Mercy (Steve Jones album)

Last updated

Mercy
Stevejones-mercy1.jpg
Studio album by
Steve Jones
ReleasedJune 1987
Studio Cherokee Studios, The Village Recorder, Image Recording Studios and Baby'O Recorders, Los Angeles, California
Genre
Length47:00
Label MCA
Producer Bob Rose, Steve Jones, Paul Lani
Steve Jones chronology
Mercy
(1987)		 Fire and Gasoline
(1989)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Kerrang! Star full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]

Mercy is the first solo album by Steve Jones, a former member of the Sex Pistols. The single "Mercy" was used in a Miami Vice episode called "Stone's War" and was also featured on the Miami Vice II soundtrack album. The song "With You or Without You" was used in, and is on the soundtrack for, Jonathan Demme's 1986 film Something Wild . "Raining in My Heart" was originally recorded as "When Dreaming Fails", a 1985 demo with Iggy Pop which they recorded at Olivier Ferrand's home studio in Hancock Park, Los Angeles. Jones added new lyrics. Jones reflected in 2017 that he doesn't like the song "Drugs Suck": "It's sounds like I'm preachy, I don't like being preachy, if people wanna get high, good, do your thing″. [3]

Contents

Track listing

All songs by Steve Jones, except where indicated

Side one
  1. "Mercy" – 5:04
  2. "Give It Up" – 4:55
  3. "That's Enough" – 4:05
  4. "Raining in My Heart" – 5:33
  5. "With You or Without You" – 4:29
Side two
  2. "Pleasure and Pain" – 4:51
  3. "Pretty Baby" – 6:01
  4. "Drugs Suck" – 4:30
  5. "Through the Night" – 4:43
  6. "Love Letters" (Edward Heyman, Victor Young) – 2:57

Personnel

For his solo debut, Jones chose a sparse arrangement and played most instruments himself. He partners with just two drummers and a keyboardist as he "gamely sing-speaks his way through". [4]

Production

Reception

Critic Ira Robbins notes that original punk rocker Jones "caught followers off guard" with this release. [4] Unexpectedly, the album "allows low-key, sentimental moments – like the title track, the hopelessly sappy "Love Letters" and others – to mingle with the rock numbers". [4]

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References

  1. ↑ Heibutzki, Ralph. "Steve Jones Mercy review". Allmusic . Rovi Corporation . Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  2. ↑ Johnson, Howard (25 June 1987). "Steve Jones ' Mercy'". Kerrang!. Vol. 149. London, UK: Spotlight Publications. p. 18.
  3. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : Backspin: Steve Jones on 'Mercy' and 'Fire and Gasoline'. YouTube .
  4. 1 2 3 Robbins, Ira A., ed. (1989). The New Trouser Press Record Guide (3rd ed.). New York: Collier/Macmillan. p.  303. ISBN   0-02-036370-2 . Retrieved 19 February 2016.


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