…arch and absolutely sincere at the same time.”
–Michael Crawford, Songs from the Stage and Screen (RH) “His combination of youthful exuberance and romantic charm even manages to win out over the bland orchestra-and-chorus arrangements.”
–Everything But the Girl, Idlewild (RG) “These are the torch songs of normal people living normal lives, universal situations presented in low relief with a subtlety that gives them great power.”
–*Daryl Hall and John Oates, Ooh Yeah! (RG) “If you’ve ever loved Hall’s emotive crooning, Oates’s sweet harmonies, and the funky-but-cool band behind them, this new record will satisfy you down to your boogity-shoes.”
–Evelyn “Champagne” King, Flirt (PG) “…she proves that she still has the power to deliver classy dance music that’s tuneful and spirited.”
–Dan Reed Network, S/T (RG) “When it comes to writing catchy tunes, Reed stocks more hooks than a bait-and-tackle shop, and his Network plays as if its musical life hung in the balance.”
–Feargal Sharkey, Wish (RG) “…five out of the ten tracks are hardly memorable. But the good ones are very good.”
–Southern Pacific, Zuma (AN) “Anyone looking for artistic or spiritual vision…is not likely to come away satisfied.”
–Van Halen, OU812 (RG) “…the music seems less cartoony than before.”
–Neil Young and the Blue Notes, This Note’s for You (SS) “…this latest installment of Young’s ongoing identity crisis is at best a middling effort.”
Jazz:
—Classic Jazz Piano (1927-1957) (CA) “…reflects the diversity of jazz in the most compelling way.”
–Gil Evans, Bud & Bird (CA) “My advice is: pick up that Verve album, or any of the Davis/Evans sessions, instead.”
–Ella Fitzgerald, Ella in Rome—The Birthday Concert (CA) “Everything you have ever loved about Ella Fitzgerald is reflected in this previously unreleased, truly superb fortieth-birthday celebration, recorded in Rome’s Teatro Sistina in 1958.”
The Music of My Life 