Marshall Crenshaw: What's In The Bag? CD Track Listing

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Marshall Crenshaw What's In The Bag? (2003)
Originally Released July 22, 2003\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: If you had to pick the single most dominant lyrical theme in the history of postwar pop music, it would probably be love, and on his first few albums Marshall Crenshaw wrote better songs about girls -- longing for them, and trying to win them over -- than anyone of his generation. Two decades on from his instant classic debut, Crenshaw still has plenty to say about love, but 2003's What's in the Bag? finds an older and more world-weary Crenshaw singing about men and women, not boys and girls, and contemplating a world where relationships are often hard work without the promise of a happy ending. What's in the Bag? begins with "Will We Ever?," in which Crenshaw takes the voice of a man on the road late at night, wondering when or if he'll ever see his wife again, and the melancholy beauty of the lyric is matched by Greg Leisz's steel guitar and the vibes of Bill Ware. It's a powerful and richly evocative performance, and it sets the stage for the rest of the set, in which Crenshaw's characters are haunted by the specters of failed romances, memories which are at once beautiful and heartbreaking, and the struggle to move on from life's disappointments. The mood is lightened on a pair of R&B covers, but the plaintive tone of "Take Me With You" and "I'd Rather Be With You" still feels consistent with the album's theme of men trying to make love work, under difficult circumstances. In short, if you're looking for a shot of pure pop heaven to bring you a smile, What's in the Bag? is not the album for you. However, anyone who admires the craft of Crenshaw's songwriting (and his increasingly potent guitar work) will want to hear this set -- this is beautiful, affecting, and emotionally powerful music, and makes it clear Crenshaw still has plenty of surprising things left to say after all these years. -- Mark Deming\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nA Bona Fide classic, November 27, 2003\nReviewer: "rrrkitchen" (Victoria Australia)\nIt seems there have been two sorts of reviews for this album - long time fans appreciating a departure from an acepted Marshall style, and those who get nostalgic for the old days of perky pop. In the end, the melody is the important thing. An arrangement can always be changed from uptempo to ballad. However, the melody must always be strong to work in some guise. Marshall is a master of the "stuck-in-my-head" melody. That is the consistent link between his Warner's debut and What's In The Bag. Let's not argue over fast songs versus slow songs. Let's acknowledge that the man still writes a great tune (and for my money, I'm quite happy with the new album's slower arrangements). In a time when fewer of the tunesmiths from days of old still have much that's relevant to say to the public, MC still shines. What's In The bag has many fine moments, but my favourite is the rich and evocative Will We Ever. The beauty and sublety of the pedal steel in that song speaks volumes for his arranging skills too.\nIf you've been tossing up whether to get this, stop being indecisive. Just get it. Your mind and heart will thank you.\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nYawn.) Yet another Crenshaw album of great writing/playing., August 21, 2003\nReviewer: J. Chasin (NYC, NY) \nI bought the self-titled debut when it came out in 1982, and every other one since. I've seen Marshall over 50 times (a benefit of living in NYC). I've seen him touring every single release, and I've seen him both solo and with a band. (Once I ran into him before a show and I told him I'd seen him 50 times. He looked at me like I was nuts.)\nI didn't find this one to be the jarring course change that apparently some others did. Certainly the instrumentation is more sublime and subtle (and colorful) than the usual rock combo, but the songs are still coming from that same great wellspring. The gorgeous ""Where Home Used to Be" is kissing cousins with "2541" or "Tell Me All About It." The Prince cover is remarkable for the way it sounds so seamlessly like the song was always meant to have a rockabilly flavor.\n\nCrenshaw is, I think, 48. He has been toiling in criminal virtual obscurity for over 20 years, writing beautifully-crafted, charming songs that ooze heart and deserve to be hits, and supplimenting them by selecting perfect songs to cover (you can always count on some surprise or other at his shows; "Substitute," "White Lightning," and "Feliz Navidad" were personal favorites). This record is the logical next step, the extension forward in time from one of America's true hidden treasures. In the notes to the Nine Volt Years, I believe he calls his first two albums his young man albums, noting that everything since sounds different because you can't sound young and starting out after you are no longer young and starting out. This is a guy who has aged as gracefully as is humanly possible in the realm of rock'n'roll. I'm going to see him tonight. I can't wait.\n\nNote: If you don't own any of his stuff, this may not be the logical place to start. The anthology that came out a few years back (This Is Easy, I think) is a fine overview. But every single album has three or so absolute gems. I think Field Day (his second) is probably the favorite aong his long-time fans, but he generally plays the most from the first self-titled one in concert. Personally I am also fond of Miracle of Science and Mary Jean and Nine Others. And Downtown. And-- oh hell, all of them.\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nAs good as anything he's done, August 8, 2003\nReviewer: Gregory P. Carrier "gcarrier" (Iowa City, IA USA) \nThis is a great album, one of the very best of his career. No, it doesn't have the obvious energy of some of his early work, but the songwriting is as sharp as ever, and what's new (actually, it's been coming for a while now) is a sophistication and maturity in both the songs and the performances. To me, it's all just as catchy as ever -- and that's what Crenshaw's strength has always been -- but the mood has changed. \nI can keep trying to describe how this album is part of an evolution in Marshall's music, but what it comes down to is how it feels, if it speaks to the listener. This one spoke to me right away, first play. And every song here works. I just hope that somehow this album and this artist get the recognition they deserve.\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nA GREAT RECORD, July 29, 2003\nReviewer: A music fan\nThe more I listen to this, the more I like it. It's the work of a grown-up who can still rock when he wants to, but who now picks and chooses those moments when he wants to pump it up. "Where Home Used to Be" is beautiful and haunting, "The Spell is Broken" is a vintage Marshall hook on a tricky frame with really interesting production. In fact, the production on the whole thing is MC's best work yet producing himself. One of the only things I'm listening to these days.\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nMarshall moves closer to AAA, Not Power Pop, July 29, 2003\nReviewer: A music fan\nIf you loved Marshall's early Warner Brother albums - you'll be disapointed, because nothing on this album approaches the Pop-Punk-Rockablily mix of the first album or the sonic bomb blast of "Field Day". \n\nBut if you have "grown up" with Marshall's music over the years (like I have done with Nick Lowe) this is his most consistant album since "Miracle Of Science". This is strictly AAA material in a laid-back songwriters groove, with fine and cool guitar work all over the place. And Marshall's Prince and Bootsy Collins covers are a lot of fun, though they dont beat the originals. \n\nMy only gripe is that "A Few Thousand Days Ago" (my fave track at first listen) and the instrumental "AKA (A Big Heavy Hot Dog)" (which I first heard as a Mp3 download on the Electro-Harmonix website a few years ago) are mixed down to mono. The stereo mixes on this CD sound great with wide separation and detail, why where these two tracks mixed this way? \n\nOtherwise this is another essental album for Crenshaw fans. I hope he revs it back up and makes a butt-kickng Rock n Roll album in the future.\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nThe work of a different artist, July 28, 2003\nReviewer: "danabnrml9" (Somerville, MA USA) \nFor fans of Marshall Crenshaw's criminally catchy '80s and early '90s output, "What's In the Bag" will be a complete shock. Granted, MC has been building up to this for several years--including on 1999's fairly somber "447"--but "What's in the Bag" is Crenshaw's moodiest, most "mature" album yet. Stylistically, he eschews all of the background harmonies, snappy tempos, and efficiently catchy songwriting of his previous records in favor of a slow singer/songwriter record. This means that some (perhaps many) of his fans will be disappointed--and yes, I am one of them--but those who saw this coming, the ones who've seen him in concert recently or who really enjoyed "447"--just might think "What's in the Bag" is amongst Crenshaw's best work. He is in fine voice, and his songs appeal to a sort of regretful middle-aged sensibility, but without any of the trademarks of his style--the things that made most of us fans in the first place--"What's in the Bag" seems quite tepid. Still, this shouldn't be seen an indictment of Crenshaw as an artist because he actually sounds very happy making music the way he wants to. It just means that fans need to be ready for a new experience, becuase Marshall certainly offers up something new here.\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\n"Cabaret" Crenshaw's Comeback, July 27, 2003\nReviewer: Juan La Princi "Mr. F. Bombalate" (livin' just enough)\nWith "What's in the Bag?" Marshall Crenshaw has reinvented himself into the kind of pop star who can sustain a career when the "born to rock and roll" passion fades. Crenshaw was always a far more complex songwriter than most rockers, but with this album, he's finally given himself the freedom to explore genres and rhythms other than mid-60s pop and rock. By doing so, he sounds more committed to his new music than he has on anything since "Life's Too Short." But whereas that album was a piledriver of big stadium beats, this record is shockingly intimate, quiet, at times delicate. I first played it in my car, and it sounded like he was in the back seat singing into my ear. This is especially the case for the two cuts that open the album, both of them painful ruminations, the slow waltz "Will We Ever," and the knotty, brilliant "Where Home Used to Be." \nIn truth, Crenshaw does revert to prior form on several cuts, but more typically, he creates fascinating hybrids of old and new, like "The Spell is Broken" that combines a typical Crenshaw melody and guitar line with a distinctly jazzy drum part and vibraphone. \n\nThe pastiche of styles seems very organic--as if he's demonstrating that when you turn down the volume, rock can make room for the quieter effects of jazz, folk and country. \n\nLots of great rock-era performers are trying to figure out what to do with their careers as they reach their 50s and even 60s. Mick Jagger, Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney act like jukeboxes for their well-earned hit parades. Led Zeppelin worms into its archives to fill out the historic record. Rod Stewart and Boz Scaggs, among many others, apply their distinctive styles to the great music of their parents' generation. It's all good. \n\nBut, to me, the most interesting performers are those who risk doing something new, something that feels right for who they are today: Nick Lowe, with his brilliant trio of recent albums, Steely Dan in their two comeback CDs, and now Marshall Crenshaw, who re-energizes his career with "What's in the Bag?"\n\nTower Records Product Notes:\nProducer: Marshall Crenshaw; Eric Ambel\nGuest Artists: Bill Ware\n\nPersonnel: Marshall Crenshaw (vocals, guitar, Mellotron, bass, drums, percussion); Chris Cunningham (acoustic & electric guitars, bass); Andy York (guitar, bass); Tony Teely (guitar); Greg Leisz (steel guitar); Jason Crigler (slide guitar, pedal steel guitar); Dred Scott (organ); Tony Beckham, Bill Ware (vibraphone); Eric Ambel, Graham Maby (bass); Diego Voglino (drums).\n\nPrincipally recorded at Jolly Roger Studios, Hoboken, New Jersey.\n\nEditorial Reviews:\nMojo (9/03, p.107) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Crenshaw's cutting, crystalline voice remains intact....A mixed BAG, but an interesting one nonetheless..."
This rock cd contains 11 tracks and runs 47min 49sec.
Freedb: 8b0b330b
Buy: from Amazon.com

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