Who is Carolyne Mas?
Well, for starters, she is, arguably, the owner of the best female rock and roll voice since Grace Slick. She is a writer of straight forward lyrics that crystalize an emotion or moment without falling into cliche or sentimentality. She is an electric, urgent presence on stage. She is a pioneer who began making intelligent, hard driving defiantly undanceable music, at a time when syrupy sentiment was the norm and drum machines were still thought cool.
My abiding attachment to her music goes back to 1979, and the release of her hit single Stillsane . Disco was dying but that wasn't enough to keep every Rock n' Roll band left standing from the 70's from trying their hand at making their own danceteria "music". New Wave and Punk music had degenerated into self-parody. Rupert Holmes' "Pina Colada Song" was the number one single and Peaches and Herb's "Reunited" had just vacated the number one slot. The really hip stations were playing Jimmy Buffet and Linda Rondstadt as cutting edge artists. The impact of hearing Carolyne for the first time; in that kind of musical environment, cannot be underestimated. It was the sonic equivalent of being hit by a freight train; the kind of "Turn the car around we're going to the record store NOW!!" experience that only comes along once or twice a decade. The experience of seeing her live, a few months later (even from the cheap seats, which were all that was left) was no less powerful. You just had this sense that you were witnessing the start of something momentous.
So, why isn't she a household name? My contention is that it is largely because the music industry is never comfortable with what it can't package. Women in the late 70's had to be either sex symbols or sensitive folkies, they really didn't have a place for female musicians. Carolyne makes good use of tempo changes as an integral part of her song writing; this helps keep the songs interesting on the fifth or fiftieth listen. It doesn't make them easy to dance to, or to sandwich between vapid tracks on the radio.
Dispite a follow up second albumn, Hold On that was even better than the first, and a near legendary King Biscuit Flower Hour appearance (which was made into the LP Mas Hysteria), the big radio break through never came. Carolyne's third LP, Modern Dreams seemed to be a deliberate effort (at least on the part of the production team) to move her into the areas occupied by Jackson Browne and Steely Dan. Even though it contained some of Carolyne's best lyrical writing the album went nowhere on the charts.
By the mid-eighties, I had lost track of her career. I remember reading an article listing her as a performer at a benefit concert in New Jersey, where Bruce Springsteen had made an unscheduled guest appearance, but that was it. Her LP's still found their way to my turntable, (except for the Modern Dreams LP which left for Guam with my *&@#$^%*ing roommate in 1984) but alas, no new material. Then one day while browsing the web I found Carolyne Mas' own personal Webpage. Wow! not only did I find out where she had been for the last decade (mostly Europe) but also that she had release two more studio LP's and a killer double live LP. (They're all German imports, so I at least now I understand why my record store inquiries were unsuccessful)
I also found that there were others on the Web who hold Carolyne in the very same high esteem. Here's the very first Carolyne Mas Tribute Page on the web. It contains reviews of the first four albumns, (reviews for the last two can be found here ) Another webpage page with the full Carolyne Mas discography complete with pictures of all the releases including the singles can be found here. And if (excuse me when) you decide you'd like to have some of these CD's for your very own, well you still can't get them at your local BlockBuster. But you can order at least some of those albumns here.
Carolyne is currently living in the Greater Nashville Tennessee area, and has begun performing again on the club scene.
Someday this button:
Will Work.
Until that day comes, you'll just have to click
here ) to go back.
Well, for starters, she is, arguably, the owner of the best female rock and roll voice since Grace Slick. She is a writer of straight forward lyrics that crystalize an emotion or moment without falling into cliche or sentimentality. She is an electric, urgent presence on stage. She is a pioneer who began making intelligent, hard driving defiantly undanceable music, at a time when syrupy sentiment was the norm and drum machines were still thought cool.
My abiding attachment to her music goes back to 1979, and the release of her hit single Stillsane . Disco was dying but that wasn't enough to keep every Rock n' Roll band left standing from the 70's from trying their hand at making their own danceteria "music". New Wave and Punk music had degenerated into self-parody. Rupert Holmes' "Pina Colada Song" was the number one single and Peaches and Herb's "Reunited" had just vacated the number one slot. The really hip stations were playing Jimmy Buffet and Linda Rondstadt as cutting edge artists. The impact of hearing Carolyne for the first time; in that kind of musical environment, cannot be underestimated. It was the sonic equivalent of being hit by a freight train; the kind of "Turn the car around we're going to the record store NOW!!" experience that only comes along once or twice a decade. The experience of seeing her live, a few months later (even from the cheap seats, which were all that was left) was no less powerful. You just had this sense that you were witnessing the start of something momentous.
So, why isn't she a household name? My contention is that it is largely because the music industry is never comfortable with what it can't package. Women in the late 70's had to be either sex symbols or sensitive folkies, they really didn't have a place for female musicians. Carolyne makes good use of tempo changes as an integral part of her song writing; this helps keep the songs interesting on the fifth or fiftieth listen. It doesn't make them easy to dance to, or to sandwich between vapid tracks on the radio.
Dispite a follow up second albumn, Hold On that was even better than the first, and a near legendary King Biscuit Flower Hour appearance (which was made into the LP Mas Hysteria), the big radio break through never came. Carolyne's third LP, Modern Dreams seemed to be a deliberate effort (at least on the part of the production team) to move her into the areas occupied by Jackson Browne and Steely Dan. Even though it contained some of Carolyne's best lyrical writing the album went nowhere on the charts.
By the mid-eighties, I had lost track of her career. I remember reading an article listing her as a performer at a benefit concert in New Jersey, where Bruce Springsteen had made an unscheduled guest appearance, but that was it. Her LP's still found their way to my turntable, (except for the Modern Dreams LP which left for Guam with my *&@#$^%*ing roommate in 1984) but alas, no new material. Then one day while browsing the web I found Carolyne Mas' own personal Webpage. Wow! not only did I find out where she had been for the last decade (mostly Europe) but also that she had release two more studio LP's and a killer double live LP. (They're all German imports, so I at least now I understand why my record store inquiries were unsuccessful)
I also found that there were others on the Web who hold Carolyne in the very same high esteem. Here's the very first Carolyne Mas Tribute Page on the web. It contains reviews of the first four albumns, (reviews for the last two can be found here ) Another webpage page with the full Carolyne Mas discography complete with pictures of all the releases including the singles can be found here. And if (excuse me when) you decide you'd like to have some of these CD's for your very own, well you still can't get them at your local BlockBuster. But you can order at least some of those albumns here.
Carolyne is currently living in the Greater Nashville Tennessee area, and has begun performing again on the club scene.
Until that day comes, you'll just have to click
here ) to go back.
Someday this button:
Will Work.