I hadn't purchased a CD player yet when I started buying discs, but I made
sure I was going to be well supplied on the day I brought my Onkyo single disc player home from a long out-of-business chain store named Stereo Discounters. Among my initial
purchases were Crenshaw's soon-to-be classic that I only owned on a poorly
recorded homemade cassette that I dubbed from a friend.
On that spectacular release, the rocker went out of his way to look and sound like
Buddy Holly while playing a masterful combination of rockabilly, power pop,
and garage rock that quickly resonated with music lovers, critics, and
musicians alike. AllMusic.com doesn't give out five-star ratings
easily, but they awarded one to Crenshaw for this album. Most music fans who
appreciate older, sub-genres of rock 'n roll agree with them.
Rockabilly legend Robert Gordon released "Someday, Someway" as a single in
1981. It only went to #76 on Billboard's Top 100. Then, Crenshaw recorded a
cover version of his own composition and issued it as the lead single from his
album the following year. It would become his only song to ever crack the top
forty, just making it at #36. It's a throwback, jangle-pop tune perfect for
radio, so I'm surprised it didn't peak higher.
I have other Crenshaw albums, and he continues to make good music, but it's
a good bet that this late in the game he's probably never going to top his early masterpiece. His later work is still heavily
guitar-based rock, but stylistically, it has a more current sound. The
singer-songwriter eventually fell out of love with the album format, and he
hasn't made one since 2009. Instead, he's recorded a series of shorter EPs.
By the way, I've recently listened to Field Day for the first time in
a long time, and I now appreciate it more than I did way back when.
Almost Hits is an occasional exploration into songs that failed to reach the top #20 on the American Billboard Hot 100. Many have become classics despite what their chart position would indicate.
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