Customer Reviews

Songs That Made This Country Great

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

So I was in the music store, trying to find something new, and I came across Stan Ridgway. I knew next to nothing about him, and the only track I recognized by title was Mexican Radio. It's now one of my favorite discs; a definite Desert Island pick for me. Stan's music is an acquired taste; extremely quirky but with excellent production values and a host of well-crafted song-stories. Reminds me of, in a way, the way Lou Reed and Tom Verlaine don't sing as much as narrate the stories they tell. A great sense of humor... I love the sad-sack storylines contained in the songs Can't Complain, Overlords, Peg & Pete & Me, and I Wanna Be a Boss. Lonely Town is a great ballad-type song... for him, at least. I have this disc with me for every long road-trip.

While the songs for the most part are all good ones, there's a certain lack of inspiration in the mix it creates. It just doesn't compare to any of his complete albums, all of which make better introductions to the man's work. The best reason to buy this is it's a good way to get Don't Box Me In, which is one of his best. My own recommendation is that if you need an introduction to his work that you go for Mosquitoes (available on Amazon for under 7 bucks), Big Heat, or PartyBall. After that you'll want all the others, anyway, and by then you'll have all the songs on this CD. It just doesn't make good financial sense to buy it.

I don't actually own this collection but, having most or all of Stan's solo stuff, I think this is actually a pretty good overview or introduction to his stuff, though it would have been even better if it had "Big Dumb Town". After his third album, things became much more spotty and this picks out some of the best from his work. If you want more after this I'd start with Mosquitos, then the Big Heat, and go from there.

Stan is the man when it comes to unique songwriting. It's a strange mixture of storytelling, new wave,western music, marching drums and everything else thrown in. Two songs are from his former band, Wall of Voodoo, and one features an ex-Police bandmember. This is a must buy!

In another millennia, Stan Ridgeway would be a travelling minstrel. Take away the sometimes quirky electronic arrangements, and what you have is one of America's great unheralded storytellers. Be the stories myths, legends, full truths or absolute fictions, Stan Ridegway tells them like no other artist. From his beginnings as a goth-spaghetti western new waver in Wall Of Voodoo (in here three times) to the joker who says (in "I Wanna Be A Boss") "I wanna take a two week vacation 26 times a year," Ridgeway is master wordsmith with few peers. Of course, that means most of his work is out of print.

Other than The Big Heat (containing his biggest international hit, "Camouflage") and WoV's Call of the West, all his 90's work is getting tougher to find. Even this collection is off the market, and that is a damn shame. I consider Ridgeway to be among writers like Dylan, Costello and Kurt Weill. There's a certain kind of film noir quality to Ridgeway's best work, like the desperate bank robber in the cab of "Drive She Said" or the conspiratorial "Going Southbound." Maybe if Raymond Chandler wrote songs, they'd sound like Ridgeway's sing-speak of "The Big Heat" or "Peg and Pete and Me."

"I met 'em both at a drag race, they both dressed pretty snappy that day.
Pete's wife Peg put the make on me while Pete just looked the other way.
Now no one can say what your future will hold
or what your life will have in store.
We went home that night, Pete passed out on the couch
and then Peg pulled me down on the floor.
Well, I know she knew what she was doing.
Forbidden fruit, but what the hell, I bit.
That's all it took, my fate was sealed, that night the flame was lit."

Really, no-one writes like this anymore. Find this where you can because it's absolutely worth it.

There really are not enough good tracks on here to make it worth buying unless you are a fan. For "Mexican Radio" alone it was worth it for me but now you can dowlaod it, I have since sold the CD itself. That's pretty much it as far as killer tracks.

Any fan of Stan nwould appreciate this compilation. Many of the songs need to be heard a few times to be understood and appreciated but a great songwriter always puts a lot into their work. Stan's ballads and his style are very unique. Pop music popularity and the $ determine the direction of so many musicians but not Stan. He can produce a ballad like few I have ever heard.

A friend gave me a copy of this album on tape. I enjoyed it so much I wore the tape out. I was pleased to see it was still available on cd. All Stan Ridgway fans should own this cd.

Ok, the selection of songs perhaps doesnt follow a logical order, the Operatic bit is jarring, but the songs still capture the essence of Stans early and mid-career. Perhaps steering clear of some of his "eccentric excesses", but I suppose some of the beauty of Stan are those eccentricities. I have grown up with his music, from a schoolboy through college to now, knowing a handful of people who had even hear of him, he is a sort of crazy Uncle, full of apocryphal life stories. OK, he broke cover briefly with Camouflage, but normal service was resumed when he slipped back into obscurity. Which is not a bad thing, that obscurity I think feeds the very essence of his understanding of the way the world and people work, and that understanding drive and inform his songwriting. I applaud those who discover him by accident and recognise him for what he is, an articulate, unappreciated genius. For those who feel "Songs That.." lacks narrative and cogence, track down an EP called Fly on the Wall". A friend Mark got it many years ago, and it is a "best of" intermixed with Stans comments about how the songs were written. Its a great listen. I`m going to Google it now, but I suspect it may be hard to get hold of....it's worth the effort though, trust me.

I highly recommend this album. Then after you know what I already know, buy up the extended EP The Index Masters, Dark Continent & Call Of The West Wall Of Voodoo CD's & The Big Heat. Just Excellent!