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The Soft Addictions
Michael Stanley
A CD Review |
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First an intro… When I moved to Chicago in 1985, the
Michael Stanley Band was still big in Cleveland, but for the
most part no one I met in Chicago heard of them except for
one dude who worked at the campus bowling alley and thought
they rocked when they opened up, I believe he said, at a
Foreigner concert he went to see. As the years have gone on
I’ve seen the band break up, a side project of Ghost Poets,
and then Michael Stanley sort of going solo yet still
working with many of the same bandmates over the years. I
would check out his website,
www.michaelstanley.com, every
now and then just to see if anything new had popped up
(buying most of everything new or re-issued, and reviewing
of few of them) because much like 1985, Michael doesn’t get
many mentions here in Chi-Town. I say "many" because there is
a talk radio dude here called Steve Dahl who every now and
then likes to play "Midwest Midnight" because he likes the
line about "that bandstand girl," and reminisces about the
time MSB opened up for his band, and Steve still can’t
figure out why because he thought the Michael Stanley Band was so much better
than his band was.
In any case, I’ve been lax on checking out Michael
Stanley’s website lately, and then I get a comment from some
dude nicknamed "SOK" wondering what I thought about Michael
Stanley’s latest, "The Soft Addictions." I had to reply back
that I didn’t even realize there was a new CD out there,
checked the web site, ordered one and yet got two copies (my
bonus).
After having listened to "The Soft Addictions" for a
while now, much like a lot of musicians that I've grown up
with listening to, their
sound sometimes gets a little bit more reflective, maybe
even a little softer, but Michael Stanley shows he still
rocks right off the bat with the "The Curves of Bratenahl,"
and heads right into the reflective, guitar-driven "Lovers
Lane" about a couple growing old together, but sadly not
that happily, though the bad times might all be worth it if
they could get one more shot at that lover’s lane thing.
Okay, I’d better stop trying to analyze all of the songs
on the CD right now, because, well, lots of people interpret
lyrics differently, and I’m sure I’ll get something wrong,
so lets just say "The Soft Addictions" continues showing
Michael Stanley still has a great knack for using his lyrics
to tell stories, paint pictures, and he uses it all by
mixing up the music with things a little softer like "My
Side of the Moment," getting bluesy on "Cadillac Man,"
almost gospelish on "When It’s Time to Dance Alone," and he
doesn’t forget the guitar-rock sound that makes all of us,
the instant we hear it, remember back a few years to when we
were younger.
I always say I really don’t like doing CD reviews because
it is so hard to tell someone if the music is any good
because so many people listen to music in different ways,
and even though I like Michael Stanley getting a little more
reflective here, you just might wish he would put out
another "North Coast." Concerts are easier to review because
whether I like the show or not, in the end a concert is
about pleasing the fans that paid to see it, even though,
much to my continued dismay, somehow I keep missing covering
Michael Stanley whenever I visit the old homestead. He
usually puts on a show around Christmas-time in Cleveland,
so maybe he’ll do the same and this year will be the time I
finally see him on stage. Sorry, I digress.
In the end I really liked "The Soft Addictions,"
especially after a couple of plays (I have to admit the
first go around I wasn’t paying total attention to the music
and when the CD was done at first I thought "I guess it was
okay"). Then I took it along for one of my weekend walks and
listened to some of the lines in the songs (I loved the
concept and thoughts of "Same Blood (Different Vein)"),
caught a subtle nuance (like the beer can opening which made
me chuckle) during "Drinkin’
In the Driveway" complete with lyrics perfectly painting the
picture of the dude "Wearin’ an old Skynard Tank Top Two
Sizes Small" and a great line of "Proud that he ain’t bought
one damn thing since Floyd did The Wall," and found that my
favorite song from the CD is the last official track, "No
Rules When You Dream."
There is a bonus track on the CD, simply titled "Michael
Stanley," and I’m assuming someone out there in internet
land can help me out on exactly what it is because as I’m
writing this on a Saturday, well, I can’t call Michael’s radio
show, my Google searches only helped me find out what
"Otto’s Grotto" is but not the identities of Loopy nor
Crispy, and my final investigative avenue is a pending
registration on the Michael Stanley message board where it
might have been discussed. I thought it might be a portion
of a track off of Michael’s first record, simply titled
"Michael Stanley," except the commentary mentioned 40 years
since Otto’s Grotto and the "Michael Stanley" record came
out in 1973 when, sadly, I was only 6 and didn’t have the
allowance to go record shopping yet!
Anyway, if you’ve grown up with Michael Stanley through
the years, have purchased any of his later CD’s and liked
them, I suggest you get yourself a copy of "The Soft
Addictions." It’s got some rockin’, it’s got some rollin’,
it’s got some reflectin’, and it has one of my new
favoritist songs, "No Rules When You Dream." On the
Entertainment Ave! listenability scale "The Soft Addictions"
gets a solid 95%.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!!
L8R!!! Dude Note: And the internet comes through!
The bonus track portion, I have come to find out (Thanks Ann
via e-mail and Dave from Akron via the
Michael Stanley Message Forum), is from Michael's first
album in a band called "Silk" called "Walk in My Mind," and
thanks to my getting approved to peruse the Message Forum
(Thanks Shea!), I was even able to find out who Loopy and
Crispy are. P.S. Go Tribe! |
