Ten Underappreciated Artists You Should Hear

Lennon Murphy sounds as good as she looks

For every band, artist, or group that enjoys a successful career in music, there are literally dozens of others who fail to achieve that goal. Many of those fail not because of lack of talent, but because, as most music professionals will tell you, hits often have as much to do with luck and timing as with talent and ability.

Most music fans can think of one or two bands or artists that should have enjoyed more widespread success, but for whatever reason, did not. Here are ten artists and bands that you may not have heard of, but who are definitely worth hearing.

Danielle Brisebois: If you’re old enough to remember “All In The Family” and it’s spin-off “Archie Bunker’s Place,” you might remember child actress playing Archie’s niece, Stephanie. That child actress was Danielle Brisebois, who had a variety of stage and screen roles before turning her attention to music.

Even if you’ve never heard Brisebois, you probably have heard her music. Her songs have been recorded by Kelly Clarkson, Natasha Bedingfield, and Kylie Minogue, among others. Brisebois has released only three albums (one of which is mostly a compilation of the other two), but if you like upbeat, melodic, somewhat quirky pop-rock, both 1994’s Arrive All Over You and 1999’s Portable Life are well worth checking out.

Here's the official website for Danielle Brisebois: www.daniellebrisebois.com

Cock Robin: This duo, consisting of singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Peter Kingsbery and singer and keyboardist Anna LaCazio, have enjoyed chart-topping success in nearly every major country in the world except the United States. Here in the States, the band only cracked the Top-40 once, with the 1985 single, “When Your Heart Is Weak.” They released three albums in the 80s, but reunited in 2006 for I Don’t Want To Save The World.

At it’s best, Cock Robin’s melodic music has a dreamy, almost etherial quality. Fans of Coldplay’s first album might find draw similar pleasure from Cock Robin’s 1985 eponymous debut. Check out the band’s site here.

Here’s Cock Robin performing “Just Around the Corner”:

Donnie Iris – Iris is often mistakenly considered a “one-hit wonder” by casual fans. His best known song, “Love Is Like A Rock” was his only Top-10 hit, but “Ah! Leah!,” “My Girl,” and “Do You Compute?” also cracked the Top-40.

At their best, Iris and his band, The Cruisers combine the best elements of power-pop and arena rock – think Cheap Trick meets the Raspberries. Now in his 60’s, Iris has never stopped making music. His 2006 release, Elwood City, proves that he hasn’t lost his touch. Here's his official site.

Liz Larin: Singer-songwriter Liz Larin has been favorably compared to artists like Tori Amos, Sheryl Crow, and Liz Phair. She is one of the most celebrated musicians on the Detroit music scene. In recent years, "Detroit's Goddess of Rock," has dominated the Detroit Music Awards, beating competition from artists like the White Stripes and Eminem.

She was once signed to Atlantic Records, and her 1993 album, Test Your Faith is well-worth checking out. Since then, she has successfully gone the DIY route, releasing five albums on her on Bona Dea label since 2002, including her latest, the 2008 trio Stella 13, Blue Circus Life, and Luster Kraft. You can order them, or find out more about Larin at her official site.

Here’s Larin and her band performing a live version of “Better, Better”:

Lennon: Singer-songwriter Lennon Murphy had the bad luck of having her major label debut album, 5:30 Saturday Morning, released on September 11, 2001 – yes, that 9-11. Whether the stylistically ambitious album (which ranged from tender piano ballads, to hard-edged metal tunes) would have found an audience under different circumstances is hard to say. Lennon’s strong songwriting and vocals shine throughout, and garnered more than a fair share of critical acclaim.

Since going the independent route, Lennon has released three additional albums, and is working with a new metal band called Devil’s Gift. Here’s her official website.

Machan: Machan Taylor has been singing professionally since she was 17. Over the years she has performed live or in the studio with a wide variety of jazz, rock, and pop artists, including Hiroshima, Sting, Pat Benatar, Pink Floyd, Gov’t Mule, Aretha Franklin and Leonard Cohen, to name a few.

If you like breezy pop-jazz with a Brazilian vibe, both Machan’s 2004 self-titled debut and 2007’s Motion of Love should hit the mark. Smartly produced, arranged, and performed, both albums feature mostly original songs showcasing Machan’s silky vocals matched with exotic rhythms and warm melodies. It’s as tasty and refreshing as an ice cold tropical drink on a hot summer day. Check out Machan's site here.

Dan Reed: Over the course of only three albums released from 1988 to 1991, The Dan Reed Network developed a strong cult following that continues to today with Reed’s solo work. The multi-racial band took a rock-centered approach, but combined heavy elements of soul, funk, and R&B into its sound.

The group was even better live than on record, as evidenced by its 1997 Live At Last CD and DVD. The group disbanded in the mid-90s, but Reed has continued as a solo artist. He has a number of projects in the works, including a new album, Coming Up For Air. For the latest updates, visit Reed's official website.

Savatage: This Tampa, Florida based hard-rock outfit got caught between the “hair-band” trend of the late 80s and the grunge movement of the early 90s. While they might have looked like a lot of other metal groups at the time, they developed a unique sound that combined classical symphonic elements into their metal-hard rock sound. The band’s high-point was 1991’s Streets – A Rock Opera, a tale of fame, fall, and redemption that still holds up today.

Despite the tragic death of lead guitarist Criss Oliva, who was killed by a drunk driver in 1993, the band continued on. Several members of the band found success in the side project, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Ironically, TSO’s breakthrough hit, "Christmas Eve Sarajevo 12/24" was originally recorded by in 1995 by Savatage for its Dead Winter Dead CD. Both bands have found a way to co-exist however, and Savatage is currently planning a new album and tour. For more information, see www.savatage.com.

Spider/Shanghai: The band known as Spider recorded only two albums in the early 80s (now available on a single CD). After a slight change in line-up, the group returned as Shanghai for a self-titled album. Only one song, “New Romance (It’s a Mystery)” cracked the Top-40 for Spider, but several of the band’s songs were recorded by and became hits for other artists, including “Talk To Me” by Fiona, “Change” by John Waite, and “Better Be Good to Me” by Tina Turner.

A few band members went on to more famous careers. Keyboardist Holly Knight formed the band Device, and later had a solo career. She enjoyed her biggest success, however, writing or co-writing hits for artists including Pat Benatar ("Love Is A Battlefield”), Scandal (“The Warrior”), Heart (“Never”), Kiss (Hide Your Heart), and Aerosmith (“Rag Doll”). Drummer Anton Fig joined Paul Shaffer’s band on the David Letterman Show.

Here’s Spider performing “Everything Is Alright”:

Drew Weaver: I “discovered” Drew Weaver when I read an extremely positive review of his 1997 CD Unfaithful Kind in Billboard Magazine. The review called him “an undiscovered gem” and mentioned that Weaver was a Delaware resident.

I found him living in Historic New Castle, and he turned out to be an extremely cool, engaging, musically obsessed fellow. He worked for MBNA at the time, but he had been releasing records for at least ten years. He rarely did any local gigs, but he had toured through Europe with his band, The Alvarados, a few years earlier.

Weaver’s music is a unique blend of Tex-Mex and surf rock. He tells dark tales of down-on-their-luck characters who frequent shady establishments, drink too much, and engage in questionable behavior. He even wrote about some Delaware “landmarks” in his songs – check out “Route 13” on his El Mirage CD.

Weaver is based in San Clemente, California now, but he’s still making music. You can check him out here.

What underappreciated artists or bands would you add to this list? Share your thoughts by posting your comments below.

Read my latest posts!


Visit my Music Examiner page at Examiner.com!

'Almost Famous' or 'Nobody’s Perfect' – my life as a music journalist

In the Cameron Crowe film “Almost Famous,” a teenage journalist lands his dream job and gets to tour with the fictional band Stillwater while covering the group for Rolling Stone magazine. The film is semi-autobiographical, as Crowe himself was a teenage writer for Rolling Stone.

Much of the material in the 2000 comedy-drama rings true. As a music journalist, I could relate to many of the situations. But as much as I’d like to believe that when I was starting out I was as calm and collected as the bright young writer portrayed in the movie, that’s not the case. A descriptive title for a film about my early experiences as a music journalist would be “Nobody’s Perfect.”

A recent article offered advice to bands and artists that use the web as a promotional tool. In the spirit of full disclosure, for Top-10 Tuesday, I’d like to fess-up to ten blunders, gaffs, and missteps I’ve made in my career as a music journalist.

In no particular order:

1) Lost Archives – I started my journalism career in the 80s, and had the opportunity to interview the local and national acts that performed in Delaware at venues like the Tally Ho and the Stone Balloon. I usually had my trusty tape recorder at my side when interviewing artists like the Hooters, the A’s, Huey Lewis, the Romantics, and Modern English. But being young and dumb, I would record over those tapes once the article was written.

A few years later it dawned on me that those interviews should have been preserved.

2) Name Recognition – I wrote a feature on the band Semisonic (of “Closing Time” fame) that appeared in both the News Journal and the Washington Times.

For some reason that I still can’t figure out, I referred to lead singer Dan Wilson (who I had interviewed) as “Dan Murphy” throughout the article. Nobody caught the mistake… except for the band’s publicist when I sent her copies of the feature.

3) Equipment Failure – Batteries die, microphones break, and tapes can tangle. I learned these lessons the hard way. On more than one occasion I left an interview thinking I had gotten great material, only to find out that what I really had was a tape full of hiss. On one occasion, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen was kind enough to call me back (while he was at a skating rink with his daughter, no less) and “re-do” a telephone interview I had botched.

These days, I always go into important interview situations with my batteries fresh, and my audio-visual equipment well-tested.

4) Communication Breakdown – When I began my career, I typed my features using a typewriter, and turned in my stories on paper. These days, everything is emailed or uploaded electronically. It’s a quicker, more efficient, and all-around better method – unless you email the wrong file.

I once accidentally attached a sketchy, unfinished work-in-progress to an email instead of the completed article. Because the editor was up against deadline, the piece was sent to production without being proofread. When it was published, it read like a first-time writing effort from an incoherent, grammatically challenged high school freshman.

5) Swamped – My first “Sonicbids Sunday” profiles ran here last week. When I opened the press coverage opportunity on the site, I thought I might get a few dozen responses. To date, I’ve received nearly 300. About a third were picked for coverage, so expect “Sonicbids Sunday” to be a regular Examiner feature for some time to come.

6) How’s That Again? – Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing hundreds of artists from all over the world. I’ve dealt with all sorts of dialects and accents, but the two that proved the toughest to decipher were a trans-Atlantic telephone interview with Nick Marsh, the lead singer of 80’s British Goth-punk band Flesh for Lulu, and an in-person chat with reggae star Luciano.

The telephone interview was hampered by a bad telephone connection and Marsh’s heavy Brit accent. Luciano’s Jamaican dialect was also difficult to understand, especially since the interview took place in a noisy Philadelphia club. Somehow I was able to get through both with enough material for a feature.

7) Coming Attractions – I once made the mistake of letting a musician “preview” a feature before it was published. The guy was a “composer” related to someone at the publication I was writing for at the time. I was asked to interview him about his latest "project," which was a rock musical based on “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

As awful as that concept sounds, the finished product was worse. But in the article I was kind; I simply stuck to the facts and let the fellow speak his mind.

The mistake I made was obliging him when he asked if he could do a quick “fact check” before the piece was published. Instead of a “fact check,” he tried to do a re-write. Ever since, only my editors and I get to preview my work before it’s published.

8) Wiki-Wacky – Any high school freshman will tell you that you’re not supposed to use Wikipedia.com as a factual source. A few years back, I was writing a feature on Carlos Santana and wanted to use his full name in the piece.

Because I was on deadline, I grabbed it off of an article on Wikipedia, figuring that some fan would have spotted and corrected any error. I figured wrong. His publicist informed me, after the feature was published, that Santana’s full name is Carlos Humberto Santana de Barragan.

Years later, Wikipedia still lists Santana’s name incorrectly as Carlos Augusto Santana Alves.

9) Kiss Off – One of the perks of being a music journalist is that you sometimes get tickets, and better yet, backstage passes to shows. I was backstage at the Wachovia Center for Kiss’s Psycho Circus tour. I was having a great time, and I should have been satisfied with the fact that I got to hang out with Sebastian Bach, Bruce Kulick, and Tommy Thayer, who were also there before the show.

When the show ended, I got back stage again. I noticed that Kiss’s mic stands had been brought back from the stage and were sitting at the top of the entrance ramps. Still attached to each of the stands were several personalized guitar picks that the band tosses to the audience during the show. I figured, they were free then, so why not now? I headed up the ramp and began pulling a few picks from each stand.

When I turned around, a very large roadie was standing behind me. By the expression on his face, I knew he wasn’t happy with my impromptu souvenir shopping. I got out of there quickly – with a set of guitar picks in my pocket and only my ego a bit bruised.

10) You Can’t Get There From Here – In 1990 I did an interview with former Angel keyboardist Gregg Giuffria for his band House of Lords. The band was opening for Nelson (which was a weird pairing) at Upper Darby’s Tower Theatre.

My buddy and I had backstage passes and got to hang out with the band and crew after the show at the bar across the street. After a few hours, lead singer James Christian wanted to get back to the downtown Philadelphia hotel where the group was staying, but the band’s tour bus wasn’t scheduled to leave for another half hour. Out of the blue, the tour manager asked if I would mind dropping Christian off at his hotel.

"No problem," I said, failing to mention the fact that I’m known for my lousy sense of direction, and really didn’t know how to get from Upper Darby to downtown Philly. Once Christian was in my car, I mentioned as much, but he must have thought I was kidding.

Ten minutes later, as I circled back to the Tower after three failed attempts to find a familiar road, Christian looked at me and asked, “You guys really don’t know where you’re going, do you?”

Fortunately, the tour bus was still parked behind the Tower. Christian decided to hop out and wait for it. Ironically, House of Lords’ hit single at the time was a cover of Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home.”

Here's the ideal life of a music journalist, as portrayed in the trailer for "Almost Famous":

Read my latest posts!


Visit my Music Examiner page at Examiner.com!