by Henry Lipput
#392: The EP Collection is Marshall Crenshaw's first album since 2009's terrific, rocking Jaggedland.
Crenshaw showed up on the scene in 1982 with a power-pop infused self-titled debut album, which included "Someday, Someway" and "Cynical Girl." He's released a total of 10 albums of new material before this new one (including 1991's Life's Too Short which may very well be my favorite of his discs) which wasn’t supposed to be an album at all.
For the past few years, Crenshaw has been putting out a series of limited-edition vinyl EPs, taking that path rather than releasing albums. But, at some point, he realized the EPs had enough material to make an album after all.
#392: The EP Collection is made up of 12 songs taken from the EPs -- six originals (written by Crenshaw and singer-songwriter Dan Bern), six covers, and two bonus songs that include a live version of the Everly Brothers' "Man with Money" and a demo from the mid-90s. The demo, "Front Page News" rocks and could have been on his first album.
Crenshaw has always been a fan of songs written by other people. Throughout his career, he has included cover versions on his albums starting with "Soldier Of Love" on the first one and the lovely "Some Hearts" by, yes, hit-maker to the stars, Diane Warren, on 1989's Good Evening.
Covers on the new album include a straight-faced, faithful "(They Long To Be) Close To You" with a piano intro (you may very well expect Karen Carpenter to start singing instead of Crenshaw), strings, and horns; although things unravel in an indie sort of way at the end of the song. In addition to this Burt Bacharach/Hal David classic, some of the other covers were written by Jeff Lynne, John Sebastian, and James McMurtry. On Lynne's "No Time," Pink Giglio plays a Mellotron, giving it a nice "Strawberry Fields Forever" vibe.
Crenshaw plays many of the instruments on #392; and when he doesn't, he has help from, among others, the great Graham Maby, who has worked with Joe Jackson and Freedy Johnston, and, of all people, Marshall Crenshaw his own self on the Good Evening and Mary Jane & 9 Others albums. Maby provides bass stylings; and Andy York, according to the liner notes, plays "ass-kicking guitar" on "I Don’t See You Laughing Now."
By the way, Crenshaw is no stranger to playing ass-kicking guitar. He's one of the best in the business. And he brings out his axe and plugs it in for "Red Wine," (An accordion really adds a nice touch to this song.) and he turns it up and wails on "Stranger And Stranger."
It couldn't have been easy for Crenshaw to select 12 songs from the six EPs; but, in doing so, he's presented us with a terrific display of his talents as a singer, songwriter, and musician.
#392: The EP Collection is available now on Red River Entertainment.
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