Stan Ridgway is one of those artists that seems to refuse to be categorized. His entire career has seen him bending genres and making music outside the box. Songs That Made This Country Great is a representation of his music spanning a ten year period from 1981-1991. That covers his stint with Wall of Voodoo as well as music from three of his studio albums and a couple of collaboration projects.
The most defining characteristic of his music is Stan's voice. It has a southern drawl and a distinctive resonance that he carries with clarity and a level of intonation that draws you to what he says. He sings with character and precision. With a voice like that you would think he make his mark in country music. However Stan isn't one to follow conventional thinking. New Wave is probably the best genre to describe this music, but that is very limiting to the creativity in this album. What it does mean is he uses synths, drum machines, guitars, whatever it takes to put the music out that he wants. It really is something to experience, because there is no way I can really put in words.
Songs That Made This Country Great has tracks from Wall of Voodoo Albums Call of the West and The Index Master, tracks from his solo albums The Big Heat, Mosquitos and Party Ball, and a track from the Rumblefish Sountrack as well as a contribution he did in the tribute album Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill. The compilation is not listed in any chronological order of when the song was released. It's more an order that is an appropriate set list to listen to all the way. Here is a breakdown of some of the tracks:
SALESMAN - A song from the salesman's perspective. Has a slightly aggressive feel to it with some forward moving rhythms and distorted guitars. The song kind of trails off with the prose, which makes the lyrics a stronger part of this song than the music. Instrumentally it's not as approachable.
LONELY TOWN - A sweet and mellow tune with some creative chord progressions. Kind of like a lounge song with a bit of storytelling. Great tune to relax to.
DRIVE SHE SAID - A classic storytelling song from Stan about a lady using a cab driver as a get away from a crime. It's a bit catchy and the music is approachable with a nice guitar riff and straight drums.
DON'T BOX ME IN - This is a collaboration with Stewart Copeland of The Police for the soundtrack of the movie Rumblefish. You can hear some heavy Police influences in the music due to Copeland's songwriting contribution as well as his contribution as drummer for the song. Still even if it's sounds more like a Copeland song Stan's mark is definitely heard. The song is a bit avantgarde and is likely more suited to fans of either Ridgway or Copeland.
CAN'T COMPLAIN - This is a funny song about a guy complaining about various aspects of his life. It has a mellow Latin rhythm reminiscent of a bossa nova. Has a nice uplifting chorus too.
RING OF FIRE (single edit) - This is one of the coolest songs Wall of Voodoo every put out. It is a heavily synthed cover of Johnny Cash's popular tune. It's minimalist with no drums, a single heavy synth bass, a rockabilly sounding guitar and Stan's vocals. What he does with it is striking. Johnny Cash even once said of all the covers he has heard of this song Wall of Voodoo's version was his favorite. The original version is almost twice as long as the single edit and most of that entails a very dissonant and avantgarde distorted guitar solo. To me this edit is much better as it dispenses with the performance art part of the song the guitar solo apparently is and sticks with the meat of the music. This track alone is worth getting this compilation for.
CAMOUFLAGE (single remix edit) - This is Stan's most popular solo work. It's a Vietnam war story and to tell you more would spoil it. The song has a old west/folksy feel to is in spite of the drum machines and synths being mixed with the acoustic instruments. It's one of his cooler story songs as well. There is a slight remix on the reverb in this version and it is edited mostly for time and runs about two minutes less than the original running time.
THE BIG HEAT - This was one of my early favorites. Another story song that uses lots of synthesizers, which makes a strong contrast to his voice and makes for a unique combination. The chorus is pretty sweet and in one of them Stan sings in a higher pitch in a way I have never heard him sing before or since.
MEXICAN RADIO (edit) - Wall of Voodoo's most famous song. It was written by Marc Moreland and Stan Ridgeway and is about listening to unregulated broadcasts from Mexico on their A.M. radio. This is the version that got all the radio airplay so most of you wouldn't notice the difference in the edit.
This is a great album to pick up on Ridgway's earlier and more experimental music. I had one of his previous albums, The Big Heat when I got this, and even though a lot of songs from that album are here I still find plenty to love (especially Ring of Fire). It's hard for me to say whom of you would like this music. 80's synth pop fans may find something. Experimental music fans may find something. Country fans may find something. If you can find a way to sample a few songs and see what you think. May not be everybody's cup of tea, but for a lot of you I'll bet you won't be disappointed.
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