FREE WEEK #11

Michael Stanley: The Soft Addictions




Michael Stanley has been such a part of my adult life that I can hardly image it without his and his band(MSB) not being a part of it.

From my senior year in highschool with,'You Break It You Bought it' until this week's 'Soft addictions',I have been a huge fan.In between,I have discovered Michael Stanley's earlier stuff and almost everything in between.

Be it via 1979 jamming to 'Stage Pass' with my brother Greg in his dorm room,or treating my sister,Nora,to a MSB concert in Canton.

Be it rocking to side 'A' of the Michael Stanley Band album,'MSB' with my roommate,Mike Vinkler,or having an album listening party to,'Heartland',with my cousin Frank.

Or going on a Lake Erie fishing trip with my brother,Carl,and all of his buddies rocking out to,'Friends & Legends',or drinking over at my brother,Ted's,cranking out,'Ladies' Choice'.

Be it hoping that,'Cabin Fever' to 'You Can't Fight Fashion' being the break out album that makes them nationwide phenomenons,or going down to Florida celebrating spring break by praising WMMS as the best radio station in America and MSB as the next best thing.

Or taking various girlfriends to various MSB concerts,or crying to the 'Forth And Ten' live version of ,'Lover' {Thank God For The Man Who Put The White Line On The Highway},after a particularly bad breakup.

Be it dancing with my wife,Robyn,to the very romantic,'Spanish Nights',or putting,'Voodoo' on my Halloween mix tapes for our once small triplet boys...

...well,you get the idea.

The end came not when-no matter how hard MSB fought the fashion-but when WMMS fell to the new god of media trifling.When 'MMS played Madonna,I knew independent-nay-important,local radio was dead.

Hammering MSB's final death nails into it's own coffin was Michael Stanley himself by becoming a radio DJ for Cleveland classic rock("you were sick of this song in 1980-you have to be really sick of it now.") station WNCX...virtually guaranteeing no MSB radio airplay on any other North Coast radio station.

Michael continues to make music-some good,some uneven,via 'The Ghost Poets' or various solo projects('Live In Tangiers' would have been one of his greatest albums ever,if only Michael would have sung instead of half talked his lyrics).But lighting has never caught and put back into the bottle.

That is until,'The Soft Addictions'.This is one fine classic cd.The music is tight and Michael Stanley has never sounded better.The two best songs(amongst the many finely crafted tunes)come back to back.'Same Blood(Different Vein) and 'Cadillac Man'.They are are just excellent songs.

I think,'Drinkin' In The Driveway' would have worked better if Mr.Stanley would not had made the man a bigot...instead,having the man noticing the differences in a neutral tone instead.

In fact,if he had,this song could have gotten some air play on 'country' radio.The whole album could.It's funny,as much as this cd rocks,it has more of the modern soft rock/country feel to it.Just shows how the industry has changed.

Will,'Soft Addictions' become that sleeper cd that Michael has always dreamed of?I seriously doubt it.Does it matter?

A