| Used Guitars | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1988 | |||
| Label | A&M | |||
| Producer | Don Dixon | |||
| Marti Jones chronology | ||||
| ||||
Used Guitars is an album by the American musician Marti Jones, released in 1988. [1] [2] Jones supported the album by playing shows that included many of the album's guest musicians. [3] The album was a commercial disappointment, and A&M Records dropped Jones shortly after its release. [4] [5]
Recorded over five weeks in Charlotte, North Carolina, the album was produced by Don Dixon. [6] [7] Jones described Used Guitars as a concept album about women discussing the nature of love. [8] Marshall Crenshaw, the Uptown Horns, and Mitch Easter contributed to the album. [9] [10]
Jones and Dixon cowrote three of the album's songs. [11] Janis Ian wrote two songs. [12] "Each Time" is a cover of the Jackie DeShannon song. [13] Sonny Landreth played dobro on "If I Can Love Somebody". [14] "Tourist Town" is about a squabble with a boyfriend. [15]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [16] |
| Chicago Sun-Times | [11] |
| Robert Christgau | C+ [17] |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |  [18] |
| The Philadelphia Inquirer | [19] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [20] |
The Washington Post wrote that Jones "still isn't really an interpretive, emotive singer, [but] has a distinctive sound and has never appeared so confident and risk-taking." [13] The Philadelphia Inquirer praised Jones's "crystalline vocal testimony." [19] The New York Times opined that Jones "has one of those flexible, innately emotional voices that, with only the most minor adjustments in inflection, can accommodate rock, country, pop-soul and sophisticated torch music with equal facility." [21]
The Ottawa Citizen concluded that "Jones twists folk music into the new shapes necessary to make it a pertinent music form again." [22] The Houston Chronicle deemed Jones "a spooky cross between Dusty Springfield and Joni Mitchell." [23] Robert Christgau regarded the Graham Parker cover to be the album's best song. [17] The Kingston Whig-Standard considered the album to be among the best of 1988. [14]
Side one
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Tourist Town" | Don Dixon, Marti Jones | 2:43 |
| 2. | "Wind in the Trees" | Bland Simpson | 3:03 |
| 3. | "The Real One" | John Hiatt | 4:00 |
| 4. | "Ruby" | Janis Ian, Kye Fleming | 4:26 |
| 5. | "Back of the Line" | Dixon, Jones | 4:29 |
Side two
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Twisted Vines" | Dixon, Jones | 3:30 |
| 7. | "Keep Me in the Dark" | Ian, Fleming | 3:17 |
| 8. | "You Can’t Take Love for Granted" | Graham Parker | 3:43 |
| 9. | "I Don’t Want Him (Anymore)" | David Enloe | 3:22 |
| 10. | "Each Time" | Jackie DeShannon | 2:30 |
| 11. | "If I Can Love Somebody" | Hiatt | 3:16 |
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