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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15th, 2008
@ THE CLASSIC CENTER THEATRE
300 NORTH THOMAS STREET • ATHENS, GA 30601
TICKETS ON SALE NOW! -V
Purchase tickets online at www.tickets.com & www.classiccenter.com
or The Classic Center box office 706-357-4444 • Tickets start at S25
NIGHT SKYE ENTERTAINMENT
EVENT
annerin productions
Nashville Bluegmss Band
Presented by Gordon College's
Scut/tern TCulture Series
Friday, Jan. 25 8 p.m. $15
Gordon College Fine Arts Theatre - Barnesville, GA
770-358-5123
REISSUES: NEW THEN. NEW AGAIN
MARVIN GAVE
Here. My Deer: expanded Edition
Hip-0 Select
Marvin Gaye's 1978 chronicle of his split
from wife Anna Gordy Gaye, Here. My Dear.
is an emotionally conflicted example of how
a great record can result from a less-than-
j glamorous hurdle. Gaye, under pressure from
divorce proceedings that gave Gordy Gaye a
substantial stake in her husband's royalties,
; doesn't attempt to spare the rod or protect
I the innocent.
As Here, My Dear opens, its title track lays
a deceptive groundwork that's woven through-
j out. Gaye isn’t hollering at the top of his
: lungs or riding atop a charging beat to get his
point across. Instead,
he coasts into the room
! coolly, lights a smoke
and proceeds to croon
arsenic-laced morsels
over a slow-dance
backdrop like those
that graced Gaye's early
duets with Tammi Tyrell.
This reflective,
therapeutic approach
fits the material well.
Gaye comes across as
wounded, crossed and
tender, but also apolo
getic and regretful as he recounts how the
glow of his marriage left the bedroom headed
for the courtroom.
The Expanded Edition tacks on an extra
disc of alternate mixes that doesn’t especially
add to, or alter, the impact of the original.
On Here, My Dear, Gaye isn't just looking
back on his failed relationship, but also his
life in music up to then. Though backed by a
then-new. Funk Brothers-less Motown session
crew, each song capsulizes a different facet
of Gaye's songbook. From the "Lets Get It
On" fallout of "Everybody Needs Love" to the
disco soul of "A Funky Space Odyssey," this
is an oft-ovc-'ooked gem in the Gaye catalog
that keeps right on bleeding, but, at the same
time, keeps right cn giving, too.
EELS
Meet The Eels: Essentials 1996-2006
Useless Trinkets: B-sides. Soundtracks. Rarities
and Unreleased 1996-2007
Geffen
Chief Eel Mark "E." Everett churns out the
kind of pop music that would make the glum
mest brooding teen sport a Cheshire grin.
Everett's knack for turning miserable circum
stances on their ear has served him well, as
his synonymous Eels are now the subjects of
both a 10-year anniversary Essentials collec
tion and a double-disc rarities comp.
Meet the Eels does a respectable job of sep
arating wheat from chaff, charting Everett's
progression as songwriter and arranger from
1996's from-out-of-nowhere alt-rock anthem
"Novocaine For the Soul" up to inclusions from
2006's With Strings: Live At Town Hall. The
package also includes a DVD of videos and live
stuff with commentary from Everett.
Useless Trinkets, on the other hand, com
piles a wealth of soundtrack, compilation and
other assorted goodies, including the glee
fully goofy "I Like Birds" and a great cover
of Daniel Johnston's "Living Life" taken from
the Late, Great... tribute disc. There's also a
DVD of performances from the group's stand at
2006's Lollapalooza. Both projects should con
tain enough scar-baring substance and sudden
melodic detours to keep both Eels rookies and
diehards satiated for some time to come.
JOHN ANDERSON
All The People Are Talkin'
Tokyo. Oklahoma
Eye ot a Hurricane
Countrified
Collector's Choice
Several mid-career Warner Bros, releases
from hardcore honky-tonker/ Southern rocker
John Anderson are making the rounds, and it's
aDout time. Anderson,
due to either an unpre-
dictaole approach to his
music or his sporadic
hiatuses from record
ing, rarely gets enough
credit for pioneering
the up-tempo blend of
pop, rock and country
that dominates today's
charts.
From 1983, All the
People Are Talkin' is per
haps the most rocking
set in the reissued lot,
with the exception of 1985's Tokyo. Oklahoma.
Anderson had scored a gigantic hit with
"Swingin'" the previous year and his hot streak
continued, highlighted by the nose-thumbing
Anderson staple "Black Sheep,” as well as an
infectious, sax-driven version of Jumpin' Gene
Simmons' "Haunted House."
For 1984's Eye of a Hurricane, Anderson used
a similar approach, dividing the set between
red-blooded barroom country and wild-eyed
Southern rock. Though the album lacked a big
single, it nonetheless kept Anderson in good
standing with inclusions like the swaggering
"Red Georgia Clay." Still, the album is missing
a good portion of the sly spark and drive that
fueled its two predecessors.
Tokyo, Oklahoma livens things up a bit with
Anderson, again, hearkening back to his days
as a wild and woolly rock’n'roller. Leading off
with a polished-but-effective cover of The
Stones' "It's All Over New," Anderson and com
pany plow through the tongue-in-cheek title
track, in which Anderson longs for his little
"number one ichiban" in the comically titled
Okie town, and other repeat-worthys like Seals
and Reid's "A Little Rock 'n' Roll (And Some
Country Blues)" and Mac Macanally's like-
minded "Twelve Bar Blues."
Whereas Tokyo, Oklahoma found Anderson
in guitar-slinging rock mode, 1987's
Countrified delivered exactly what its titled
implied—a straightforward slice of country
weepers and keepers. Anderson pays respect
to Merle Haggard with the Hag's "Fightin'
Side of Me" and presages his '92 comeback
anthem "Seminole Wind" with "Yellow Creek,"
a track that, too, condemns the white man's
treatment of Native Americans. Countrified
would be Anderson's final album for Warners,
the label on which he came into his own as a
recording artist.
Michael Andrews
Redux Nation is a monthly column focusing on album
reissues, repackagings and box sets.
28 FLAGPOLE.COM • JANUARY 16, 2008
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