Used Guitars

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Used Guitars
Used Guitars.jpg
Studio album by
Marti Jones
Released1988
Label A&M
Producer Don Dixon
Marti Jones chronology
Match Game
(1986)		Used Guitars
(1988)		Any Kind of Lie
(1990)

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]

Contents

Production

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]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [16]
Chicago Sun-Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [11]
Robert Christgau C+ [17]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [18]
The Philadelphia Inquirer Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [19]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [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]

Track listing

Side one

No.TitleWriter(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, Jones4:29

Side two

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."Twisted Vines"Dixon, Jones3:30
7."Keep Me in the Dark"Ian, Fleming3:17
8."You Can’t Take Love for Granted" Graham Parker 3:43
9."I Don’t Want Him (Anymore)"David Enloe3:22
10."Each Time" Jackie DeShannon 2:30
11."If I Can Love Somebody"Hiatt3:16

References

  1. ↑ Milward, John (July 6, 1988). "Popular". USA Today. p. 4D.
  2. ↑ Duffy, Thom (July 24, 1988). "Music". Calendar. Orlando Sentinel. p. 6.
  3. ↑ Snider, Eric (July 27, 1988). "Live music lights up N.Y. nights". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1D.
  4. ↑ Minkin, Jay. "Marti Jones & Don Dixon are Northeast Ohio's Royal Couple". No Depression. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Marti Jones Biography by Jason Ankeny". AllMusic. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
  6. ↑ Emerson, Bo (August 21, 1988). "Don Dixon's Track Record". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. p. M1.
  7. ↑ Goldstein, Patrick (July 17, 1988). "Pop Eye". Calendar. Los Angeles Times. p. 77.
  8. ↑ Williams, Stephen (July 17, 1988). "An All-Star Cast, Starring Marti Jones". Part II. Newsday. p. 15.
  9. ↑ Heim, Chris (September 2, 1988). "Marti Jones, Used Guitars". Friday. Chicago Tribune. p. 56.
  10. ↑ "Marti Jones". Trouser Press. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
  11. 1 2 McLeese, Don (July 4, 1988). "Marti Jones uses subtlety in new 'Used Guitars' LP". Features. Chicago Sun-Times. p. 15.
  12. ↑ Pick, Steve (July 22, 1988). "Some Hot New Music for Summer". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. G4.
  13. 1 2 Brown, Joe (July 8, 1988). "Women without Musical Hats". The Washington Post. p. N20.
  14. 1 2 Burliuk, Greg (September 24, 1988). "The Old New Wave". Magazine. The Kingston Whig-Standard. p. 1.
  15. ↑ Smith, Andy (October 10, 1988). "Marti Jones at the Living Room". The Providence Journal. p. B1.
  16. ↑ "Used Guitars Review by Jason Ankeny". AllMusic. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
  17. 1 2 "Marti Jones". Robert Christgau. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
  18. ↑ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 613.
  19. 1 2 Moon, Tom (July 17, 1988). "Marti Jones Used Guitars". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. I10.
  20. ↑ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 379.
  21. ↑ Holden, Stephen (July 25, 1988). "Old Friends, New Songs and Drama". The New York Times. p. C14.
  22. ↑ Erskine, Evelyn (August 12, 1988). "Marti Jones Used Guitars". Ottawa Citizen. p. B6.
  23. ↑ Shefchik, Rick (August 7, 1988). "Records". Zest. Houston Chronicle. p. 11.
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