Tag Archives: Marshall Crenshaw

Oct 10 2023
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CD, reissue, vinyl

Marshall Crenshaw • Field Day [CD, LP]

Yours truly’s a bit late on getting this review completed. Reissued this summer, MARSHALL CRENSHAW’s Field Day has come out in a new edition with interesting bonus tracks and an explosive sound that’s nowhere near as bombastic as some said it was back in the day.

I don’t remember the furor being as big as is stated in the notes to this new 40th anniversary CD (also out on vinyl), but apparently it left enough of a mark that Marshall says in this edition’s booklet, “I think that all the criticism it got back then was completely lame.” Before we dig in to that, let’s just say now that Field Day is packed with some of Crenshaw’s best songs and sounds real good this far out from 1983. Producer Steve Lillywhite was a young, hot shot British producer then who was known – like fellow compatriot producer Hugh Padgham – as one who liked to use a ton of gated snare drum in his mixes. (You know the sound I’m talking about?! It was on a crazy number of hit records in the ’80s…) The critics thought that would ruin Crenshaw’s momentum, or uniqueness, or something. I was so hot for MC’s first record that I could barely wait for the followup, and when I heard that he was recording it with Lillywhite, I thought it was a great idea. Field Day arrived and I loved it right outta the… ummm… gate. After Richard Gottehrer’s bright, snappy production on Marshall Crenshaw, I figured this guy was gonna give us a sort of modern take on the Phil Spector wall-of-sound. The moment lead-off track and single “Whenever You’re on My Mind” broke into full instrumentation, I thought I was right. Mostly, I am.

Field Day’s not only filled to its jingle-jangle gills with power pop hooks galore, like on “Try” and “One Day with You,” it’s got a brilliant take of a somewhat obscure early ’60s tune called “What Time Is It” that was seemingly purpose-built for Crenshaw’s merry band of popsters AND the production style Lillywhite would bring to the mixing board. Yes, that big gated snare really stands out on the LP’s final cut, “Hold It,” though it’s used more as a sound effect than for its humongous song-propulsion capabilities. Now, when you get to the bonus tracks, the instrumental “TV track” of “Our Town” definitely suffers from mega-gate, but this was meant to be a backing track for the band to sing and mime to on television (Lillywhite insisted they mix these; not sure why there’s not one for “Whenever You’re on My Mind,” which was the only single released from the album). Anyway, the inclusion of this and “Monday Morning Rock (TV Track)” don’t really support Crenshaw’s “lame” comment, since these two tracks weren’t publicly available back in ’83. I suppose hindsight – and 40 years of rock ’n’ roll – softens the, ummm, blow of Gategate.

Speaking of bonus tracks, I really enjoy the covers of “Jungle Rock” and the live version of “Little Sister.” Not sure I like the new album cover artwork, but that shouldn’t prevent me or you from digging this disc. Altogether, this release of Field Day shows us how the talented Mr. Crenshaw was both ahead of his time and woefully behind it at the same time… in a good way. – Marsh Gooch

3/5 (Yep Roc YEP-3058X, 2023)

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Feb 13 2023
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CD, record store day, reissue, vinyl

Marshall Crenshaw • Marshall Crenshaw [CD, LP]

I always joke that Marshall Crenshaw is my namesake, but the truth is, he’s only slightly older than me and also: we’re not related and don’t even know each other. I did meet him once, in 1982, when his debut album, Marshall Crenshaw, was released. I was a 19 year old DJ at the college radio station, KCMU (University of Washington; it’s now KEXP), and he was one of the first “famous” people I ever met. Sharing the same first name was a big deal to me then. (Kinda still is…)

Crenshaw’s rootsy, power poppy debut album has now been reissued on CD by YepRoc, who issued a 2LP vinyl set on Record Store Day Black Friday 2022. Marshall Crenshaw is packed with hoppin’ and boppin’ “alternative rock” that harks back to early greats like Buddy Holly, yet updates the sound with more jingle, more jangle, and the tight production of ’60s legend, Richard Gottehrer. I instantly fell for that sound! You couldn’t deny the energy and bounce of “She Can’t Dance,” “There She Goes Again” or “Cynical Girl.” This many years later the subject matter is definitely dated – to someone my age it now seems silly to be singing about yer love for a gurl – but the melodies and the beat are still timeless. I’m a big fan of Marshall’s great cover of “Soldier of Love” (originally recorded in 1962 by Arthur Alexander and covered right around then by The Beatles on one of their BBC sessions [later appearing on multiple bootlegs and finally on The Beatles at the BBC, 1994]), here having more of a “girl group” vibe, as does MC’s own “Mary Anne,” still my top song on this long player.

Marshall Crenshaw (center) visits the UW’s KCMU radio station, 1982. That’s yours truly at right.

Back to the B-sides (as in bonus tracks): The YepRoc CD – like the limited edition RSD vinyl – includes a number of bonus tracks, most of them different from the ones that graced Rhino’s version. I think their 2000 release has better extras, especially “Somebody Like You” and the Buddy Holly cover, “Rave On,” which for some reason aren’t included here. But there are some goodies here, including “Something’s Gonna Happen” and “You’re My Favorite Waste of Time” (both available on both versions). This new issue also includes a couple of alternate versions of songs from the album (“Brand New Lover” and “Mary Anne”) but they’re not exactly revelatory. I imagine Marshall wanted to shine a light on some other things this time around, but I’ll bet the bonus tracks from both versions would fit on one CD along with the album itself. Regardless, if you don’t have Marshall Crenshaw in your collection and you like jangly power pop, you couldn’t do much better than to pickup either the RSD 2LP or the new CD. Yep, Marshall rocks, all right. – Marsh(all) Gooch

4/5 (YepRoc YEP-3027X, 1982/2022)

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Feb 03 2020
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CD, reissue

Marshall Crenshaw • Miracle of Science [CD]

What do many MARSHALL CRENSHAW fans dream of? Reissues! Apparently MC got the memo, and here’s the first in a series, Miracle of Science. Originally released in 1996 on Razor & Tie Records (on CD only, though), it was the first studio album of Crenshaw’s brand of power pop after his contracts with Warner Bros. and Paradox/MCA ended. At the time it probably made sense for Marshall to move to the environs of the indie world, and he ended up making all of the rest of his albums that way. Major fame and fortune eluded him despite his ability to craft tunes that you’d be humming for days and weeks.

I instantly fell in love with Crenshaw’s music when I first heard his self-titled debut, Marshall Crenshaw, in 1982. Sure, I dug the fact that he has the same name as me (not too many of us Marshalls in the world, then or now), but it was more about the mix of pop, rockabilly and girl group rock that he played. That mix of genres continued through all of his albums, and here on Miracle of Science you get a good dose of his kind of rock ’n’ roll. From his practically patented power pop style, epitomized on “What Do You Dream Of” and “Only an Hour Ago,” full of melody and Stratocaster guitar tone, to the rockabilly of “Who Stole That Train?” and his instinct for interesting covers (“The ‘In’ Crowd”), this album is packed with a punch that is seldomly witnessed. Marshall’s added some interesting bonus tracks to this reissue on Shiny-Tone, (I believe) his own label and a guarantee he’ll get to keep doing it his way. An interesting track, “Seven Miles an Hour,” is featured in both forward and backward versions, and MC decided to include the backward version first (as a standard track) and the forward version (which was the one originally released in ’96) as a bonus track. Curious.

Anyway, let’s keep the Crenshaw reissues coming! The severe lack of tune in today’s “tunes” means we need Marshall’s tunes more than ever. — Marsh Gooch

3/5 (Shiny-Tone 020286-23000, 2020)

 

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