Released: 1983
Tracks: Stars on the Water; I Used to Have Money One Time; Livin’ It Up; California Promises; One Particular Harbour; Why You Wanna Hurt My Heart?; Honey Do; We Are the People Our Parents Warned Us About; Twelve Volt Man; Brown Eyed Girl; Distantly in Love
Best track: One Particular Harbour
Tracks to skip: I Used to Have Money One Time, Honey Do
I first came to know a lot of these songs from Jimmy’s box set, Boats Beaches Bars Ballads, rather than hearing them as part of the album itself. So, yeah, my judgment is a bit clouded from that. If you’re delving into Jimmy’s studio albums it goes without fail that you’ll hear that his 70’s stuff is better and he started to get kinda crappy as the 80’s wore on. The brief bits I’ve heard, yeah, it’s kind of true. His earlier 80’s albums, while not being up to the quality of Changes in Latitudes & A1A, are still pretty good though and contain a lot of great songs, some that are deserved classics.
Six of these songs are found on the box set and truthfully those are the best tracks on here – Stars on the Water, California Promises, One Particular Harbour, Twelve Volt Man, Brown Eyed Girl & Distantly in Love. Of the remaining 5, I really don’t care for I Used to Have Money. It’s typical of Jimmy trying to be too clever in his songwriting, which he’s known to do from time to time. Honey Do is another example of this and while it’s a better song, on the whole it’s forgettable. Livin’ It Up I’m kind of torn on. On one hand, it has HORRIBLE 80’s synth sounds and it sounds extremely out of place on *any* Jimmy Buffett album. On the other hand, it’s catchy and I like hearing it. None of the other songs on this album sound like it, so it really sticks out. I think he was trying to push it as a single, but it failed miserably. The tune would probably be better if he played it straight. Why You Wanna Hurt My Heart is a decent tune and I don’t mind it. The find of the album for me is We Are the People Our Parents Warned Us About. Holy crap that’s a long title. It’s one of the more popular tracks from this album and it’s a solid song. It’s a lot of fun, certainly.
For the ones I was familiar with from the box set, I think they’re all great. Stars on the Water gains new importance as the album opener and I gained a new appreciation for Distantly in Love hearing in its proper closing spot. It’s a great song with a simple arrangement and some excellent mandolin playing. Both this and Twelve Volt Man are the ballad highlights from the album. Twelve Volt Man is a great song and one I always love to listen to. Buffett’s version of the Van Morrison tune Brown Eyed Girl is surprisingly good (to me anyway, as I’m not a fan of Morrison’s work) and one of the liveliest tunes he’s recorded. I love how he “Buffett-ized” the arrangement. The highlight of the album is definitely the title track. It’s a great song and I never get tired of hearing it. It goes back and forth between great grooves and contemplative slow parts so that it always keeps you on your toes. The steel drum/keyboard section in the middle is one of my favorite things he’s ever done; pure shake-your-ass fun.
All in all I like the album. It’s definitely a step down from the earlier albums, but there’s no denying that most of it is a lot of fun. It’s true that you can get the best songs from the box set, but it’s always good to hear songs in their proper place and not buried somewhere on disc four. If you’ve made it through Buffett’s 70’s albums, consider heading for this one too.
Rating: 85
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