Michelle Shocked - Short Sharp Shocked (1988)

The cover photo shows Shocked's arrest at
the 1984 Democratic National Convention 
Michelle Shocked has always been one of the more controversial figures in the music business. She hasn't suffered for her art but her political and religious views have caused her pain on more than one occasion and she has gotten in trouble with both sides of the political center. Shocked has been laying low in recent years and her neverending outspokenness and activism could explain why her last release was a decade ago.

The singer-songwriter made everyone pay attention immediately with Short Sharp Shocked (SSS), her major label debut. It's the diamond in her uneven catalog and, while she came close to perfection on a few others, most notably Arkansas Traveler (1991), she never topped it.

SSS contains rock, folk, protest music, songs that discuss the human condition (both good and bad), and straight pop songs.

The terrific "If Love Was A Train" works because of the walking bass line and is downright toe tapper. It wasn't a hit but it should have been.

"Anchorage," perhaps Shocked's most famous song, is a simple reading of a letter from a distant friend that makes the listener feel warm inside.

SSS is an album with a rural palette by a country woman who possesses a more worldly point of view than most of the folks from her hometown. "Memories of East Texas" is a mildly disparaging narrative about where Shocked grew up. She sings, "Their lives ran in circles so small, They thought they'd seen it all, so they couldn't make a place for a girl who'd seen the ocean."

The hidden track, "Fogtown," a pure punk workout tossed on at the end of the set, blends in esceedingly well even if doesn't sound like anything else on the album.

Shocked sings with a pleasing versatility. On "Fogtown" she sounds downright angry but on "Anchorage" she comes across as an innocent little girl. It's one of the things that makes the disc so satisfying. She provides every tune with exactly whatever subtle shading it needs.

The eleven tracks include a cover of "The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore" written by folk singer Jean Ritchie. The rest are Shocked originals.

The producer was Pete Anderson, Dwight Yoakam's musical director.

This is a five-star set of music. If you haven't heard it, make sure you do. Unfortunately, there are no videos currently available of Shocked's work due to her protest against the Digital Milllenium Copyright Act. You won't find her on iTunes either, so you'll have to dig deeply to find her work.

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