Category: Single Review

Matt Nathanson – “Suspended” – Promotional CD Single

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In my further quest for owning all Matt Nathanson items listed on Discogs, I found another gem. This Promo CD is for the song “Suspended” off his 2003 album and major label debut called ‘Beneath these Fireworks’. The song didn’t chart, no surprise as he’s never been a big radio hits guy (even though his stuff is better than radio). The album didn’t do well either and shortly after releasing his first major label debut on Universal, Universal dropped him. Such is the story of so many artists and bands.

The song was written by Matt Nathanson, Mark Weinberg and Eric Bazillion who you know as a founding member of the band The Hooters. The song is about being in a relationship that might not be the best relationship, but man, the sex is so good you are willing to accept anything to stay in it. You suspend belief and think that is all is great just to stay for sex despite how lost and miserable you might be. Better for some human contact than nothing at all. Now, that is one way to look at it, the other is that he is fully committed and in love, but she’s not quite there. The line, “When you pretend that I’m all that you waited for”, shows that he knows she’s not in to it anymore, just pretending. But he’s okay…he loves her and wants to stay and be together.

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Matt Nathanson – ‘Sampler’ – Promotional CD

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Another Promotional CD I found for Matt Nathanson thanks to Discogs is a “Sampler” CD for his 2003 album ‘Beneath These Fireworks’. That album was Matt’s major label debut album on Universal Records, but it wasn’t his first CD by any means. The CD was a 3 song sampler for his upcoming album and was sent around to the Radio DJs, I am assuming. The cover for the Promo is the same as the album cover, the only difference is instead of saying “Beneath These Fireworks”, it says “Sampler”.

The first song and actually the first single is “Sad Songs”. The song feels like it could be the Goo Goo Dolls. The chorus is so catchy and it has a great hook. His delivery of the lines is confident and earnest. For a song called “Sad Songs”, the music is more upbeat and gives us a great dichotomy in styles.

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Matt Nathanson – “Room @ the End of the World” – CD Promotional Single

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In my further quest for owning all Matt Nathanson items listed on Discogs, I found another gem. This Promo CD is for “Room at the End of the World” by Matt Nathanson which is off his stellar 2011 album, ‘Modern Love’ and it was the 2nd single off the album. Although I don’t think the song charted, the album did debut at #17 on the Billboard charts. The fact that it didn’t chart is no surprise as Matt has never been a darling of public radio. His songs are way too good for radio as they are well crafted masterpieces and lyrical poems about life and he is pure talent unlike the bozos on radio. No, I am not biased…okay…yes I am. You got me!

The song was written by Matt Nathanson and Mark Weinberg. I believe the song is talking about being with the one you love and nothing can stop you. Even if the world was ending, you two would get a room and make the best of what was to come. I love how the song talks about how he was lost and had given up on love until he found “The One”. The One that makes him whole, The One that he will be with until the end of time, The One true love. There is line that says “one heart is never enough alone” and I don’t think it is saying you have to be with someone to be whole, I think it is saying that he never felt complete until he found her (or him). His lyrical phrasing is always so eloquent and so beautiful. He doesn’t sing a love song in the same cliched way other songs do.

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Scorpions – “Still Loving You” (1984) – Maxi Single 45 RPM (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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Flying high from the release of their 9th Studio album, the band released their second single “Still Loving You” on July 3, 1984. The song went to #64 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Charts, but it didn’t chart in Germany. The Maxi Single I found for “Still Loving You” was a German only release and it was released to promote their German tour which ran from October 26th until December 3rd of 1984 as the dates of the tour are on the bottom of the back cover.

Side 1 was only the single “Still Loving You” from their latest album ‘Love at First Sting’. Side 2 was the song “No One Like You” from 1982’s ‘Blackout’ and “Always Somewhere” from their 1979 album ‘Lovedrive’. A good way to promote the back catalog. The songs are studio tracks and not remixes, but that’s okay because it is still a cool piece for me to have in the collection especially since was, as I said earlier, a German only release.

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Matt Nathanson – “Run (Featuring Sugarland)” – CD Promotional Single

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In my quest to own everything listed on Discogs for Matt Nathanson, I picked up the CD Promotional single for the song “Run”. It is off his 2011 album, ‘Modern Love’ and was released as a single, but only reached #53 on the Billboard Hot 100 which baffles me as it is probably my favorite song by him. Another cool thing about it is that the recording engineer on the album was my brother-in-law, Ryan; however, this was the one song he didn’t engineer. Bummer!

The song is not a country song even though Sugarland are on it.  No!  This is a sensual, oh so sexy, love song.  The lyrics are dirty with lines like “You come in waves” and “Then Swallow me whole” as well as “And I watch it explode”.  At the same time they are sexy with lines like “You pull me in close / And buckle my knees” and “You trace my lines / Stirring my soul”.  And then they are heartwarming with a line like “I’m amazing when you’re beside me / I am so much more”.  This song speaks to me and reminds me of my lovely bride and when I hear this song, I think of only her!  Each and every time.

Now here is the problem.  The song I think is more about an affair than love.  The lyrics talk about running back to this person.  The man says he knows that it’s wrong but he can’t help it and he always goes back to her.  Personally, I ignore that part and think of it more as a passionate love affair with my wife.  Either way, you can’t help but love the song.

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Halestorm – “Buzz” – 7″ Single (Record Store Day Release)

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While out digging in those crates, I came across another 7″ Single, but this one was from a newer artist not one from the 80’s that I normally collect. I really dig Halestorm and not sure how I missed this one. It is a Record Store Day Release back from 2019. The song was “Buzz” off their album 2018 album ‘Vicious’. The song was never officially released as a radio single, but they did do an exclusive release for Record Store Day.

And why do you want to get this when you can just buy the album…well…the B-Side is exclusive to this release. A song called ‘Chemicals’. The song isn’t anywhere else. And to top that off, you get a beautiful Green vinyl to go with it. A really nice little package and one I was glad to pick up.

A-SIDE:

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Bon Jovi – “Living in Sin” – 7″ Single

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In my quest to find good homes for 7″ Singles with picture sleeve covers, I came across another Bon Jovi single. This time around it is for the song “Living in Sin” off the mega-seller ‘New Jersey’ and was released on October 7, 1989. Bon Jovi was the king of power ballads and this fit the bill nicely as the song went to #9 on the Billboard Top 40 charts. It was the 5th and final single off the 7X platinum status album which means it sold over 7 million copies in the US alone.

The song was written by Jon Bon Jovi and talks about cohabitating with the person you love out of wedlock, thus the “Living in Sin” part. True love outweighs every thing. Jon doesn’t need a wedding, a preacher, a ring to tell him he loves her and they should be together. He doesn’t need her father telling them it is wrong either. The only thing that matters is that they are together.

My copy of the Single is the standard U.S. release with “Love is War” as the B-Side. The picture sleeve is in pristine condition and a great find to add to my singles collection. I have a ton of Bon Jovi singles which makes sense as millions were sold so there should be some out in the wild for the taking.

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Matt Nathanson – “Faster” – Promotional CD

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“Faster” is the first single off Matt Nathanson’s 2011 album ‘Modern Love’. The single in the U.S. came out on March 29, 2011 and it broke the Top 100 landing at #74…so not getting close to the Top 40 countdown. However, on the Adult Top 40 Billboard Chart, it reached #11 so the adults dug, kids…I guess not so much.

The promotional copy I found is from the U.K. and according to the note on the front, it was to be released on August, 6th, 2011. It was talking him up and the fact he was opening for Kelly Clarkson’s tour in America and Train in the U.K. Matt was heading to the U.K. to do his own set of shows. That Kelly Clarkson show was the one my oldest daughter and I caught at their Fox Theater, Atlanta stop. My brother-in-law, Ryan, worked with both Kelly and Matt in that year so we got free tickets to the show and ended up meeting Matt that evening and getting autographs and pictures. He was a truly stand-up guy with the way he treated my daughter. He made her feel that she was the most important girl in the room when he talked to her. Really cool.

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Matt Nathanson- “Kinks Shirt” – Promotional CD

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“Kinks Shirt” by Matt Nathanson is off his 2013 album, ‘Last of the Great Pretenders’ and in July of that year he released this song as a video and a single.  It was one of the fun songs on the album that shows he isn’t all heartbreak and sadness and that sometimes he can be a good mood or at least sound like he is. According to the Promo CD, the UK Single was going to be released on January 13th, 2014, but they scratched through it and said to “focus” on the song on February 10th. It gives a brief history of Matt to help sell him as an artist. What is really cool about this Promo CD is that Discogs does not even list it as an item in Matt’s discography. It has a ton of his other promo CDs, but not this one. I always love it when I find something that is not on Discogs!!

The song was actually inspired by an actual girl that was wearing a Kinks Shirt.  You know The Kinks, who doesn’t love The Kinks?  No one, that is who.  While recording the album, Matt and his producer and band mates would visit this diner quite frequently, I mean like every day for lunch.  There was a girl that worked there with tattoos and piercings and nothing like someone that Matt would normally be attracted to maybe, but someone he was obsessed with.  Not in a crazy stalker way, but more fantasizing way.  He was so mesmerized by her that she inspired this song.

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Matt Nathanson – ‘Come On Get Higher’ – Promo CD Single

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Now that I’ve collected all of Matt Nathanson’s studio and live albums on CD and vinyl, I have moved on to collecting all the promo CDs that were sent to radio DJ’s around the globe. I have been using eBay and Discogs to track those down and I have a pretty good start and hope to finish by year end. This one here is a really cool one in that it not only has the studio version of one of my favorite Matt Nathanson songs, “Come On Get Higher”, but it also has an unreleased acoustic version of the song. Yes, please!!

The single was released on February 11, 2008 and only reached #59 on the Billboard Top 100, but did go to #9 on the Adult Top 40 as well as #3 on the Adult Contemporary and Adult Alternative Songs charts. It went to Platinum status selling over 3,000,000 copies…not bad! The song was written by Matt Nathanson and Mark Weinberg and a really cool bit of info as you can see below is that the first track was mixed by my brother-in-law, Ryan Williams which makes the song even better!!

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