Category: Album Reviews

Posted in Album Reviews

The Cars – Door To Door (1987)

Posted on by Michael

The first phase of Boston’s The Cars ended with the release of Door to Door in 1987. Produced by Ric Ocasek, it is the first time the band didn’t use an outside producer, somewhat surprising considering the massive success the band enjoyed with the Robert ‘Mutt’ Lange produced Heartbeat City album.  “Leave Or Stay”, the first track on the album certainly sounds like The Cars.  The drums of David Robinson are back instead of the mostly programmed beats on the last album. Listen closely and the insipid lyrics leave a lot to be desired – “She changed into her silk/I stood there drinking milk”.

Looking back on the band’s history, Door to Door is mostly forgotten and typically ranks at the bottom of the list when publications rank albums by The Cars. Songs like “Double Trouble” and single “Strap Me In” are non-descript 80s rock songs with little personality. Where the album does pull through is when the band sticks to what they are good at – new wave pop songs with Greg Hawkes’ keyboard flashes.

“You Are The Girl” was the biggest hit on the album, peaking at #17 in the US – it has a arpeggio synth lines and solid vocals from Ocasek and Benjamin Orr. “Go Away” could have been on Heartbeat City and the sped up Western tempo of “Everything You Say” is a definite highlight. A terrific pop song with some piano trills to fill in the gaps. While not the complete dud that was expected, Door To Door does sound uninspired and the couple of lows are awful. But when it’s good, it’s solid. Likely for many reasons, the band would break up a few months after the album was released and sadly, the last one to feature Benjamin Orr who passed away from cancer in 2000.

6/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Paul Simon – Still Crazy After All These Years (1975)

Posted on by Michael

A year after releasing his first solo live album, Paul Simon put out the massively successful Still Crazy After All These Years record. The album would see him reunite with old partner Art Garfunkel on the piano driven single, “My Little Town”, sung from the point of view of someone who hates their hometown. The duo would sing the song and other classics on the second episode of Saturday Night Live.

Exploring other sounds, Simon touches on R+B on the social critique, “Have A Good Time”.  While ignoring the news of the day, the protagonist says that “I’ve been loving and loving and loving/I’m exhausted from loving so well”. After their collaboration on the live album, the gospel track “Gone at Last” is sung with the Jessy Dixon Singers and Phoebe Snow. Simon then closes the album with the religious overtones of “Silent Eyes” where we will stand before God “and speak what was done”.

The album is mostly remembered from a couple of songs, the first being the title track. The enduring song about running into an old flame on the street only went to #40 in the US. More commercially successful is the often referenced #1 single, “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover”.  Written after his divorce from his first wife, Peggy Harper, the song memorably sings of how to leave a relationship in the chorus, starting with the classic lines “Slip out the back, Jack/Make a new plan, Stan”. The drum patter of Steve Gadd and all star back-up singers Patti Austin, Valerie Simpson and Phoebe Snow make it all the more special. The song helped propel the album to top ten status around the world and won Simon two Grammys including Album of the Year. A great example of easy going yet sophisticated 70s songwriting.

9/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Joan Shelley – Real Warmth (2025)

Posted on by Michael

Recently, Joan Shelley and guitarist/husband Nathan Salsburg have been on the move. Leaving behind Kentucky for Michigan, they then travelled to Toronto to record Shelley’s 2025 record, Real Warmth. Working with producer Ben Whiteley and local musicians, including members of The Weather Station, on songs like “For When You Can’t Sleep”, the beautifully delicate recordings sound like Shelley is singing right in your ear. The thick drums courtesy of Philippe Melanson are a part of the very good opening song, “Here In The High And Low” where Shelley gives guidance, “Guard what’s gentle, not castles or kings”.

The track, “Everyday” addresses the couple’s move with the line “Now we’re living by the road far from our little Eden”, the sweetness then follows on the duet song “Heaven Knows”. The deafening quietness of “The Orchard” sees Shelley sing of the world where “A factory for misery that prays that war won’t end”, unfortunately fitting these days. The crashing drums on “Wooden Boat” along with an extended instrumental passage provide one of the highlights on this all together fine album.

7.5/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Paul Simon – Paul Simon In Concert: Live Rhymin’ (1974)

Posted on by Michael

Just under a year after releasing his third solo album, There Goes that Rhymin’ Simon, Paul Simon put out his first solo live concert – Paul Simon in Concert: Live Rhymin.  The album is a mixture of his solo singles and hits from the Simon & Garfunkel archive. The first few songs he tackles with just his acoustic guitar including the jaunty “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard” and a solid take at “Homeward Bound”. For the next few songs he performs with South American group Urubamba, most pleasingly on “El Condor Pasa (If I Could)”.

For the next batch of songs Simon brings out the Jessy Dixon Singers (Group). This ensemble works well on his solo material including some nifty bass playing on “Mother And Child Reunion” and a rollicking version of “Loves Me Like A Rock”.  On the other hand “The Sound of Silence” sounds more like a Christmas carol and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” isn’t a patch on Garfunkel’s classic vocals. It’s the starkness of young men singing the originals that help make them memorable rather than the gospel embellishments found here. The concert album with performances recorded at the University of Notre Dame and Carnegie Hall in New York has a few good moments but overall feels a bit underwhelming with better versions found elsewhere.

7/10

Posted in Album Reviews

The Beatles – Anthology 4 (2025)

Posted on by Michael

One of the most talked about musical events 30 years ago was The Beatles Anthology TV special that aired on ITV in the UK and ABC in the US. Subsequent to those TV shows, the band released three anthology albums, each containing two discs of rarities.  All these years later the band has remastered those discs and have also released the fourth version – Anthology 4.

The two disc Anthology 4 extends the entirety of the band’s releases.  Starting with “I Saw Her Standing There” from 1963 to the 2023 release of single “Now and Then”. In between is a mixbag of tracks. “Tell Me Why” starts with studio banter and a false start before the band bursts into the song from A Hard Day’s Night. A sweet sounding version of “If I Fell” follows before a stop in your tracks version of “I’ve Just Seen A Face” arrives a few songs later. Like stumbling into a folk bar one night and hearing a singer do a spirited take on the track, helps if that singer is Paul McCartney.

“In My Life” is a more stripped down take, nostalgic young man John Lennon with a lovely vocal. “Got To Get You Into My Life” is more rough and ready, leaving out the horns that get replaced with a gritty guitar. One of the compilation’s highlights is “Baby, You’re A Rich Man” that has John and Paul asking assistants for cokes and cannabis resin before launching into a loose version of the track that would later appear on The Magical Mystery Tour. The band sounds like they are having a blast as they repeatedly sing the chorus. In similar fashion, the instrumental version of George Harrison’s “Hey Bulldog” is another blast of joy, regardless of Lennon’s comments at the end of the recording.

An instrumental version of “The Fool On The Hill” is intriguing as is the strings, brass, and clarinet overdub take of “I Am The Walrus” with Lennon’s vocals bleeding into the mix. The instrumental strings on “Something” are quite lovely while “All You Need Is Love” is taken from a rehearsal for the BBC broadcast with the reporter describing the band’s recording techniques. The album closes with the band’s last recordings with Lennon’s vocals used as the basis of the tracks. The 2025 mix of “Real Love” has a bit of a Ringo Starr drum kick and for some, it’s nice to have a physical version of “Now and Then” rather than the overpriced single from a few years ago.

Critically the album has been both treasured and trashed, a feeling of scraping the bottom of the barrel has been noted. A significant number of the tracks have already been released on past expanded editions of individual albums making those songs inessential for those who have paid big prices to already own them.  Many of the songs talked about above are the same ones that other publications have zeroed in on as well, there is a bit of a consensus on what the goods are. While there are some inessential versions/takes of songs, there is a span of about 15 tracks in the middle of the collection that are sublime and a joy to listen to.  Perhaps inessential but a great bit of fun to have playing around the holidays, songs that are as ubiquitous as the Christmas carols being played every where else at this time of year.

8/10