MPBrown Music Reviews

Album Review #15   Artist:   Nick Lowe Album:   Labour of Lust Year of Release:   1979 Grade:   4 / 5   Band Members Nick Lowe – vocals, bass Dave Edmunds – guitar, backing vocals Billy Bremner - guitar, backing vocals Terry Williams – drums   Huey Lewis – harmonica Bob Andrews – Oberheim Elvis Costello – backing vocals Bruce Thomas – bass Pete Thomas - drums   Background Nick Lowe first started in the band Brinsley Schwarz (actually the name of a member of the band) before splitting up in 1975.   Dave Edmunds produced one of their later albums which led to the formation of the band Rockpile.   Due to contract issues with different record labels, Rockpile became a backing band for Lowe and for Edmunds.   Lowe had a quite a successful career as a performer, writer, and producer.   His tendency to lean towards the pop/rock sound complemented Edmunds’ rockabilly sound.   This album ...

  Album Review #14   Artist:   Dave Edmunds Album:   DE7th Year of Release:   1982 Grade:   4 / 5   Band Members Dave Edmunds – vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards Dave Charles – drums John David – bass Geraint Watkins – piano, keyboards Bobby Irwin – drums Dave Peacock – banjo, bass John Earle – saxophone Dick Hanson – trumpet Mickey Gee – guitar Albert Lee – guitar Liam Grundy – piano Neil King - trumpet   Background Dave Edmunds is from Wales and one of the founding members of the band Love Sculpture and later Rockpile.   Edmunds’ music stylings are sometimes called pub rock, new wage or twist on rockabilly (more rocker version).   In a unique situation, Edmunds and Nick Lowe formed the band Rockpile.   However, both were signed to different labels so what they ended up doing was Nick Lowe and the rest of Rockpile backed up Edmunds on his solo records while Edmunds and Rockpile backed up N...

  Album Review #13   Artist:   John Wetton Album:   Caught In The Crossfire Year of Release:   1980 Grade:   4 / 5   Band Members John Wetton – vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards Martin Barre – guitar Phil Mazanera – guitar Simon Kirke – drums, percussion Malcolm Duncan – saxophone     Background John Wetton is one of the main voices in progressive rock.   He was the lead singer and bassist of King Crimson’s biggest albums (“Lark’s Tongue in Aspic”, “Starless & Bible Black”, and “Red”).   He also played with Uriah Heep, Roxy Music, before creating the group U.K.   After his time with UK but before he created the massively successful Asia, he released his first solo album called “Caught In The Crossfire”.   It was not released in the US until 1986 after Asia became popular.   He is one of my favorite vocalists.   Ever since his King Crimson days, Wetton had aspired to change ...

Album Review #12 Artist:  Huey Lewis and The News Album:   Picture This Year of Release:   1982 Grade:   4 / 5   Band Members Huey Lewis – vocals, harmonica Chris Hayes – lead guitar, backing vocals Johnny Colla - rhythm guitar, backing vocals Mario Cipollina – bass Bill Gibson – drums, percussion, backing vocals Sean Hopper – keyboards, backing vocals   Tower of Power - brass   Background The band came about after a merger of two bands – Clover (Huey Lewis, Sean Hopper) and Soundhole (Johnny Colla, Mario Cipollina, Bill Gibson).   The band Clover (without Huey Lewis) did some recording with Elvis Costello while Huey Lewis did some work with Thin Lizzy and its singer Phil Lynott.   Soundhole, on the other hand, backed up Van Morrison.   The new band called “Huey Lewis and the American Express” released a couple of singles before having to change their name because of the banking/credit card company of t...

  Album Review #11   Artist:   The Corrs Album:   Talk On Corners Year of Release:   1997 Grade:   4.5 / 5   Band Members The Corrs: Andrea Corr – lead vocals, tin whistle Sharon Corr – violin, backing vocals Caroline Corr – drums, bodhran, backing vocals Jim Corr – guitars, keyboards, accordion, piano, backing vocals   Assorted musicians on individual tracks   Background What happens when you make a movie about a fictional Irish soul band called The Commitments and a group of 4 siblings try out?   Well, the baby girl of the family gets a supporting role as the main character’s little sister while older brother Jim and older sisters Caroline and Sharon had small parts as musicians.   They were signed by John Hughes (not the director but Irish musician/manager) as The Corrs.   They had played together as a quartet in the aunt’s pub in Dundalk, Ireland.   After they performed in Dublin, the...

  Album Review #10     Artist:   Glenn Frey Album:   Soul Searchin Year of Release:   1988 Grade:   4 / 5   Band Members Glenn Frey – lead vocals, backing vocals, keyboards, guitars, bass, percussion, drums David “Hawk” Wolinski – keyboards Ron Skies – keyboards Robbie Buchanan – keyboards Steve Thoma – keyboards Steve Nathan – keyboards Michael Landau – guitar Duncan Cameron – guitar, backing vocals Bruce Gaitsch – guitar Paul Jackson Jr – guitar David Hood – bass Neil Stubenhaus – bass Dave Chamberlain – bass Russ Kunkel – drums John Robinson – drums Roger Hawkins – drums Prairie Prince – drums Steve Forman – percussion Ralph MacDonald – percussion Bill Bergman – saxophone Al Garth – saxophone The Heart Attack Horns – horns Roy Galloway – backing vocals Timothy B Schmit – backing vocals Julia Walters – backing vocals Maxine Waters – backing vocals Max Carl – backing vocals O...