Melissa Etheridge One Way Out archival collection released

One Way Out Melissa Etheridge

Released: September 17, 2021 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US and UK) Genre: rock

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. One Way Out (5/25/21, --) As Cool As You Try (8/19/21, --) I’m No Angel Myself For the Last Time (7/9/21, --) Save Myself That Would Be Me Wild Wild Wild You Have No Idea (live) Life Goes On (live)

Rating: 3.595 out of 5.00 (average of 6 ratings)

About the Album: This archival collection is comprised mostly of songs from the late 1980s and early 1990s which Melissa Etheridge scrapped for one reason or another. For example, Etheridge though the “gorgeously gentle Wild Wild Wild ” 25 was “too sexual” when she first wrote it as she hadn’t come out yet. 25 She said of that song and others that it was “a tender sort of place that I was reluctant to go before I came out…Now it was really fun to just step forward and fearlessly present these songs.” RT She stumbled across that song and others when preparing a box set. In 2013, she finished the records with her original band of Fritz Lewak, John Shanks, and Kevin McCormick at Henson Studios. When she parted with her label, the box set was shelved and the songs were set aside once again. However, she found the songs again in 2020 when sorting through material to share on her Etheridge TV’s Friday Night Time Machine show. PW Now they finally see the light of day. “Etheridge kicks the album off with its tough, blues/rock title track One Way Out. It’s an absolute burner of a song that surrounds her vocal talents with overdriven guitar, wailing harmonica, and a bumping rhythm section. Etheridge has always excelled in this kind of rock band context and hearing her sing this one is an instant ticket back to the early days of her career. Her vocal presence is unmatchable and she reels you farther in with every word.” RB The “sass continues in more straightforward blues and country rocker As Cool As You Try,” 25 “this time with a mid-tempo feel that’s expansive and full of soul.” RB That Would Be Me “favours a more down-home blues feel but with a confrontational vocal delivery.” 25 “Then the guitar solo is so dirty in Save Myself it needs a long bath.” 25 “I’m No Angel Myself is an entrancing ballad with a backbone that seems to be a plea to someone bent on self-destruction to come back from the ledge. Etheridge speaks her piece at the tempo of a fast heartbeat that allows the empathy in her lyrics to come to the forefront. She sings like a friend whispering what needs to be said right into your ear in a crowded bar.” RB You Have No Idea and Life Goes On were recorded live at the Roxy in Los Angeles in 2002. The former “is pure, small-band rock and roll bliss” RB with “a gritty and gutsy American feel to it.” 25 The latter is “a song about remembering the old days as they were and how much living had happened since then.” RB

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Melissa Etheridge 25 25 Years Later Site album review by Steve Swift PW Primary Wave RB Rock and Blues Muse review by Mike O’Cull RT Rough Trade Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 11/19/2021.

Melissa Etheridge debut released

Melissa Etheridge Melissa Etheridge

Released: May 2, 1988 Peak: 22 US, -- UK, -- CN, 3 AU, 16 DF Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, -- UK, 2.94 world (includes US and UK) Genre: mainstream rock

Tracks: Song Title [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Similar Features [4:42] (3/13/88, 94 BB, 6 AR, 93 CN, 34 AU, 5 DF) Chrome Plated Heart [3:59] (10/13/88, 22 AR, 9 DF) Like the Way I Do [5:23] (8/3/88, 42 BB, 28 AR, 16 CN, 9 DF) Precious Pain [4:15] (40 DF) Don’t You Need [4:59] (12/15/88, 39 DF) The Late September Dogs [6:33] (7 DF) Occasionally [2:36] (1 DF) Watching You [5:33] (40 DF) Bring Me Some Water [3:52] (4/27/88, 10 AR, 100 UK, 34 CN, 9 AU, 1 DF) I Want You [4:07] (40 DF) All songs written by Melissa Etheridge. Total Running Time: 45:59

Rating: 3.927 out of 5.00 (average of 25 ratings) Quotable: “One of the most stunning debut albums of the 1980s.” – Vik Iyengar, AllMusic.com Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About Melissa Melissa Etheridge was born in 1961 in Leavenworth, Kansas. She emerged in the late ‘80s with a wave of female singer/songwriters who crafted confessional, introspective songs in the folk-rock and alternative rock genres. Etheridge, however, was closer to a straightforward rocker than some of her contemporaries, “clearly influenced by classic rock artists such as Bruce Springsteen and John Cougar Mellencamp.” AM Her First Album She built a following as an artist “during several years of grinding out recognition, one small venue at a time.” CR After being signed to Island Records, Etheridge recorded an album that was rejected as too polished and glossy. WK Her next effort, her “stripped-down, self-titled debut” WK was completed in four days. WK It “was one of the most stunning debut albums of the 1980s.” AM “Given the domination of synthesizer pop on the radio, Melissa Etheridge was a breath of fresh air.” AM “Her raw-throated vocals, confessional compositions, and simple yet effective acoustic-built music totally contrasted the flash and fluff which saturated the conventional airwaves.” CR Her “passionate vocal deliveries” AM “sung with a sensitive bravado often compared to Janis Joplin. Although the passionate vocal deliveries are similar, the comparisons end there.” AM Themes “The main theme explored is the emotional complexity of relationships, and throughout the album she sings about the hunger for affection, the pain of unrequited love, and the fire of obsessive romance.” AM While there may be “little thematical variation on Melissa Etheridge, it is a very even album which delivers potent tracks throughout.” CR Impact “Etheridge became a role model for a generation of young women who found her to be an uncompromising artist unafraid to expose (and celebrate) her strengths and weaknesses. This is a fine introduction to Melissa Etheridge, and it is one of her most enjoyable albums.” AM The Songs Here are thoughts on individual songs from the album. “Similar Features” “The album is full of infectious, up-tempo songs that propel the album forward. Etheridge’s true talent, however, is reconciling uncontrollable emotions such as jealousy with a strong and fiercely independent spirit.” AM Similar Features “kicks off with measured bass notes before moving into a moderate arrangement led by Etheridge’s acoustic and the subtle electric guitar phrases by Johnny Lee Schell.” CR “Chrome Plated Heart” Chrome Plated Heart “arrives with a boogie-blues rhythm held together by the kick drum of Craig Krampf along with a slight riff by Schell. Here Etheridge really shines through vocally with biting lyrics: ‘I got a two-dollar stare, Midas in my touch and Delilah in my hair / I got bad intentions on the soles of my shoes with this red hot fever and these chromium blues.’” CR “Like the Way I Do” Like the Way I Do is “a production masterpiece…[with] a consistently strummed acoustic accented by a sharp, double-beat rhythm by bassist Kevin McCormick during the verse. The song uses an ingenious, minimalist approach.” CR It “is a good example of…Etheridge’s early material with dramatic vocals telling a story of heartbreak and longing bordering on obsession.” CR “Bring Me Some Water” Bring Me Some Water “captures the overall angst of the album” CR with “the main theme of hunger for affection and pain of unrequited love.” CR She delivers the vocal with a passion that channels Tina Turner. It was enough to get the song nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, ironically losing to none other than Turner. “Occasionally” One of the album’s standout tracks is Occasionally. The nearly a cappella song features just “Etheridge’s vocals accompanied only by a slight percussive thumping of the acoustic guitar body.” CR It strengthens the song’s message in which Etheridge rattles off multiple scenarios in which she feels lonely, even as she claims, “I’m only lonely…occasionally.” Other Songs Like “Occasionally,” The Late September Dogs and Watching You “use minimalist arrangements.” CR Precious Pain “is a softer, rolky acoustic tune musically, albeit the lyrics are just as sharp as anywhere else.” CR With its “thumping rhythm and bit of funky bass” I Want You is a “fine tune of unbridled desire to complete the album.” CR Notes: A 2003 deluxe edition adds a second disc of the entire album recorded live at the Roxy in Los Angeles in 1988 and another five acoustic performances.

Resources: AM AllMusic.com review by Vik Iyengar CR Classic Rock Review WK Wikipedia page about Melissa Etheridge Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/13/2008; last updated 12/3/2024.