Downtown
	Produced by T-Bone Burnett, Marshall Crenshaw and Larry Hirsch (track 3 by Mitch Easter and Marshall Crenshaw)
	Released on September 16, 1985
	US CHART POSITION #113
	Find it at GEMM
25319-1 cover [high resolution scan]

R etro down to the record’s label, chocked full of the timeless treats that delight (and confound) Crenshavians. I write “confound” because Crenshaw is such a swell songwriter and yet commercial interest in his songs was declining at a pace almost palpable. Marshall Crenshaw is not (I’m sorry) a gifted singer. He’s generally nasal, sometimes even whiny. His songs would sound great sung by somebody else. So what to do with that lemon of a larynx but make lemonade, which MC makes in buckets. Downtown will be too tart for some tastes, especially if country time isn’t your brand. The young listeners who first tuned in for “Someday, Someway” (myself included) didn’t know Buddy Holly from Buddy Hackett, Gene Vincent from Gene Simmons. So all this immaculate recreation of a golden age regilded with Byrdsian guitars and sweeping choruses put Crenshaw in the same prickly camp as Joe Jackson, artists who overestimated their audience. Mind you, I always had a soft spot for Downtown (and Mary Jean), I just didn’t know what to do with it. Was I listening to a rockabilly rebel, a country crooner with cosmopolitan roots, an archeological avenger? I knew I was being dragged into country music, somehow both willingly and against my will, fighting the dual desire to buy a truck and a skinny tie at the same time. All of that, really, should be incidental to the music, which is aces. “The Distance Between,” “Terrifying Love,” “(We’re Gonna) Gonna Shake Up Their Minds” and “I’m Sorry (But So Is Brenda Lee)” are the kind of songs you tuck away for the long haul. From “Little Wild One” to “Lesson Number One,” this is American songwriting at its best.

TRACK LISTING

1. LITTLE WILD ONE (NO.5)    3:51
2. YVONNE    3:50
3. BLUES IS KING    3:48
4. TERRIFYING LOVE    4:02
5. LIKE A VAGUE MEMORY    4:04
6. THE DISTANCE BETWEEN    3:43
7. (WE'RE GONNA) SHAKE UP THEIR MINDS    3:32
8. I'M SORRY (BUT SO IS BRENDA LEE)    (Ben Vaughn)    3:17
9. RIGHT NOW    (Sylvester Bradford/Al Lewis)    2:40
10. LESSON NUMBER ONE    4:04
    
    All songs written by Marshall Crenshaw unless noted

CREDITS

MARSHALL CRENSHAW -- guitars, vocals, six-string bass, percussion
MICKEY CURRY -- drums
Tom Ardolino -- drums (2)
T-Bone Burnett -- Linn Program, electric sitar, vocals
Robert Crenshaw -- drums
Mitch Easter -- piano (3)
Steve Fischel -- steel guitar (5)
Mitchell Froom -- keyboards
Tony Garnier -- stand-up bass (10)
Faye Hunter -- bass guitar (3)
Warren Klein -- tamboura (8)
Tony Levin -- bass guitar
Jerry Marotta -- drums, percussion, bongos
David Miner -- bass guitar, stand-up bass, cannon plug
G.E. Smith -- 1st guitar solo (2)
Joey Spampinato -- bass guitar (2)
Larry Hirsch -- engineer, mixing
Thom Panunzio -- engineer
Steve Haigler -- engineer
Bill Jackson -- engineer
Lincoln Clapp -- engineer
Victoria Pearson -- photography
Jeffrey Kent Averoff -- art direction
Jeri McManus -- art direction, design
Gina Vivona -- design

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