Sheryl Crow released self-titled second album

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Crow

Released: September 24, 1996 Peak: 6 US, 5 UK, 12 CN, 14 AU, 14 DF Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.9 UK, 5.0 world (includes US + UK) Genre: rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Maybe Angels (38 DF) A Change Would Do You Good (5/17/97, 19 BB, 9 GR, 12 RR, 5 A40, 16 AA, 25 MR, 8 UK, 2 CN, 74 AU, 10 DF) Home (10/6/97, 25 UK, 40 CN, 12 DF) Sweet Rosalyn (39 DF) If It Makes You Happy (8/31/96, 10 BB, 10 CB, 4 GR, 3 RR, 5 A40, 11 AA, 37 AR, 6 MR, 9 UK, 11 CN, 20 AU, 7 DF) Redemption Day (35 DF) Hard to Make a Stand (3/17/97, 22 UK, 15 CN, 12 DF) Everyday Is a Winding Road (11/8/96, 11 BB, 6 BA, 3 GR, 4 RR, 28 AC, 4 A40 3, AA, 31 AR, 17 MR, 12 UK, 13 CN, 67 AU, 7 DF) Love Is a Good Thing (14 DF) Oh Marie (38 DF) Superstar (39 DF) The Book (36 DF) Ordinary Morning Total Running Time: 56:28

Rating: 4.189 out of 5.00 (average of 17 ratings) Quotable: “Sheryl Crow's self-titled sophomore effort remains her most consistent and distinctly modern album to date.” – Sal Cinquemani, Slant magazine Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About Sheryl Crow Sheryl Crow was born in Kennett, Missouri, in 1962. After she graduated from the University of Missouri, she worked as an elementary school music teacher and would sing in bands on weekends. She started singing jingles and eventually moved to Los Angeles to work as a backup singer. After working as a backup singer for Don Henley, Michael Jackson, and others, Crow signed a deal with A&M records to release her own album. She was disappointed with the slick, contemporary pop sound of the album, wanting a rougher, roots-rock sound and she convinced A&M not to release the album. Then-boyfriend Kevin Gilbert and producer Bill Bottrell tried to salvage it, but eventually aborted it. Still, the association with Gilbert and Bottrell paid off as they brought her into their weekly jam sessions, known as the Tuesday Night Music Club, “that ultimately produced the disc’s rootsy, beer-logged” SL debut album of the same name. She had a falling out with most of the collective that helped produce that album because they saw her as taking more credit for the songwriting than she deserved. Second Time Around Accused of being “a puppet to her all-male Tuesday Night Music Club,” SL Crow was determined to prove her credentials the second time around. “On her sophomore effort, Crow…found that rare balance between retro, organic rock, and slick, glam-pop.” SL She “took full reign of the album’s production duties…As such, there’s a palpable, fear-driven ambition to the album. Her drive paid off and not only did Crow avoid the dreaded sophomore slump, but Sheryl Crow is easily her best album.” SL Commercially, it gave her another top-ten, multi-platinum album which won the Grammy for Best Rock Album. The Songs “The album’s lead single, the crunchy rocker If It Makes You Happy, was both a retort to the criticism Crow received as well as a fatigued reflection on two years of fame and touring, which included a stint at Woodstock ‘94, specifically referenced on the track.” SL The song won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. “While the song’s structure is fairly straightforward, other tracks on the album are filled with quirky, stream-of-conscious lyrics (pop-culture references abound: to Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, Ouija boards, etc.) and a collage of drum loops, organs, and layered voices. Songs like Ordinary Morning, with its lazy piano figures and raw blues vibe, are cushioned comfortably next to loopy tracks like Maybe Angels and understated ballads like Home, in which Crow recounts the emotional strains of a deteriorating marriage.” SL “Crow’s lyrics take a decidedly moralistic stance but never sound preachy. Hard to Make a Stand touches on pro-life terrorism, while Love Is a Good Thing sees the solution to the world’s problems in the same four-letter word so many other rockers have enthusiastically endorsed over the years. Crow makes subtle references to the Beatles’ ‘Love Is All You Need,’ but not before giving us a dose of modern reality: ‘Watch our children while they kill each other/With a gun they bought at Walmart discount stores.’” SL That song got her album banned by the chain. “‘These are the days when anything goes,’ she sings on the buoyant Everyday Is a Winding Road, and the sentiment speaks for both the song’s playful optimism and the album’s sonic adventurousness. Both Tuesday Night Music Club and 1998’s The Globe Sessions are solid pop-rock efforts, but neither are as consistent, immaculately produced, or distinctly modern as Sheryl Crow.” SL

Review Sources: AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine RD Robert Dimery (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited: New York, NY. Page 716. SL Slant Magazine (6/30/2003). “Vital Pop: 50 Essential Pop Albums” by Slant staff WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Links: Last updated 12/10/2024.

Alan Parsons On Air released

On Air Alan Parsons

Released: September 24, 1996 Peak: 12 DF Sales (in millions): -- Genre: progressive rock lite

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Blue Blue Sky [1:32] v: Eric Stewart Too Close to the Sun (Bairnson/Elliott/Parsons) [5:06] v: Neil Lockwood Blown by the Wind [5:25] v: Eric Stewart Cloudbreak (instrumental) (Bairnson/Elliott/Parsons) [4:39] I Can't Look Down [4:38] v: Neil Lockwood Brother Up in Heaven [3:54] v: Neil Lockwood (1996 single, --) Fall Free (Bairnson/Elliott/Parsons) [4:33] v: Steve Overland (1997 single, --) Apollo (instrumental) (Bairnson/Elliott/Parsons) [5:59] speech by John F. Kennedy (1997 single, --) So Far Away [4:04] v: Christopher Cross (1996 single, --) One Day to Fly (Elliott/English) [6:16] v: Graham Dye Blue Blue Sky – Reprise [4:29] v: Eric Stewart Unless otherwise noted, songs are written by Ian Bairnson. The ‘v’ after the song listing indicates who provides lead vocals. Total Running Time: 50:50 The Players: Alan Parsons (engineering, mixing, keyboards) Andrew Powell (orchestral arranger and conductor) Ian Bairnson (guitar, bass synthesizer, bass guitar) Stuart Elliott (drums, bongos, keyboards and drum programming) Richard Cottle (saxophone, keyboards) Eric Stewart, Neil Lockwood, Steve Overland, Christopher Cross, Graham Dye (vocals) John Giblin (bass) Christopher Warren-Green (orchestra leader) Gary Sanctuary (keyboards)

Rating: 3.209 out of 5.00 (average of 18 ratings) Quotable: “Parsons probably isn't going to win over any new fans with this one, but anyone who has liked them in the past will probably enjoy On Air” – Steve Marshall, TheNightOwl.com Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: On his second post-project release, Alan Parsons hands over writing duties to longtime Project guitarist Ian Bairnson, who pens or co-pens all but one track on the album. Bairnson was supposedly “spurred on following the ‘friendly fire’ death of [his] cousin in Iraq.” DV The album’s “concept deals with the fascination of flight and the yearning people have to become one with the sky.” AMG Unlike most Project albums, a quick perusal of the song titles makes the theme obvious. When you listen to the music, you also hear a “light, breezy feel that carries each song, simulating an effortless flight through the clouds.” AMG However, “as beautiful and imagery-filled as this idea is, its potential never…get[s] off the ground. Most of the songs…lack the intensity…necessary to establish any concern for the main idea. Instead, they consist of metaphorical lyrics that go off on strange tangents, misconstrued and long-drawn-out stanzas that seem empty, and a slight pretentiousness…usually absent from this band's material. AMG Basically, the album’s ”sound is smooth and gentle but has difficulty in holding interest.” AMG After listening to the album you may find yourself easing back in your chair and letting out a relaxed sigh, but nothing will leave you tapping your fingers on the arm of the chair. As always, Parsons maintains “complete mastery of the recording studio,” DV and now that he is with a smaller label, Parsons has more control over the work. ”From the opening notes of Blue Blue Sky, man looks up and dreams of being able to break the bonds with earth.” DV As the track segues into Too Close to the Sun, a jet roars across your speakers. The sound is so realistic that at high volumes, you'll swear it's flying right over the room. NO ”Parsons captures all the power of the jet's flyby and sonic boom. The…myth of Icarus is put to music…featuring a powerful lead vocal from Neil Lockwood.” DV ”From the development of balloons which are, for the most part, out of human control (Blown by the Wind) to dealing with people's fear of flying (Can't Look Down), Parsons and crew choose not to dwell on a history of aviation…but rather focus on the poetry of developments and modern-day situations.” DV ”Interspersed is Cloudbreak, one of two instrumentals…and proof positive that Parsons and crew have lost nothing over the course of 20 years of creating music.” DV It “is superb, and ranks up with the best” NO of Parsons’ instrumentals. “The highlight…is Brother Up in Heaven, Bairnson’s tribute to his cousin. Unlike some of the other songs, the theme here is less on flight and more on dealing with the loss of a loved one and the process of grieving. Sample lyric: ‘I still see his shadow / His laugh lingers on / When I dream, we’re all back together / When I wake, he’s gone.’” DV "Fall Free is one of the CD’s better cuts, and it lightens the mood a bit after ‘Brother Up in Heaven.’” NO ”Now that humans have made it into the realm of soaring with the birds, Parsons looks at the natural progression of our thinking - thinking which led us into space. The instrumental Apollo "features excerpts from a speech by John F. Kennedy and is almost techno at times. The crunching power chords toward the end of the song bear a strong resemblance to ‘Where's the Walrus?’ from the [1986 Project album] Stereotomy.” NO ”Both instrumentals…are appealing, and capture the essence of the album more so than any of the vocally inhabited songs.” AMG ’Apollo’ “serves as a mood-setting piece that brings things up to speed, leading the way to So Far Away, another track that speaks of the dangers one faces when they defy gravity. Christopher Cross takes over the role of lead…and voices it perfectly (with all due respect to Britons, I don't think anyone but an American could have sang a lyric about the Challenger disaster.” DV This song and ‘Too Close to the Sun’ “are the album's finer points, but even these songs fall short of the domineering style that once surrounded the Alan Parsons Project.” AMG ”Most of the songs contain well-established harmonies and a fair amount of guitar and keyboard mingling, but it's the lack of depth and assertiveness that holds this album back.” AMG ”But while boundaries continue to be broken and experiments in flight occasionally still fail, man still finds himself dreaming about the next levels of flight, bringing the listener to One Day to Fly. Not surprisingly, the song captures the dream that…we all wish we could fly without the man-made gadgets and high-technology.” DV The album closes with a reprise of the opening song. “The way the album returns to Blue Blue Sky, featuring some beautiful guitar work from Bairnson, is a very smart move.” DV In the end, “Parsons probably isn't going to win over any new fans with this one, but anyone who has liked them in the past will probably enjoy On Air.” NO “This disc takes a few listens to really appreciate, but that's usually the sign of a good CD.” NO

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Alan Parsons AMG All Music Guide review by Mike DeGagne NO TheNightOwl.com review by Steve Marshall DV DailyVault.com review by Christopher Thelen WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 4/4/2008; last updated 7/20/2022.

DJ Shadow Endtroducing released

Endtroducing… DJ Shadow

Released: September 16, 1996 Peak: -- US, 17 UK Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.1 UK Genre: trip-hop (electronica/hip-hop)

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Best Foot Forward Building Steam with a Grain of Salt The Number Song Changeling/Transmission #1 What Does Your Soul Look Like, Pt. 4 (untitled) Stem/ Long Stem/ Transmission #2 (10/96, 74 UK) Mutual Slump Organ Donor Why Hip Hop Sucks in ‘96 Midnight in a Perfect World (9/96, 54 UK) Napalm Brain/ Scatter Brain What Does Your Soul Look Like, Pt. 1: Blue Sky Revisit/ Transmission #3 Total Running Time: 63:23

Rating: 3.985 out of 5.00 (average of 20 ratings) Quotable: “Rendered all other ‘trip-hop’ entirely irrelevant.” – Blender Magazine Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: In 1994, Josh “DJ Shadow” Davis, “a hip-hop DJ with a scholar’s sense of purpose” BL “locked himself in his basement with a sampler, a sequencer and one of the world’s strangest” TL and “gargantuan” BL “record collections. Two years later, he emerged with a completely original electronic symphony.” TL “Davis’ debut drew on horror-film ambience and pounding prog-rock, but was anchored by old-school production.” BL “As a suburban Californian kid, DJ Shadow tended to treat hip-hop as a musical innovation, not as an explicit social protest, which goes a long way toward explaining why his debut album Endtroducing... sounded like nothing else at the time of its release. Using hip-hop, not only its rhythms but its cut-and-paste techniques, as a foundation, Shadow created a deep, endlessly intriguing world on Endtroducing, one where there are no musical genres, only shifting sonic textures and styles.” STE His effort effectively “rendered all other ‘trip-hop’ entirely irrelevant.” BL Endtroducing “builds on a solid historical foundation, giving it a rich, multi-faceted sound.” STE “Shadow created the entire album from samples, almost all pulled from obscure, forgotten vinyl, and the effect is that of a hazy, half-familiar dream – parts of the record sound familiar, yet it's clear that it only suggests music you’ve heard before, and that the multi-layered samples and genres create something new.” STE “The 13 tracks vary in length and tone – some are beat driven and under a minute while others have orchestral swells and stretch to almost ten – but all are constructed entirely from samples, and the only voices are from obscure spoken word and comedy albums that sound like they’re being beamed from outer space.” TL “Somehow a narrative emerges, and on Building Steam with a Grain of Salt, we even get autobiography by proxy. ‘I’d like to just continue to be able to express myself,’ says a self-taught drummer through the fuzz and pop of vinyl scratches, ‘as best as I can.’” TL “It’s not only a major breakthrough for hip-hop and electronica, but for pop music.” STE

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for DJ Shadow BL Blender magazine (10/2008). “100 Greatest American Albums” STE Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide TL Time magazine (11/13/2006). “All-TIME 100 Albums” by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light First posted 3/23/2010; last updated 11/16/2023.

The Death of Tupac Shakur: September 13, 1996

Originally posted September 13, 2012.

image from vigilantcitizen.com

On September 7, 1996, rapper/actor Tupac Shakur (generally referred to as 2Pac) attended the Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon boxing match in Las Vegas, Nevada. When Shakur and his Death Row Records entourage left the MGM Grand Hotel, a fight broke out. Later that night, Shakur was in the riding to an event with Death Row’s Suge Knight when a car pulled up beside them and fired roughly 13 shots at the car. Shakur was hit four times. He died a week later on September 13, 1996. He was 25.

He is estimated to have sold more than 100 million albums worldwide. His songs often depicted the harsh realities of ghetto life, largely inspired by his own upbringing in East Harlem. His parents’ background as members of the Black Panthers also shaped the social commentary in 2Pac’s music. Shakur faced trouble with the law and was caught up in the East Coast-West Coast rap rivalry commonly assumed to be the reason for his gang-style killing.

His music career started with Digital Underground in 1990. He worked as a roadie and backup dancer and contributed a rap on their “Same Song” for the 1991 film Nothing But Trouble. He launched his solo career that same year with 2Pacalypse Now. Me Against the World (1995) and All Eyez on Me (1996) are both DMDB top 1000 albums and went to #1, a position he attained three more times posthumously. He’s charted more than 20 albums; only four were released in his lifetime. Eleven of his albums have been top tens.

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Awards:

• one of the top 1000 music makers of all time
• top 100 rap songs of all time (“Keep Ya Head Up”, “Dear Mama”, “California Love”, “Changes”)
• in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress"> (“Dear Mama”)
• top 100 videos of all time according to the DMDB (“California Love”)
• top 1000 albums of all time (1995’s Me Against the World, 1996’s All Eyez on Me)
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (World, Eyez)
• top 50 rap albums of all time (World, Eyez)

Resources and Related Links:

• Tupac Shakur’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry
• DMDB album page for Me Against the World
• DMDB album page for All Eyez on Me
• Rolling Stone Tupac Shakur: 1971-1996 by Kevin Powell (10/31/96)
• ^WK Wikipedia Tupac Shakur entry

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