Customer Reviews

Match Game

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

 

 

I would have sworn this disk was out of print, but Amazon says otherwise. Get it while you can!!

'Match Game' ranks in my top ten disks of all time. Produced (again) by husband Don Dixon (R.E.M, Smithereens), the couple hit all the marks on song selection (Marshall Crenshaw, Elvis Costello, Dixon, Bowie), production and performance.

Though not a bad song on the disk, there are some high high high highlights: "Foolish Lies", "Inside These Arms", "Touch Tone", oh heck, there really *isn't* a bad song.

Great follow-up to her solo debut and still better than anything she's ever done (which is saying someting). 'Match Game' is what I consider THE most overlooked recording of the '80s.

I have played this album for many friends for ten years. Most have ended up loving it as I do. Every song...I mean it...every song is melodic, colorful and memorable. I can sing this album from the first cut through to the last. I love almost all of Marti Jones' stuff and wish there were more. But this is number one. For reference, my other favorites include: New Radicals (Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too) and The Roches (First Album).

Pop singer Marti Jones first emerged as the frontwoman of the group Color Me Gone before issuing her solo debut Unsophisticated Time - produced by future husband Don Dixon - in 1985. Though the recepient of widespread critical acclaim, Jones found little commercial success with LPs like 1986's Match Game and 1988's Used Guitars, and she was dropped by her label A&M. After signing to RCA for 1990's Any Kind of Lie, Jones disappeared from sight before signing to Sugar Hill and returning in 1996 with a pair of new releases, Live From Spirit Square and My Long-Haired Life.

For the all-star Match Game, Jones and Dixon are joined by guests including Marshall Crenshaw, Mitch Easter, T-Bone Burnett, Darlene Love, Anne Richmond Boston (Swimming Pool Q's), Richard Barone (The Bongos), and Paul Carrack; the song selection is similarly impressive, drawing from the pens of David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Free, and Dwight Twilley, as well as Crenshaw, Barone, and Dixon. Nonetheless, the album is Jones' show, and her rich, expressive performances never relinquish the spotlight. - Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

I was driving down the street in Boise listening to the local alternative station, and they played a song called "Follow You All Over the World".

probably like a lot of other people, i called the station and asked who the artist was. and probably unlike a lot of people, i hastened to buy the album. and everything else she has ever recorded.

"Match Game" is the pick of the lot. i think A&M had overly high hopes for it, because for years after its 1986 release, i saw multiple copies of the album in the bargain bins, at lower and lower prices.

but it was a stunning second album, regardless of how few people appreciated it and paid money for it.

there isn't a weak tune here.

she has a wonderful voice, and her instincts, and producer Don Dixon's, didn't fail her here. it's an absolutely terrific piece of work.

I go a long way back with Marti Jones. I heard "Lose Control" by Color Me Gone on WHFS in Washington back in '83 and waited for "Weasel" to announce who the artist was. It took patience because he played very long-running sets! At any rate, once he told me who it was I went out and bought the record. It was only an EP but it is fantastic! Still my favorite Marti Jones record. I then saw the band a couple of months later opening for the Romantics in a small club in Alexandria, VA. That was a great night, believe me! I met the band in the parking lot after their show and they were all real friendly, especially Marti. I talked to her for a couple of minutes gushing about their performance and then went back into to catch the Romantics set (they blew the roof off the joint!).

Years later, I won a radio station contest and got to meet Marti AGAIN in a coffee shop in Georgetown where she was promoting her first solo album. She was really gracious to the fans that had gathered there for her and she did a mini-concert for us. I tried to get her to sing "Lose Control" to no avail (Drat!).

At any rate, the mini-concert, with Marti on acoustic guitar was great. Years later, I caught up with her again at the Birchmere where she was performing electric again with her husband Don Dixon and a full band. Another great show.

ALL of Marti's albums are good but I agree with the other reviewers here---"Match Game" is her best (although the STILL unavailable "Color Me Gone" is still my favorite).

I recommend getting all of her albums. I have cherished them since the day I first bought them. She is at or near the very top of my favorite artist list and I look forward to any and all future releases from her.

Match Game follows roughly the same pattern as her solo debut, 'Unsophisticated Time', adding songs by David Bowie ("Soul Love"), Marshall Crenshaw ("Whenever You're on My Mind") and Free ("Soon I Will Be Gone") to the prior album's returning writing collective. Given a comfortable setting by Don Dixon's sparkling studio work, Marti shines on tracks played by such prestigious supporters as Crenshaw, Mitch Easter, Richard Barone, Gary Barnacle, Paul Carrack, T-Bone Burnett, and Darlene Love. - Ira Robbins, Trouser Press