| | Mason Jennings CD Mason Jennings Discography of CDs
"Make yourself at home," is the opening line of the excellent eight-song debut by Minneapolis singer/songwriter Mason Jennings. It is an appropriate opening line, because this album will seem like familiar favorite after just one listen. If Jennings knows anything about music, he knows how to write a hook. But the songs here are not made up of just catchy melodies. Like Paul Simon, he also knows how to capture a mood and character with a few short lines, and the fact that all of this is set to an undeniable hook and groove is just icing on the cake. The disc is mostly acoustic, folk-pop with an intimate feel that is most likely derived from Jennings having recorded and performed the disc entirely alone. This recording process ends up making this CD sound like a poppy version of Springsteen's Nebraska. If Mason Jennings were signed to a major label, we would possibly have a new and better Dave Matthews on our hands. That's not to say that the artist is particularly similar to Matthews, but if he had more exposure, his already massive Minneapolis cult following would grow exponentially, much like the college-friendly Matthews did in the mid- to late '90s. As a debut, this is an amazingly realized work. A distinct sound and vocal style is evident, and there's not one clunker on this entire disc. ~ Dan Lee
Solo performer: Mason Jennings.
Arranger: Mason Jennings.
;1997 Debut Mason Jennings Music | List Price | $13.97 (You save $2.38) | | Category | Rock/Pop Albums, Folk CDs, Rock | | Label | Bar None | | Orig Year | 1998 | | All Time Sales Rank | 44502  | | CD Universe Part number | 3406728 | | Catalog number | 125 | | Discs | 1 | | Release Date | May 21, 2002 | | Studio/Live | Studio | | Mono/Stereo | Stereo | | Producer | Mason Jennings | | Engineer | Mason Jennings | | Recording Time | 26 minutes |
Mason Jennings Review
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Purchase Mason Jennings CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Ozark Mountain Daredevils Time Warp: The Very Best Of... CD (2000)
Mason Jennings album
$11.99 Digitally remastered by Jim Phillips (Universal Mastering Studios West, North Hollywood, California).
Although it omits three songs from the far less comprehensive (and deleted) 1983 12-track Best Of, and doesn't include any live or post-A&M music, this 2000 release stands as the final word on the Ozark Mountain Daredevils' career. Cherry-picking 21 tunes from their five studio album stint circa 1974-1978 -- with the lion's share coming from their first three albums and only three selections from the final two -- this is pretty much all you'll need from the under-recognized band that worked in the '70s country-rock shadows of Poco and Firefall, but weren't as dependable or pop savvy as either. In fact, their biggest hit, the Hall & Oates, blue-eyed soul-styled "Jackie Blue," was so atypical of the band's characteristically down-home approach that it ultimately may have been more damaging to their career than if they had clicked with a song more representative of their crisp, rural country pop/rock. As enjoyable and pleasantly organic as they were, the group lacked a distinctive vocalist, direction, and most importantly great songs. ...
| | Mason Jennings Century Spring CD (2002)
Mason Jennings CD music
$14.39 On Century Spring, Mason Jennings emerges an accomplished pop troubadour yearning for romance. In the spirit of Ray Davies, Rufus Wainwright, and John Hiatt, Jennings' witty vocal inflections speak volumes, underpinning his meditative lyrics with sex appeal and wisdom borne of experience. Though the disc boasts several spirited performances and a fresh mix, Jennings' expert songwriting skills are the main attraction. "Dewey Dell" is worthy of inclusion on Simon & Garfunkel's classic Bridge Over Troubled Water set, rendered here with a stark arpeggio guitar beneath a hypnotic parallel vocal harmony. Opening the disc with "Living in the Moment," a cheerful mid-tempo folk-rock cut reminiscent of Lennon's "Ballad Of John & Yoko" or one of Sugar Ray's several Top 40 hits, Jennings ...
| | Mason Jennings Birds Flying Away CD (2000)
Mason Jennings music CDs
$13.79 Birds Flying Away is the second release by Minneapolis singer/songwriter Mason Jennings. After scrapping an album that was full of poppy, live favorites, Jennings decided to go a different route and record some new material in a much more political and social vein. Songs like "United States Global Empire," "Black Panther," and "Dr. King" combine with an undeniable spiritual theme that runs throughout the disc, giving Birds Flying Away a much different feel than Jennings' self-titled debut. Jennings' folk roots are showing here with the political and social songs, but his rap and reggae roots are evident, too. The slightly heavy-handed "United States Global Empire" is folk with a hint of reggae and is sung with a spoken cadence similar to a slowed-down rapper. Jennings shines brightest on songs like the elegant "Train Leaving Gray" and "The Ballad for My One True Love" where he wraps his voice and acoustic ...
| | Ozark Mountain Daredevils Car Over The Lake Album CD (1975)
Mason Jennings songs
$13.85 The Ozark Mountain Daredevils' third album for A&M continues their good-natured Southern chooglin' with hints of a newfound mid-70s AM pop vibe. Although it was recorded in Nashville, The Car Over the Lake Album has a distinctly Californian vibe on several tracks, particularly those written and sung by drummer Larry Lee, whose contributions could ride along "Ventura Highway" with any of America's recordings. Despite this warm Beach Boys influence, the album is still a Southern rocker, evident on "Keep on Churning," "Leatherwood," and the slightly goofy "Gypsy Forest." The hard-rockin' push of "If You Want to Get to Heaven" is nowhere to be found on this album, but the laid-back porch-sittin' hum of "From Time to Time" and the spectacular "If I Only Knew" acts as an acceptable substitute. ~ Zac Johnson
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils' third album for A&M continues their good-natured Southern chooglin' with hints of a newfound mid-'70s AM pop vibe. Although it was recorded in Nashville, The Car Over the Lake Album has a distinctly Californian vibe on several tracks, particularly those written and sung by drummer Larry Lee, whose contributions could ride along "Ventura Highway" with any of America's recordings. Despite this warm ...
| | Mason Jennings Use Your Voice CD (2004)
Mason Jennings album
$12.99 This fifth outing by songwriter Mason Jennings is a down-to-the-floorboards recording of quiet dignity, humorous grace, and elegant craft. Use Your Voice is an acoustic guitar, bass, and drums affair that feels like it was recorded live from the studio floor (just a short dance step away from his debut living-room record in 1998). Use Your Voice's sound is gorgeous; its warm and inviting ambience is similar to the timeless sound found on Paul Burch's records. It could have been recorded in the '50s, it might have been recorded in the 1960s, but it sounds completely contemporary. The reason for mentioning the production is simple: it was wise choice to keep everything unnecessary from a collection of songs this intimate and inspired. The title is not a statement in the anthemic sense, but in a conversational one. It means, at least according to the small truth as revealed in these songs, "Become a part of the discussion; it needs you." Jennings' folk roots reside deeper in the restless heart of country music and the folk-blues of Tampa Red, Gary Davis, and Lonnie Johnson than they do in the current narcissistic club of contemporary singer/songwriters. Whether it's in the slippery rag blues of "Empire Builder," the harmonica-drenched country shuffle of "Crown," or ...
| | Tragically Hip Phantom Power CD (1998)
Mason Jennings CD music
$9.75 While their fellow Canadians can't get enough of these guys, who've been kicking around since 1983, releasing album after album of rootsy pop-rock, they never caught on stateside in the same way. That's not to say they didn't ...
| | Planet Pimp Records Presents Thee Shatners CD
$9.09 | | Beach Party: Garpax Surf & Drag CD (2004) (Import) United Kingdom
Mason Jennings music CDs
$16.75 The long and colorful career of producer/songwriter/musician Gary Paxton encompassed several different styles. In the early '60s he, like numerous other young southern Californians making their way into the infant rock business, did a lot of surf and hot rod music. This CD collects 26 such 1961-1965 productions with which Paxton was involved from numerous obscure releases, unearthing eight previously unreleased tracks as well. Though it might be of archival interest to surf/hot rod collectors, there's nothing on here that would find its way onto an anthology of the best music in those styles, or even anthologies of the best rare music in those styles. Certainly Paxton and the artists (not a one of them well known to the public, unless you include Paxton himself) gave lots of current trends a shot, sometimes to the point not only of imitation, but also to the point where it almost ceased to be surf or hot rod music at all. The Surf Bunnies' "Summertime Is Surfin' Time" could be an early-'60s Marvelettes-type number that happens to have surf lyrics, for instance; Paxton's own "Two Hump Dual Bump Camel Named Robert E. Lee" is a bad novelty with a blatant debt to Ray Stevens' "Ahab, the Arab"; and Lord Douglas Byron's "Big Bad Ho Dad" plagiarizes a hit record Paxton himself had helped create, "Alley Oop." Admittedly those cuts aren't entirely typical of this compilation, which has a good number of yeoman-style instrumentals and vocal numbers of the type that filled out the numerous quickie surf and hot rod comps of the period. Once in a while something comes along that's better than forgettable filler, like Kenny & the Sultans' haunting instro "The Wipe Out" (no relation to the Surfaris' classic "Wipe Out"). But then again, other cuts are ...
| | Swinging Guitar Of Tal Farlow CD (1957) Japan
Mason Jennings songs
$25.59 This 1999 reissue contains four bonus tracks not included on the original release.
In the mid-'50s, guitarist Tal Farlow led one of his finest groups, a drumless trio with pianist Eddie Costa and bassist Vinnie Burke. The same band would record the album Tal a week or two later. With Burke contributing a constant walking bass, the interplay between Farlow and Costa is always exciting, whether they are playing unisons or trading off. This 1999 CD reissue not only has the original seven selections but "Gone With the ...
| | Silver Ginger 5 Divine Imperfection CDs (2005) Bonus CD; England; + Bonus CD
Mason Jennings album
$18.09
| | Alexisonfire Watch Out CD (2008) (Import) Import
Mason Jennings CD music
$24.95
| | Ovipositor Pirate Flag At Half-Mast CD (2007)
Mason Jennings music CDs
$13.69 Ovipositor is a rock band from Oakland, CA. Laurin Askew plays the bass, Colin Frangos plays the guitar, Mark Pino plays the drums.We’ve been compared to everyone from Arab on Radar to Albert Ayler to The Fall to the Minute Men. And, of course, Sonic Youth, because if you play even slightly discordant rock, you’re going to get compared to Sonic Youth. We strive to make propulsive music that rides the line between chaotic dissonance and driving rock and roll. The Shaggs meets the ...
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