Used Guitars

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Used Guitars
Studio album by
Marti Jones
Released1988
LabelA&M
ProducerDon 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]

Production[edit]

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[edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[16]
Chicago Sun-Times[11]
Robert ChristgauC+[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]

Track listing[edit]

Side one

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Tourist Town"Don Dixon, Marti Jones2:43
2."Wind in the Trees"Bland Simpson3:03
3."The Real One"John Hiatt4:00
4."Ruby"Janis Ian, Kye Fleming4:26
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 Parker3:43
9."I Don’t Want Him (Anymore)"David Enloe3:22
10."Each Time"Jackie DeShannon2:30
11."If I Can Love Somebody"Hiatt3:16

References[edit]

  1. ^ Milward, John (6 July 1988). "Popular". USA Today. p. 4D.
  2. ^ Duffy, Thom (24 July 1988). "Music". Calendar. Orlando Sentinel. p. 6.
  3. ^ Snider, Eric (27 July 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 3 June 2023.
  5. ^ "Marti Jones Biography by Jason Ankeny". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  6. ^ Emerson, Bo (August 21, 1988). "Don Dixon's Track Record". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. p. M1.
  7. ^ Goldstein, Patrick (17 July 1988). "Pop Eye". Calendar. Los Angeles Times. p. 77.
  8. ^ Williams, Stephen (17 July 1988). "An All-Star Cast, Starring Marti Jones". Part II. Newsday. p. 15.
  9. ^ Heim, Chris (2 Sep 1988). "Marti Jones, Used Guitars". Friday. Chicago Tribune. p. 56.
  10. ^ "Marti Jones". Trouser Press. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  11. ^ a b McLeese, Don (July 4, 1988). "Marti Jones uses subtlety in new 'Used Guitars' LP". Features. Chicago Sun-Times. p. 15.
  12. ^ Pick, Steve (22 July 1988). "Some Hot New Music for Summer". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. G4.
  13. ^ a b Brown, Joe (8 July 1988). "Women without Musical Hats". The Washington Post. p. N20.
  14. ^ a b Burliuk, Greg (24 Sep 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 3 June 2023.
  17. ^ a b "Marti Jones". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  18. ^ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 613.
  19. ^ a b Moon, Tom (17 July 1988). "Marti Jones Used Guitars". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. I10.
  20. ^ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 379.
  21. ^ Holden, Stephen (25 July 1988). "Old Friends, New Songs and Drama". The New York Times. p. C14.
  22. ^ Erskine, Evelyn (12 Aug 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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