{"id":8481,"date":"2015-09-09T05:30:32","date_gmt":"2015-09-09T09:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=8481"},"modified":"2015-10-19T12:57:52","modified_gmt":"2015-10-19T12:57:52","slug":"hundred-word-reviews-for-september-part-8-of-8-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2015\/09\/09\/hundred-word-reviews-for-september-part-8-of-8-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundred-word Reviews for September, Part 8 of 8"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This current round of hundred-word reviews wraps up with four archival\/reissue releases from the fine folks at Omnivore Recordings, and a self-released retrospective form an overlooked Nashville group.<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/raging_fire.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"280\" vspace=\"20\" \/><\/center><strong>Raging Fire \u2013 <\/strong><em><strong>Everything is Roses: Anthology 1985-1989<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nThe nexus wherein country and punk styles meet has been explored by a number of noteworthy bands: <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=6579\"><strong>X<\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=5704\"><strong>Lone Justice<\/strong><\/a> are two that come immediately to mind. Far less-known was Nashville&#8217;s <strong>Raging Fire<\/strong>. Singer <strong>Melora Zaner<\/strong> wrote songs that explored feminism, an all-too-uncommon perspective in popular music. <em>Everything is Roses<\/em> brings together the band&#8217;s 1985 debut EP <em>A Family Thing<\/em>, their 1986 album <em>Faith Love Was Made Of<\/em>, a clutch of unreleased material documenting the group up through the end of the 80s, and a pretty ace new track, \u201cMore Than This\u201d (most definitely not a <strong>Roxy Music<\/strong> cover).<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/dion_bitter.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"280\" vspace=\"20\" \/><\/center><strong>Dion \u2013 <\/strong><em><strong>Recorded Live at The Bitter End, August 1971<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"float: right; padding: 10px; width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=musoscribe-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B00TTLS9BS&amp;asins=B00TTLS9BS&amp;linkId=APL77L5UY5ZDUDNN&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nDion was always more than a pop singer; the best of his folk-protest material combined the earnest approach of <strong>Phil Ochs<\/strong> with a more commercially-leaning voice that could please fans of singer\/songwriters like <strong>James Taylor<\/strong>. This crystal clear recording documents a solo set at the legendary NYC folk club. Occasionally acoustic readings of rock&#8217;n&#8217;roll tunes (\u201cToo Much Monkey Business\u201d) are scattered among the more folk-styled material (\u201cAbraham, Martin and John,\u201d \u201cOne Too Many Mornings\u201d). \u201cThe Wanderer\u201d and \u201cRuby Baby\u201d are here, of course; what \u2013 thankfully \u2013 isn&#8217;t present is any hint of his later somewhat heavy-handed Christian conservative perspective.<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/andrew_gold.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"280\" vspace=\"20\" \/><\/center><strong>Andrew Gold \u2013 <\/strong><em><strong>The Late Show: Live 1978<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"float: right; padding: 10px; width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=musoscribe-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B00UMN1C4S&amp;asins=B00UMN1C4S&amp;linkId=HSSB4KLIM5LNBY7Q&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nPity poor <strong>Andrew Gold<\/strong>. He came along when edgier styles were taking hold. A solid craftsman who sang and played well \u2013 and could create material that teetered right on the edge of power pop \u2013 he was nonetheless pegged as a bit lightweight. Songs like the smash hit \u201cThank You for Being a Friend\u201d (later revived as the theme song for <em>The Golden Girls<\/em>) may have scored him hits, but they didn&#8217;t help his hip cred a single bit. Against that backdrop, this live set from his biggest tour is quite good, and rocks more than one might expect.<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/textones_midnight.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"280\" vspace=\"20\" \/><\/center><strong>The Textones \u2013 <\/strong><em><strong>Midnight Mission<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"float: right; padding: 10px; width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=musoscribe-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B00VKZVKEY&amp;asins=B00VKZVKEY&amp;linkId=OMB3JZK57ZSNKESA&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nThe <strong>Carla Olson<\/strong>-with-Rickenbacker-guitar photo that graces the cover of <em>Midnight Mission<\/em> all but says \u201cfemale <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=422\"><strong>Tom Petty<\/strong><\/a>.\u201d And that&#8217;s not too wide of the mark; the music sounds a bit like Petty crossed with <strong>Dwight Twilley<\/strong> (Twilley&#8217;s supremely talented musical partner <strong>Phil Seymour<\/strong> played drums in <strong>The Textones<\/strong>). Gunshot snare drums and dated synthesizer textures make the album sonics very much of its time (1984) but the performances and songwriting transcend the period-piece feel of the production. <strong>Mark Leviton<\/strong>&#8216;s fascinating liner note essay places the group into a social-historical-political context that includes the presidential campaign of independent candidate <strong>John Anderson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/textones_cedar.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"280\" vspace=\"20\" \/><\/center><strong>The Textones \u2013 <\/strong><em><strong>Cedar Creek<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"float: right; padding: 10px; width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=musoscribe-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B00V862AWQ&amp;asins=B00V862AWQ&amp;linkId=WVOZ6GSVAG3RT7SE&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<em>Midnight Mission<\/em> didn&#8217;t sell, and <strong>The Textones<\/strong> lost their record deal. Meanwhile, the illness that would eventually end Phil Seymour&#8217;s life began to take hold, and the band was forced to replace him. Against that backdrop, it&#8217;s a bit surprising just how good <em>Cedar Creek<\/em> is. The of-the-time production values are dialed back, giving the album a more timeless feel. Here, The Textones occasionally sound like <strong>Linda Ronstadt<\/strong> backed by a harder-rocking <strong>Jackson Browne<\/strong> and band. The bonus, an \u201coft-bootlegged\u201d 1987 live show proves that <em>Cedar Creek<\/em> was \u2013 unlike its predecessor \u2013 an accurate document of the band&#8217;s sound.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This current round of hundred-word reviews wraps up with four archival\/reissue releases from the fine folks at Omnivore Recordings, and a self-released retrospective form an overlooked Nashville group. Raging Fire [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,30,51,62,64,65],"tags":[192,686,1622,1777,2135],"class_list":["post-8481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cowpunk","category-folk","category-pop","category-rawk","category-reissue","category-review","tag-andrew-gold","tag-dion","tag-omnivore-recordings","tag-raging-fire","tag-textones","cat-21-id","cat-30-id","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\/8481","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=8481"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8971,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8481\/revisions\/8971"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}