Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band
year 1991 review:Michigan's Bob Seger is an American treasure, but he doesn't get the full respect or attention of, say, Bruce Springsteen or John Mellencamp because he wasn't as visible. His late-'70s prime was pre-MTV, New Jersey-born Springsteen had the fawning support of the New York-based media, and Mellencamp embraced high-profile political causes like Farm Aid and married model Elaine Irwin. 1991's The Fire Inside is credited to Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, but that's misleading. Keyboardist Craig Frost plays on most of the songs, but saxophonist Alto Reed and bassist Chris Campbell are virtually MIA. Instead, Seger uses countless special guests. So many, in fact, that listing them all would eat up this review space, but they include Joe Walsh, Bruce Hornsby, Roy Bittan, Steve Lukather, Don Was, Waddy Wachtel, Rick Vito, Mike Campbell, Patty Smyth, Lisa Germano, and Kenny Aronoff. Overall, the 12-track album is a disappointing piecemeal effort with five different production credits, and Seger uses two Tom Waits covers and one other outside song to pad it. "The Real Love" was a Top 40 hit and this acoustic guitar-based song is indicative of Seger's gift for writing mid-tempo ballads.
Stereophonics - Just Enough Education To Preform
year 2001 review:Principally recorded at Real World Studios, Bath, England. On Just Enough Education To Preform, Brit-poppers Stereophonics offer another refreshingly unpretentious album in which frontman Kelly Jones sings about everyday topics and emotions in his inimitable winsome voice, the whole thing set to outrageously catchy melodies and driven by a strong guitar-based sound. Think a slightly grungier version of the La's and you're not far off the mark, although the album's far too stylistically varied to really be pigeonholed. "Have a Nice Day" could be Cheap Trick without the irony. Jones says the magnificent "Mr. Writer" was inspired by ELO and Stevie Wonder, although it could also pass for early-'70s John Lennon remade a la the Rutles. The exquisitely countryish "Step on My Old Size Nines" comes off as a modern alternative-rock take on early Brinsley Schwarz. Gorgeous stuff, and often rather uplifting.