Customer Reviews

Kings Record Shop

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

KING'S RECORD SHOP is outstanding. Not many albums can boast four marvelous #1 singles. Her version of "The Way We Make A Broken Heart" is magical. "If You Change Your Mind" is fantastic, once again Rosanne Cash shows she's an excellent writer. "Runaway Train" is my favorite, the song is pure dynamite. "Tenesse Flat Top Box" is another great song with some marvelous instrumental playing. The other songs on the record are just as good. The opening song "Rosie Strike Back" has magnificent arrangements. "The Real Me" continues the fantastic line of Rosanne Cash ballads, she sings sad songs like no one else can. "Somewhere Sometime" is a great uptempo rock flavored song. Rodney Crowell's "I Don't Have To Crawl" is done sensationally. "Green Yellow, And Red" is a neat number. "Why Don't You Quit Leaving Me Alone" ends the album with a relaxing feel. Unfortunately, KINGS RECORD SHOP is the only original Rosanne Cash album available from this classic period. While RIGHT OR WRONG and RHYTHM AND ROMANCE are outstanding albums with great songs, they've been pulled from print. Even though SEVEN YEAR ACHE is a classic Country album, it too is unavailable. Rosanne Cash's catalog is too rich to make her a singles artist, as 2 of her 3 hits collections concentrate on this period. Columbia Records would make a good decision if they would re-release RIGHT OR WRONG, SEVEN YEAR ACHE, SOMEWHERE IN THE STARS, RHYTHM AND ROMANCE, and not pull anything else from print in her catalog.

What a gem!! Rosie tackles everything from spousal abuse "Rosie Strike Back" to the slowly-growing and best cut "Runaway Train" which is a correlation of a reckless relationship to a runaway train. She handles her father's song "Tennessee Flat Top Box" which grace and dignity and shows the strength of a woman in "I Don't Have To Crawl". My favorites on here are: "Runaway Train", "The Way We Make A Broken Heart", "Green, Yellow, and Red", and "Why Don't You Quit Leaving Me Alone". If anyone has ever thought about having an affair, there is no way that you could do it after listening to "Way We Make A Broken Heart". "Why Don't You Quit Leaving Me Alone" is one of my favorite songs to listen to when I'm alone - I sit in the dark and crank this song up. This is one of Rosanne's best, although I have NEVER known her to make a terrible CD. She's an artist, so her songwriting grows with time and her music changes from disc to disc, but she's still Rosanne - a strong, confident woman with a vulnerable and sensitive side as well. One of the best female artists in country or pop or rock or folk... you get the idea!!

I'm not a huge fan of country music, but I have always been drawn to the way Rosanne Cash interprets the dynamics of lyrics. I bought King's Record Shop, because I loved the single "Runaway Train," but after listening to it, I found other tracks that are as good, if not, even more imressive. As always, Cash doesn't shy away from controversial topics. In "Rosie Strike Back," she tackled the problem of domestic violence. I had to wonder, though, if the song is at all autobigraphical, due to its title. The track also features a couple of artist you might not associate with country music: Steve Wynwood and Patti Smythe. A good addition to any collection.

Rosanne Cash's career reached it's commercial peak with this album, which featured four #1 Country hits ("The Way We Make a Broken Heart", "Tennessee Flat Top Box", "If You Change Your Mind" and "Runaway Train"). It's a solid album that should appeal to fans of female country singers.

The title of the disc comes from the store Rosanne's photographed in front of..an establishment old enough that they sell "phonographs" rather than "stereos" and also offer repair service for "8-track tape cartridges". So you'd probably expect a retro trad country throwdown, right?

Well, no..the Amazon reviewer gets it right. The sounds here ARE the template for "young country", "hot country", "new country" or whatever you want to call it: country with a decidedly pop sensibility. Then-hubby Rodney Crowell surrounds Cash with crisp, snappy drum sounds and an absence of traditional "country" instrumentation..there are no steel guitars, banjos, or fiddles here. ("Somewhere Sometime" in particular would probably be equally at home on a Huey Lewis and the News CD.)

Crowell's production gamble paid off huge: #1 country records in "If You Change Your Mind", "The Way We Make a Broken Heart","Runaway Train" and Rosanne's remake of her daddy's "Tennessee Flat Top Box", making her a household name herself.

HIGHLIGHTS:
"The Way We Make a Broken Heart" was a deserved chart-topper and it sounds unlike anything else on the disc. What sounds like a 50s rock ballad in basic structure is given Spanish guitar flourishes and a gospel choir in her take on John Hiatt's warning to those who would stray from their mate. The recut of "Tennessee Flat Top Box" is arranged nearly identical to Johnny's version and it's a fine listen. "The Real Me" is one of the most emotional songs here as Cash seeks a second chance with the man she dumped. ("This is the real me/breaking down at last..the real me wants the real you..so bad") The steadily building "Runaway Train" is another standout as it dissects a crumbling relationship. ("I'm worried about you/I'm worried 'bout me/We're lighting our fuses/and counting to 3...")Unrequited love lament of "Why Don't You Quit Leaving me Alone?" also shines, as Rosanne sings "Some dreams die with dignity/They fade out clean and quietly/Some won't let you let 'em go/Oh baby..why don't you quit leaving me alone?".

LOWS:
"Somewhere Sometime" is a fairly forgettable tune. It's hummable but bland.

BOTTOM LINE:
While there are some fine tunes here and it's an enjoyable listen, it's not really the "classic" that some reviewers would have you believe. There's not a lot of valleys but only a few peaks as well. You can have a great CD collection without it.

If you're looking for the roots of new country, or you're already a Rosanne fan, this will be a welcome addition to your collection.

3 1/2 stars