Each year, I get swamped with discs that, for one reason or
\nanother, get temporarily shelved until near the end of the year,
\nwhen the release calendar slows down for the holidays and I begin
\nto panic that I’ve got so much shit to listen to before January —
\nmost of which I requested in the first place. It’s also usually
\nabout this time that I get calls from publicists who have been, to
\nthat point, very patient with me — but their patience begins to
\nrun thin, and they want to know when I’m gonna get off my ass and
\nactually review their artists.<\/p>\n
Such was the case with
\nAnatomy<\/i>, the latest disc from Stan Ridgway. While my
\nintentions of getting to the disc were good, it got shelved in
\nfavor of other artists — some from the same publicist, others that
\ncame in the mail and that I was absolutely drooling over. Finally,
\nafter a couple of calls from the publicist’s office (I believe the
\ngentleman’s name was Kumar — sorry if I’ve botched the spelling),
\nI finally switched around some discs and popped
\nAnatomy<\/i> into the player.<\/p>\n
Well, Kumar, if you’re reading – I’m offering to fly you to
\nChicago to beat me over the head with a Louisville Slugger —
\nrepeatedly — for not getting to this disc sooner. Not only is
\nAnatomy<\/i> an incredible disc, it could damn well be the best
\nthing I’ve listened to all year — and I feel incredibly stupid for
\nnot getting to it sooner.<\/p>\n
Chances are, the moment you hear Ridgway sing, you’re gonna say
\nto yourself, “I’ve heard this guy before.” Good memory, Sparky —
\nRidgway was the unique voice behind Wall Of Voodoo and their quirky
\nhit “Mexican Radio”. What
\nAnatomy<\/i> does is not only puts aside the thought that Ridgway
\ncan only write goofy songs, but also establishes him as a very
\nserious songwriter who nurtures his craft carefully.<\/p>\n
Oh, there’s still tinges of sinister nature in Ridgway’s
\nsongwriting, as evidenced in “Valerie Is Sleeping”. And while
\nthere’s still a twisted sense of humor in Ridgway’s songwriting,
\noften he balances it with a more serious message, as on “Mama Had A
\nStove”: “And mama raised us up \/ To never tell a lie \/ Except when
\nthere’s a secret \/ Where the neighbors tend to pry.” Ka-pow.<\/p>\n
Musically,
\nAnatomy<\/i> shines just as bright. Although you know that
\n“Murray’s Steakhouse Story” is only 68 seconds long, you find
\nyourself expecting the track to just burst forth into something
\neven more spectacular than what you’re hearing. (It does — only it
\nhappens on “Susie Before Sunrise.”) If a simple instrumental can
\nmake you feel that excited, you can imagine how the bulk of this
\nalbum is.<\/p>\n
Even on the more serious tracks like “Picasso’s Tear” and “Train
\nOf Thought”, as well as the cover of Merle Travis’s “Sixteen Tons,”
\nRidgway makes sure that the ride he takes the listener on is
\nexciting enough to make them want to get back in line for more.
\nAnd, brother, you’re gonna want a whole lot more.<\/p>\n
But wait, there
\nis<\/i> more – joy! If you throw this disc in your computer and
\nload the Liquid Audio player, you’re treated to three live tracks
\nfrom an EP that Ridgway recorded in 1991. Why he chose to go this
\nroute rather than actually add them to the CD proper, I don’t know,
\nbut it’s well worth loading a player that I don’t normally use.
\n“Camouflage” is a re-telling of a tale often used in ’50s “death”
\nmusic, but is so powerful because you don’t expect it to turn into
\nsuch a track. And the humor of “I Wanna Be A Boss” – hell,
\nI’d<\/i> work for such a guy.<\/p>\n
Ridgway has successfully erased the ghosts of his musical past
\nwith
\nAnatomy<\/i>, and has created an album that captures the man and
\nhis craft perfectly. If you take a chance on only one album this
\nyear, search this one out — you will not be disappointed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6196],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-36380","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-stan-ridgway","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36380"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36380"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}