My Amazon Reviews: Shoes "35 Years: The Definitive Shoes Collection"

Shoe Tease
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Has it really been 35 years? "The Definitive Shoes Collection" takes 21 of their superb, melodic power pop songs and wraps them into one CD. The bulk of the disc comes from the trilogy of classic albums, "Present Tense," "Tongue Twister" and "Boomerang," then splits the difference among the remaining albums. Each track is one from the band's exquisitely layered harmonies, sugar buzz guitars and catchy melodies. You'll hear at least a dozen should've been hits, like the flawless "Summer Rain" and the heartfelt "Three Times."

Shoes were ahead of their time in 1980 when "Present Tense" first appeared and made me a fan. Time and admiration have caught up to the band, even allowing them the time to craft the excellent "Ignition" in 2012. ("Say It Like You Mean It" appears here from that CD.) What excites me more than anything is hearing all these songs newly remastered. It makes me hunger for reissues of the early albums - including the homemade "Black Vinyl Shoes" - for a new audience and old fans who snapped up the two-fers so many years ago. Until then, this set makes for an awesome primer for one of America's premier power pop rockers.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Aerosmith "Greatest Hits (1980)"

A Calling Card for early Aerosmith
4 Out Of 5 Stars

When this came out in 1980, Aerosmith were still one of the hottest rock bands in the world. The slippage of "Night In The Ruts" had just been released and the backlash (or the public breakup between the band and Joe Perry) hadn't happened yet. That meant the public's appetite for a Greatest Hits was still hot, and this ten song package filled in nicely. It collects songs from the debut to "Ruts," skips the "Live Bootleg" and adds one soundtrack single Beatles Cover from the camp classic movie "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (in which Aerosmith played the villains!).

The main reason to won this is the 1978 version of "Come Together" from Sgt Pepper. This has been the only CD you can find it on (unless you want the SPLHCB soundtrack, and you probably don't). It also doesn't bother with the Run-DMC version of "Walk This Way" which tends to show up on other discs. The two best songs from "Draw The Line" are hear and the goofy cover of "Remember Walking In The Sand" are included. The down side is that several of the tracks are single edits ("Same Old Song and Dance," "Sweet Emotion" and "Draw The Line," to name three) and "Train Kept a Rollin'" could have easily been included among the single releases.

Other than "Oh Yeah," which culls both the CBS and Geffen years onto two discs, "Aerosmith's Greatest Hits" is about as good a bang for the buck as you'll get from this band.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Janet Jackson "Icon: Number Ones"

An Abridged version of Janet's Number Ones double disc
4 Out Of 5 Stars
 
The Icon series has done a fair job of dropping quickie best of collections into the ever decreasing CD market place, keeping artists in the shops desptie any new material to offer. Janet Jackson's "Number Ones" is no exception, culling a tightly wound eleven hits in quick succession, ignoring albums prior to the blockbuster "Control" and including one lesser heard recent song, "Nothing," from Tyler Perry's "Why Did I get Married Too?" movie. But the concentration is on those big moments when Janet took "Control" over her music and images, along with producers of the moment, ex-Prince associates Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

They take up 10 of the twelve songs here, and it's easy to recognize why. The Minneapolis Sound, which combined equal parts industrial slam/pulverizing beat/Janet's commanding studio presence to work dance floor monsters, worked perfectly on those breakthrough hits like "Control," "What Have You Done For Me Lately" or "Miss You Much." Songs that were effectively without melody, but drove home completely on Janet's forceful personality and the Jam/Lewis conquering beats. It didn't take Janet long to diversify even more, as she began to pitch more socially active songs onto the charts, like her AIDS anthem "Together Again" and the lovely ballad "That's The Way Love Goes." She was also giving props to idols like Joni Mitchell (sampling "Big Yellow taxi" on "Got Till It's Gone" or more curiously, America's "Ventura Highway" on "Someone to call My Lover"; sadly these two tracks are not included).

But Jackson, like her brother Michael, decided at a certain stage to trust her own instincts and become her own artist. Even in this admittedly slight collection, she proves that her vision was the right one to peruse. More interested fans should probably bump up to the two disc "Number Ones," but for me, this Icon set fills my space just fine.

   

My Amazon Reviews: Ben Folds "The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective"

Action Packed
4 Out Of 5 Stars

This review is from:  (3 CD). I have to give Ben Folds credit for his generosity of nothing else. His Three CD "Best Imitation Of Myself" best of is packed with hits, live tracks and oddballs. He also regroups The Ben Folds Five for three new songs (or one, "House," if you're buying the single disc edition. But if you're getting the deluxe version, Folds is all but daring you to say "but you should have put THIS song on the album instead of..."

Which kind of fits into Folds' offbeat personality. His best songs alternate between earnest emotion and nerdy snark, along with being a dutiful acolyte of Elton John and Todd Rundgren. Like Rundgren, Folds is 100% OK with taking a song you think should go one way and then bend it exactly towards the opposite ("Anna," "Army" - here in a live version). He also tends towards the hyper-literate in his emotional songs, which does make them standouts. It's that trait that made "Brick" the most unlikely of top 40 singles, a ballad about taking your girlfriend to get an abortion shortly after the Christmas holiday. Better still is "The Luckiest," a gorgeous ballad from "Rocking The Suburbs," about love everlasting with a twist. Why it never became a single I wonder about, and so does Folds in the collection's extensive liner notes.

Folds, naturally leans on that album and "Whatever and Ever Amen," his two most commercially successful. He doesn't slack for the other albums, though, with songs from each album included. On the live disc, he digs even deeper from other albums, and the rarites disc has a few worthy B-Sides (his hilarious cover of "B^tch@s Ain't Sh!+") and soundtrack contributions, like his cover of Steely Dan's "Barrytown." However, the disc is loaded with demos of never finished songs, along with the other two new BF5 recordings. It's obvious that Folds is smarter than the average pop-star and pretty humble (who else would record stuff like "There's Always Someone Cooler Than You" or feel comfortable covering Wham's "Careless Whisper" with Rufus Wainwright?

That is what makes "Best Imitation Of Myself" cool. Ben Folds has the chops, the knack for melody, and sense of humor to take average pop and make it into something better. Even if you don't have any of his albums or maybe just one or two, this is as solid a retrospective of one man's work as you'll find by any 'star' of the 90's and beyond.

   

My Amazon Reviews: Styx "Icon II"

A Solid, if Unnecessary, Release 
3 Out Of 5 Stars

As far as Band for the Buck is concerned, this 2 CD set of Styx songs from the A&M years is worth its price. It loads you up with 24 songs and gives it to you at a superb, budget price. It even brings back the original, top ten version of "Lady" from 1974, replacing the Tommy Shaw "Lady 95" from the greatest hits collection. It covers mainly the superstar years from "Equinox" to the Dennis DeYoung centric "End of The Century," with nothing after that album.

However, the packaging is minimal. The sole photo of the band is the back cover, from what looks like an alternate shot from "The Grand Illusion." The inner-sleeve is a listing of the songs and writing credits, production credits, but with no listing of dates or albums. I must add the the remastering sounds terrific and makes me wish for some deluxe versions of the original albums! If you don't already have "Styx: Gold" (2 discs and 35 songs) or the 1995 single disc Greatest Hits, this will suit you well. But this is likely best for the casual Styx fan.