Lyle Lovett released Joshua Judges Ruth

Joshua Judges Ruth Lyle Lovett

Released: March 31, 1992 Peak: 57 US, 48 CN Sales (in millions): 0.5 US Genre: alt-country/Americana

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. I’ve Been to Memphis (1992? single, --) Church She’s Already Made Up Her Mind (1992 single, --) North Dakota (Lyle Lovett/Willis Alan Ramsey) (1993? single, --) You’ve Been So Good Up to Now (9/19/92, 36 AR) All My Love Is Gone Since the Last Time Baltimore Family Reserve She’s Leaving Me Because She Really Wants To Flyswatter/ Ice Water Blues (Monte Trenckmann’s Blues) She Makes Me Feel Good (1992 single, --) All songs written by Lyle Lovett unless noted otherwise. Total Running Time: 57:15

Rating: 4.269 out of 5.00 (average of 15 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: With his elegantly drawled tenor and modulated sense of country, gospel, and R&B inflections, the Texan songwriter extends the larger ensemble settings and contrasting moods achieved with his preceding album, Lyle Lovett and His Large Band.” SS “While Lyle Lovett and His Large Band wasn’t a massive chart hit, it was successful enough to establish an audience for Lovett outside the boundaries of the country market, and 1992’s Joshua Judges Ruth found Lovett seemingly free to follow his muse wherever it cared to go.” AMG Incidentally, “the album's title is a pun made up of the names of three books that appear sequentially in the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. WK “Leave it to the poker-faced Lovett to use a biblical joke to underline the thread of tangled relationships.” SS “Joshua Judges Ruth only bore the faintest glimmers of Lovett’s country leanings (notable exception: She’s Leaving Me Because She Really Wants To), and more surprisingly it suggested he was also moving away from the broad-shouldered jazz and blues accidents that dominated much of Pontiac and Large Band. Compared to his previous work, Joshua Judges Ruth sounds startlingly spare – producer and engineer George Massenburg brings a clear and keenly detailed sound to these sessions that allows all the details of the low-key arrangements to be heard, and She’s Already Made Up Her Mind, Baltimore,” AMG, one of his “atmospheric portraits of places and people,” SS, and Family Reserve seem to have been recorded with this in mind.” AMG “While the album does not have one theme that binds all the songs, several tracks deal with ‘high concepts’ such as religion (Church) and death (‘Family Reserve’).” WK Overall, “the songs also reflect a shift toward more serious and introspective themes for Lovett.” AMG “Lovett’s renowned sense of humor and whimsy” WK “is conspicuous in its absence,” AMG “temporarily set aside in favor of reflective musings on heartbreak and loss.” WK The few exceptions are “the gospel-influenced ‘Church’ and the easygoing She Makes Me Feel Good.” AMG Often his songs here acknowledge a “debt to other Lone Star songwriters like Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, and Nanci Griffith. Yet his ease with frank rock elements, and an often urbane outlook, point up a musical kinship with L.A.'s folk-rock wing, notably Jackson Browne.” SS ” SS “While the craft of Joshua Judges Ruth ranks with the finest work of Lovett’s career, its spare and sober surfaces aren’t especially engaging, and it’s the sort of album fans are more likely to admire than embrace with pleasure.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Lyle Lovett AMG All Music Guide review by Mark Deming SS Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 1/12/2010; last updated 5/18/2022.

Eric Clapton reached #2 with “Tears in Heaven”

Tears in Heaven Eric Clapton

Writer(s): Eric Clapton, Will Jennings (see lyrics here) Released: January 8, 1992 First Charted: January 11, 1992 Peak: 2 US, 11 CB, 13 GR, 3 RR, 13 AC, 9 AR, 5 UK, 12 CN, 37 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 3.3 US, 0.4 UK, 4.91 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 4.0 radio, 198.95 video, 378.52 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Eric Clapton launched his career in the 1960s, making a name for himself with the Yardbirds, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Cream, and Blind Faith before launching his solo career in the ‘70s (and making an album under the Derek + the Dominoes banner). On the charts, he reached #1 in 1974 with his version of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff.” His biggest selling song, however, came nearly two decades later with 1992’s “Tears in Heaven.” WK The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won Grammys for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. It was originally featured on the Rush soundtrack, but then appeared on Clapton’s Unplugged album. The later is the best-selling album of Clapton’s career, selling over 25 million worldwide and winning the Grammy for Album of the Year. Clapton had seen plenty of tragedy in his life, but the one-two punch of late 1990 and early 1991 might have been the most devastating. In August 1990, his friend and fellow musician Stevie Ray Vaughan and Clapton’s manager and two of his roadies were killed in a helipcoter accident. On March 20, 1991, his four-year-old son Conor died when he fell from a 53rd-floor window of a New York City apartment. WK Clapton poured his grief into “Tears in Heaven.” The song was ambiguous enough that it worked in the context of the score he was crafting for the movie Rush about a narcotics agent who becomes an addict. He asked Will Jennings for help on the song. Jennings had worked with Steve Winwood and written the #1 movie songs “Up Where We Belong” for An Officer and a Gentleman and “My Heart Will Go On” for Titanitc. Jennings thought it was too personal and that Clapton should write it alone, but he relented. Clapton wasn’t sure he wanted to release the song, but was convinced by the Lili Zanuck, the director of Rush, that the song might help others cope with grief. SF Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Eric Clapton AMG All Music Guide review by Matthew Greenwald SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 1/28/2021; last updated 12/24/2022.

Arrested Development released their debut album

First posted 4/2/2008; updated 9/8/2020.

3 Years, 5 Months, & 2 Days in the Life Arrested Development

Released: March 24, 1992 Peak: 7 US, 3 UK, -- CN, 4 AU Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, 0.3 UK, 5.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: rap

Tracks: (Click for codes to singles charts.) Man’s Final Frontier Mama’s Always on Stage People Everyday (8/15/92, 8 US, 2 UK, 2 RB, sales: ½ million) Blues Happy Mr. Wendal (12/19/92, 6 US, 4 UK, 6 RB, sales: ½ million) Children Play with Earth Raining Revolution Fishin’ 4 Religion Give a Man a Fish U Eve of Reality Natural (4/4/92, 90 RB) Dawn of the Dreads Tennessee (4/4/92, 6 US, 18 UK, 1 RB, sales: ½ million) Washed Away People Everyday (Metamorphosis Mix)

Rating: 4.200 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings) Awards:

About the Album: “Arrested Development was one of the genre’s most promising groups when it released” JD 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of..., named for “the amount of time that it took to secure a recording contract.” JD Critically, “its positive messages” AMG about “pleas for black unity and brotherly compassion, as well as a devotion to the struggle for equality” AMG “were the chief selling point for many rock critics” AMG and the band “claimed an armful of Grammy Awards, including best new artist and best rap group, in 1993.” JD On a commercial level “the band, shot to the top of the Billboard charts [and] sold 5 million albums worldwide.” JD “But it was pegged as…‘alternative hip-hop’ – rap’s equivalent to the alternative explosion then dominating the rock world – and that tag would come to haunt the outfit.” JD “Though the group successfully toured as part of Lollapalooza ‘93, rock radio turned a deaf ear. It was branded as ‘too black’ for the white music media, and ‘not black enough’ for many hip-hop outlets” JD due to the band’s “outspoken opposition to the glorification of drug dealing and the violent gangsta pose.” JD Instead, the band “addressed prejudice, the need for African-American unity, safe sex and the role of religion in bringing about social change. Speech advocated a revolution, but one that started not with guns, but changing the way that African-Americans think about themselves and their community.” JD “The issues the group was addressing had much more common in many African-Americans’ lives than the tales of violence delivered by other rappers.” JD “The group’s instrumental backings were fluid, grooving, absurdly catchy and grounded in a long tradition of soul, funk, R&B, gospel and rock ‘n’ roll.” JD “It’s determinedly down to earth, and that aesthetic informs the group’s music as well. Their sound is a laid-back, southern-fried groove informed by rural blues, African percussion, funk, and melodic R&B.” AMG “The artful craftsmanship of the backing tracks was well suited to Speech’s smooth, laid-back rapping – a mellow style that belied the potent urgency of his lyrics.” JD “All of it comes together on the classic single Tennessee, which takes lead rapper Speech on a spiritual quest to reclaim his heritage in a south still haunted by its history.” AMG The song, “which celebrates familial roots, is based on his teenage experiences visiting his grandparents in the town of Henning, Tenn.” (DeRegotis). “Mr. Wendal is a moving portrait of a homeless man encountered on the street, and Give a Man a Fish is a call for positive thinking as the road out of the ghetto.” JD “People Everyday was a sharp rewrite of Sly and the Family Stone's ‘Everyday People,’ and other tracks sampled Earth, Wind & Fire, Minnie Riperton, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Bob Dylan (a snippet of ‘Mighty Quinn’ appears in Arrested Development’s U).” JD “In retrospect, 3 Years... isn’t quite as revolutionary as it first seemed.” AMG “There’s a distinct political correctness – even naïveté – in the lyrics, which places the record firmly in the early ‘90s; it's also a bit self-consciously profound at times.” AMG Nonetheless, 3 Years... is “still a fine record that often crosses the line into excellence.” AMG In addition, the album “was a major influence on a new breed of alternative southern hip-hop, including Goodie Mob, OutKast, and Nappy Roots, and it still stands as one of the better albums of its kind.” AMG Also, “the influence of its music and its positive lyrical message live on in artists such as Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott, the Roots and Common, many of whom are part of the so-called neo-soul or natural R&B movement.” JD

Resources and Related Links: Arrested Development’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry JD Jim DeRogatis, The Great Albums (1/25/04) AMG Steve Huey, All Music Guide

k.d. lang Ingénue released

Ingénue k.d. lang

Released: March 17, 1992 Peak: 18 US, 3 UK, 13 CN, 3 AU, 4 DF Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 0.3 UK, 2.66 world (includes US and UK) Genre: country

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Save Me (31 DF) The Mind of Love (5/1/93, 72 UK, 22 DF) Miss Chatelaine (2/27/93, 32 AC, 68 UK, 24 DF) Wash Me Clean (37 DF) So It Shall Be Still Thrives This Love Season of Hollow Soul Outside Myself Tears of Love’s Recall Constant Craving (4/27/92, 38 BB, 29 CB, 17 GR, 17 RR, 2 AC, 15 UK, 8 CN, 38 AU, 12 DF) Total Running Time: 41:47

Rating: 3.907 out of 5.00 (average of 16 ratings) Quotable: -- “Few artists have reinvented themselves with as much poise and panache as lang did on Ingénue” – Mark Deming, AllMusic.com Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About k.d. lang Country singer/songwriter Kathryn Dawn “k.d.” Lang was born in 1961 in Alberta, Canada. She went to Red Deer College, became fascinated with Patsy Cline, and decided to become a professional singer. After she graduated in 1982, she responded to an ad posted by Jim Alexander. He was looking for a singer for his country-swing band. WK In 1984, she released her first album – A Truly Western Experience – with her band The Reclines. They released their second album, Angel with a Lariat, in 1987. Lang released her first solo album, Shadowland, the following year and reunited with the Reclines in 1989 for Absolute Torch and Twang. On these albums, lang “was a country traditionalist with a difference – while she had a glorious voice and could evoke the risen ghost of Patsy Cline when she was of a mind, there was an intelligence and sly humor in her work that occasionally betrayed her history as a performance artist who entered the musical mainstream through the side door.” AM A Change in Sound The next three years “were full of controversy for lang.” AM She alienated many fans of mainstream country when came out as a lesbian and became an outspoken animal rights activist. AMThis may have played a part in her desire to “seek out new creative directions” AM as she may have felt that she “had already taken her interest in country music as far as it was likely to go.” AM For her 1992 album Ingénue, lang “officially abandoned Nashville.” RD She transitioned from “a masterful and thoroughly enjoyable country singer” AM to “a far more introspective adult contemporary singer/songwriter.” AM She called her new sound “post-nuclear cabaret.” RD It was a mix of “category-defying pop, tango, swing, lounge, and…alternative country.” RD “Few artists have reinvented themselves with as much poise and panache as lang did on Ingénue.” AM Production “The production and arrangements by lang and her longtime collaborators Ben Mink and Greg Penny were at once simple and ambitious, creating a musical space that was different in form and effect than her previous albums but one where she sounded right at home.” AM Her group The Reclines are replaced by “Mink’s programmed rhythms and an assortment of session musicians playing everything from marimbas to tamboura.” TB Her “vocal style is noticeably more subtle…but her command of her instrument is still complete, and the cooler surroundings allowed her to emotionally accomplish more with less.” AM More Personal Songwriting Her “songwriting moved into a more impressionistic direction…and while the literal meanings of many of her tunes became less clear, she also brought a more personal stamp to her music.” AM On The Mind of Love, she sang, “Surely help will arrive soon and cure these self-induced wounds,” “revealing more about herself than on all of her previous country albums.” RD Wash Me Clean and Miss Chatelaine “were fueled by the experience of longing for a married woman.” RD Instead of being taken aback by lang’s homosexuality, her new audience embraced her “honest portray of universal feelings.” RD “Constant Craving” The song that gained the most attention was Constant Craving. It became her sole top 40 hit on the Billboard pop charts, effectively completing her transition from country to pop star. The song won a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and landed nominations for Song and Record of the Year. It helped lift Ingénue to platinum status – lang’s only album to do so – and garnered it a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year.

Resources: AM AllMusic.com review by Mark Deming RD Robert Dimery (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited: New York, NY. Page 688. TB Thunder Bay (2005). Albums: The Stories Behind 50 Years of Great Recordings. Thunder Bay Press; San Diego, CA. Page 267. WK Wikipedia page about k.d. lang Related DMDB Links: First posted 11/14/2008; last updated 12/3/2024.

Metallica “Nothing Else Matters” charted

Nothing Else Matters Metallica

Writer(s): James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich (see lyrics here) Released: April 20, 1992 First Charted: March 14, 1992 Peak: 34 US, 31 CB, 27 GR, 35 RR, 11 AR, 6 UK, 41 CN, 6 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 0.6 UK, 2.16 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1100.0 video, 870.1 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Metallica was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles. They built a loyal following with their brand of thrash metal throughout the 1980s. Each album charted higher and sold more than its predecessor. With their 1988 album And Justice for All, the band even managed a top-ten album which sold eight million copies and even landed a song (“One”) in the Billboard top 40! It wasn’t their commercial peak, though. With their 1991 self-titled album, they rose to unimaginable heights. The album reached #1 and has sold more than 16 million copies in the U.S. The first single, “Enter Sandman,” reached the top 20 and two more singles made it to the top 40. This was no longer a band just for the metal heads. Lead singer and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield said that Metallica songs were supposed to be “about destroying things, head banging, bleeding for the crowd, whatever it is, as long as it wasn’t about chicks and fast cars.” WK However, “Nothing Else Matters” is about missing his girlfriend and being depressed about being on the road away from home. WK He explained that it was written in such a way, though, that “it connected with so many people…it was about a connection with your higher power, lots of different things.” SF Hetfield was reluctant to share the song with the band, but once drummer Lars Ulrich heard it, he pushed for it to be considered for the album. The song is one of the few in Metallica’s repertoire that doesn’t feature guitarist Kirk Hammett. Instead, it is Hetfield who plays the guitar solo. WK The song also features orchestration by Michael Kamen. The song’s “relative softness was more accessible…and it opened new doors for the band.” SF This was no longer a band just intent on showing off how fast they could play. This was a band intent on showing how powerful they could be even when they slowed things down. Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 12/27/2022.