Good Evening

Performer: Marshall Crenshaw
Artist: David Lindley; James Burton; The BoDeans; Syd Straw
Producer: David Kershenbaum; Paul McKenna
Distributor: Bayside Record Dist.

Notes: While Marshall Crenshaw's first two releases were self-contained efforts, built around his voice, guitar, and songwriting, and the rhythm section/backing vocals of Chris Donato and brother Robert Crenshaw, his third, Downtown, brought an assortment of studio hands on board without really sacrificing what makes him special. Following a return to a scaled-down configuration for the slightly disappointing Mary Jean & 9 Others, Good Evening, like Downtown, employs the services of various sidemen and backup vocalists -- including Kenny Aronoff, Graham Maby, Syd Straw, Robert Crenshaw, and the BoDeans -- and seems to be geared towards a more contemporary, marketable sound. Producers David Kershenbaum and Paul McKenna bring a veneer to his pop/rock, adding the occasional keyboard, steel guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and accordion, while Crenshaw, for the first time, brings in a handful of ringers (Sonny Landreth, David Lindley, and James Burton) to share lead guitar chores for the majority of the record. Furthermore, for the first time, he looks elsewhere for the bulk of the record's material, with half of the songs coming from other sources (two seemingly written to order), and three of the remaining five being collaborations. Still, he slips naturally into the words and music of artists such as Richard Thompson, John Hiatt, the Isley Brothers, and Bobby Fuller, bringing as much of himself to these tunes as he does to his own. Whatever the reason for the delegation of work on Good Evening, the choices are good ones, and it works to varying degrees. Good Evening, which was his final recording for Warner Bros., may not reach the heights of the first three, but there's a spark here that was missing last time out. ~ Brett Hartenbach

It is entirely fitting that Marshall Crenshaw made his first big splash playing John Lennon in BEATLEMANIA. Although the affable singer-songwriter resembles Buddy Holly more than Lennon, his music harks back to the glory years of rock & roll, when all that rock required was good hooks and a beat you could dance to. His debut record in 1982 teemed with great melodies and simple-yet-sharp lyrics, and spawned "Someday Someway," a big hit for Robert Gordon. Since then, Crenshaw has seen his songs covered by a wide range of artists, from the Nitty Gritty Dirt band to Bette Midler, and he has continued to make high-quality records on his own terms.

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