ABCs of My Vinyl Collection (Letter C, Part 30)

I feel like I have had two separate lives following Marshall Crenshaw. I discovered him in 1983 with the video for "Whenever You're on My Mind." To this day, it is still my favorite song by him. I bought the sophomore album 'Field Day' with money from my paper route. I was so taken with the songs that I quickly collected a little more cash and bought the self-titled first album later that same week. Before long, I was picking up singles for the B-sides. In other words, I was a fan. Then a funny thing happened. I just stopped. Moved on. I continued to play those first two albums religiously, but I never bought another Crenshaw album for many years.

My malaise for music during much of the '90s has already been well documented on these pages, So, I won't get into all of that again, but one day in 1996 I went to one of those sterile book-music-coffee megastores popular at the time with a few bucks in my pocket. A Crenshaw album on the shelf of new releases caught my eye. I didn't see anything else that day that interested me. With little excitement, I surrendered and bought my first Crenshaw album in 13 years. The sweet sounds of 'Miracle of Science' took me right back to those albums from my youth. In fact, some of the songs were written back then, but that's a story for another day. Point is, it got me on a Crenshaw kick. I began acquiring all of the albums that I missed. There have been a few new releases and an EP subscription series along the way too. Although the music did morph through the years, I have enjoyed every record to varying degrees. I have also taken in many of Crenshaw's live shows the past 20 years. In fact, he's right up there with Elvis Costello and Wilco as my most seen artists.

I root for Crenshaw because I think I would like him. He's the kind of guy I would want to talk about music with while nursing our beers. Crenshaw has an encyclopedic knowledge of many genres, and he has worked with many other artists I admire, such as Graham Maby, Mitch Easter, Don Dixon and his brother Robert, to name but a few. Like Costello, he has helped me discover music from days of yore I would never have found without him. For that, I'm forever grateful.

Today's picks are a little on the rare side... or at least a couple of them used to be before Crenshaw's first album got the deluxe treatment in 2000. From 1982, here is a promo 12" single of "Cynical Girl." Sorry, folks, that song is the same as the album version. The first B-side is a classic made famous by Buddy Holly and recorded by Crenshaw for a show on WPLR in Connecticut. Try to ignore the quintessential DJ voice. The other is simply a non-album track of the highest quality.

"Cynical Girl"
"Rave On"
"Somebody Like You"

Let's move ahead one year to the 'Field Day' era. The 'U.S. Remix' EP is a curious collection that only die-hard fans would probably have any interest in... and maybe not even then. Through the years, Crenshaw himself has expressed a dislike for it. The A-side contains three songs from 'Field Day' that were mixed and edited by John Luong. Although the '80s flourishes are not as blatant as many songs were treated when remixed during this period, it is quite a deviation from Steve Lillywhite's vision on the album. Some have been quite hard on ol' Steve for his production when compared to Crenshaw's debut. Personally, I think 'Field Day' is perfect. Side A of this EP ends with a live cover of "Little Sister" taken from Crenshaw's appearance on "The King Biscuit Flower Hour" circa Dec. 2, 1983. Side B is "For Her Love" with more '80s production and an additional 1:11 of playing time.

"Our Town"
"For Her Love"
"Monday Morning Rock"
"Little Sister" (Live)
"For Her Love" (Extended Mix)