MICHAEL STANLEY
''AMERICAN ROAD''
JANUARY 23 2006
65:20
1. Nothing And Everything To Prove /4:56
2. American Road /4:51
3. Wake 'Em Up /4:09
4. The Times We Had /4:49
5. Vicodin & Prayer /5:50
6. What Would Frank Do /4:13
7. Round And Round /4:35
8. Just When You Thought It Was Safe /5:01
9. Be My Baby
J. J. Bary /3:19
10. Slow Kisses /4:31
11. Backing Up Sally G /5:55
12. Like Father Like Son /6:43
13. Home Tonight /6:24
Don Dixon/Vocals
Tommy Dobeck/Drums
Jennifer Lee/Backing Vocals
Bob Pelander/Bass, Organ, Piano
Danny Powers/Guitar, Slide Guitar, Synthesizer
Rodney Psyka/Percussion, Vocals
Marc Lee Shannon/Guitar, Backing Vocals
Michael Stanley/Bass, Guitars, Synthesizer, Vocals
REVIEW
The next step in Michael Stanley's musical journey features 12 new songs as well as a new take on the Ronnettes’ classic "Be My Baby". The tunes on this outing are a bit more rocking than The Ground, so fasten your seatbelt.
"Nothing And Everything to Prove" starts the show with lyrics about how "Everybody's choosing sides, but everybody's on this ride” and "what you reap is what you sow.” "American Road" and "Wake 'Em Up" continue Michael's mantra of "It's Your World", Pay Attention".
"What Would Frank Do" channels the wisdom of Sinatra when dealing with the ladies, while the second verse of "Just When You Thought It Was Safe” tell you what kind of woman to stay away from.
"Slow Kisses" is about a girl with "Do me shoes and a little black dress", while "Backing Up Sally G" is about playing in a band backing up a stripper, "and now she's down to nothing and I just forgot my name.”
"Like Father Like Son" is a story song about how men would leave their families and come to America to build a life, often taking years to accumulate enough money to send home for the rest of the family. "Home Tonight" finishes off the album and sounds like a guy who is at peace with his life and content to be home at the end of the day.
Produced by Michael Stanley and mixed by Bill Szymczyk.
BIOGRAPHY
by Bret Adams
Cleveland native Michael Stanley became a regional phenomenon, but the singer/songwriter/guitarist and his Michael Stanley Band deserved more national success than they achieved. Stanley, whose real name is Michael Stanley Gee, played bass with the folk-rock group Silk in the late '60s. He then went solo and released two solo albums in the early '70s that fit right in with the "singer/songwriter" era. His talent attracted the likes of producer Bill Szymczyk and guest musicians Joe Walsh, Todd Rundgren, and David Sanborn from the beginning. He formed the Michael Stanley Band (aka MSB) in 1975 and pursued a more straightforward rock direction. MSB recorded a string of albums through the late '70s and early '80s that were modest successes nationally but major hits in Ohio. In fact, the Michael Stanley Band was such a sensation at home that it still holds attendance records at major concert venues. 1980's Heartland was easily MSB's best album, and Stanley agrees. It included the hit single "He Can't Love You" (sung by vocalist/keyboardist Kevin Raleigh) and the minor hit "Lover" (sung by Stanley and featuring blistering saxophone by Clarence Clemons). MSB's second and last Top 40 hit was Stanley's anthem "My Town" in 1983. After recording for Epic, Arista, and EMI, MSB independently released two albums on their own before breaking up in 1987.
The Michael Stanley Band was a reliably consistent, meat-and-potatoes enterprise responsible for superb Midwestern rock & roll. Stanley went on to become a popular television and radio personality in Cleveland. He still regularly releases albums -- solo and the one-off group project the Ghost Poets -- and performs annual summer and New Year's Eve shows along with occasional acoustic dates; these concerts and albums both feature MSB alumni and other Cleveland musicians. Razor & Tie has reissued most of MSB's catalog and two excellent best-of collections on compact disc.
DoWnLoAd
''AMERICAN ROAD''
JANUARY 23 2006
65:20
1. Nothing And Everything To Prove /4:56
2. American Road /4:51
3. Wake 'Em Up /4:09
4. The Times We Had /4:49
5. Vicodin & Prayer /5:50
6. What Would Frank Do /4:13
7. Round And Round /4:35
8. Just When You Thought It Was Safe /5:01
9. Be My Baby
J. J. Bary /3:19
10. Slow Kisses /4:31
11. Backing Up Sally G /5:55
12. Like Father Like Son /6:43
13. Home Tonight /6:24
Don Dixon/Vocals
Tommy Dobeck/Drums
Jennifer Lee/Backing Vocals
Bob Pelander/Bass, Organ, Piano
Danny Powers/Guitar, Slide Guitar, Synthesizer
Rodney Psyka/Percussion, Vocals
Marc Lee Shannon/Guitar, Backing Vocals
Michael Stanley/Bass, Guitars, Synthesizer, Vocals
REVIEW
The next step in Michael Stanley's musical journey features 12 new songs as well as a new take on the Ronnettes’ classic "Be My Baby". The tunes on this outing are a bit more rocking than The Ground, so fasten your seatbelt.
"Nothing And Everything to Prove" starts the show with lyrics about how "Everybody's choosing sides, but everybody's on this ride” and "what you reap is what you sow.” "American Road" and "Wake 'Em Up" continue Michael's mantra of "It's Your World", Pay Attention".
"What Would Frank Do" channels the wisdom of Sinatra when dealing with the ladies, while the second verse of "Just When You Thought It Was Safe” tell you what kind of woman to stay away from.
"Slow Kisses" is about a girl with "Do me shoes and a little black dress", while "Backing Up Sally G" is about playing in a band backing up a stripper, "and now she's down to nothing and I just forgot my name.”
"Like Father Like Son" is a story song about how men would leave their families and come to America to build a life, often taking years to accumulate enough money to send home for the rest of the family. "Home Tonight" finishes off the album and sounds like a guy who is at peace with his life and content to be home at the end of the day.
Produced by Michael Stanley and mixed by Bill Szymczyk.
BIOGRAPHY
by Bret Adams
Cleveland native Michael Stanley became a regional phenomenon, but the singer/songwriter/guitarist and his Michael Stanley Band deserved more national success than they achieved. Stanley, whose real name is Michael Stanley Gee, played bass with the folk-rock group Silk in the late '60s. He then went solo and released two solo albums in the early '70s that fit right in with the "singer/songwriter" era. His talent attracted the likes of producer Bill Szymczyk and guest musicians Joe Walsh, Todd Rundgren, and David Sanborn from the beginning. He formed the Michael Stanley Band (aka MSB) in 1975 and pursued a more straightforward rock direction. MSB recorded a string of albums through the late '70s and early '80s that were modest successes nationally but major hits in Ohio. In fact, the Michael Stanley Band was such a sensation at home that it still holds attendance records at major concert venues. 1980's Heartland was easily MSB's best album, and Stanley agrees. It included the hit single "He Can't Love You" (sung by vocalist/keyboardist Kevin Raleigh) and the minor hit "Lover" (sung by Stanley and featuring blistering saxophone by Clarence Clemons). MSB's second and last Top 40 hit was Stanley's anthem "My Town" in 1983. After recording for Epic, Arista, and EMI, MSB independently released two albums on their own before breaking up in 1987.
The Michael Stanley Band was a reliably consistent, meat-and-potatoes enterprise responsible for superb Midwestern rock & roll. Stanley went on to become a popular television and radio personality in Cleveland. He still regularly releases albums -- solo and the one-off group project the Ghost Poets -- and performs annual summer and New Year's Eve shows along with occasional acoustic dates; these concerts and albums both feature MSB alumni and other Cleveland musicians. Razor & Tie has reissued most of MSB's catalog and two excellent best-of collections on compact disc.
DoWnLoAd
