{"id":22374,"date":"2022-01-28T05:30:25","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T10:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22374"},"modified":"2022-01-28T12:05:56","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T17:05:56","slug":"album-review-marshall-crenshaw-447","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/28\/album-review-marshall-crenshaw-447\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Marshall Crenshaw — #447"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I vividly recall just how knocked out I was upon first hearing Marshall Crenshaw<\/a>\u2019s self-titled LP debut in 1982. Recorded four decades ago this month, it was released a few months later. Its chiming sound and uncluttered instrumentation provided a perfect canvas for Crenshaw\u2019s wonderful songwriting and appealing vocals. In some ways it was totally out of step with the then-prevailing fashion (though it did likely appeal to some of the people who bought Stray Cats records), but then as now it\u2019s a stone classic.<\/p>\n

Subsequent albums built on that creative success, expanding Crenshaw\u2019s musical landscape but remaining true to his pop (in the best sense of the word) musical values. What those records didn\u2019t do, however, is make Crenshaw a household name or win him truckloads of cash. Unlike today, in those days, record label did sometimes stick with quality artists, giving them time to (potentially) find a larger audience. So Crenshaw released no less than five albums on Warner Brothers. They\u2019re all great \u2013 each in their own way \u2013 and all deserve a place in your collection.<\/p>\n

When he and Warners parted, Crenshaw went on to release an album on MCA. Working with producer Ed Stasium, he created yet another superb album with 1989\u2019s Life\u2019s Too Short<\/i>. Critics were near unanimous in their praise for it, and the public was near unanimous in its indifference. After that experience, Marshall Crenshaw became an indie artist, and has remained one ever since. (He\u2019s also an author, curator, filmmaker, actor and more, but a discussion of that lies beyond the scope of this review).<\/p>\n

His pace of releasing albums slowed markedly in that period, not least because of his involvement in the pursuits mentioned above. Miracle of Science<\/i><\/a> appeared in 1996, and it would be three more years before a follow-up appeared. Released in the final year of the 20th<\/sup> century, #447<\/i> showed (to those who would pay attention) that Marshall Crenshaw\u2019s creativity had not dimmed a bit.<\/p>\n

The delightfully noisy \u201cOpening (It\u2019s All About Rock)\u201d doesn\u2019t sound like the rest of the album, but it\u2019s a delight. \u201cDime a Dozen Guy\u201d possesses a jazzy flavor applied to a stellar pop tune. \u201cTelevision Light\u201d is transcendent pop, with soaring yet subtle production values worthy of its strong melody. \u201cGlad Goodbye\u201d returns to the spare vibe of his debut. The atmospheric instrumental \u201cWest of Bald Knob\u201d will remind listeners of just how underrated a player Crenshaw is.<\/p>\n

\u201cT.M.D.\u201d is a sweet melody that (again) hearkens back to Crenshaw\u2019s debut, with some lovely string-synth work added to the mix. \u201cTell Me About It\u201d sports a loose-limbed opening, but once it finds its footing, it follows on with the consistent quality that\u2019s a Crenshaw hallmark. It\u2019s a wonderfully memorable song. \u201cReady Right Now\u201d rocks harder than most of the other material on #447, but Crenshaw is skilled enough to rock out without sacrificing melody.<\/p>\n

Marshall Crenshaw channels the spirit of Wes Montgomery on the sultry \u201cEydie\u2019s Tune.\u201d As fine a singer and lyricist as he is, this tune (along with \u201cWest of Bald Knob\u201d) underscore the fact than an album full of Crenshaw instrumentals would be a very, very good thing indeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight there in Front of Me\u201d is another song that would have fit nicely on the (already perfect) \u201882 debut. Crenshaw reaches to the top of his vocal range for the harmonies, and it works. The album\u2019s third instrumental cut, \u201cYou Said What?\u201d again leans in a jazz direction. It\u2019s simply fantastic, sounding like the theme for a great classic movie you haven\u2019t seen yet.<\/p>\n

The original album ended there. A new reissue on Crenshaw\u2019s own imprint adds two bonus cuts, both of which are new. Both show how little Marshall Crenshaw has changed in the two\u2014lus decades since he made #447<\/i>. \u201cWill of the Wind\u201d has a stinging lead guitar lick and breezy vocals; the juxtaposition of the two is perfect. The tune is as superb as anything on the flawless \u201899 album. \u201cSanta Fe\u201d is a Greg Turner composition with a swooning, high-lonesome vibe. The contemplative number (a) fits well on the album, (b) provides a tidy ending for the new reissue and (c) further whets listeners\u2019 appetites for more new music from the master of melody, Marshall Crenshaw.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I vividly recall just how knocked out I was upon first hearing Marshall Crenshaw\u2019s self-titled LP debut in 1982. Recorded four decades ago this month, it was released a few […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,62,64,65],"tags":[1412],"class_list":["post-22374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","category-rawk","category-reissue","category-review","tag-marshall-crenshaw","cat-51-id","cat-62-id","cat-64-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22374"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22378,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22374\/revisions\/22378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}