Bradley's Buzz

7 Days Of Bubbatunes - bub93

Welcome to the 7 DAYS OF BUBBATUNES as we countdown the last few Bubbatunes compilations I've made recently until we hit next Tuesday when I present our 100th compilation. Oh how very exciting I know....

so without further ado, I give you #93 _




bub93 Martina McBride – McBride’s Ride

CMT’s Crossroads television show is a great little marketing tool – combining rock stars and country stars and having them duet on each other’s songs is pretty ingenious when you consider some of the guests they’ve had on the show – matching up Melissa Etheridge with Dolly Parton is one example but the ultimate for me was a few years ago when my girl Pat a la Benatar joined Martina McBride on stage for one magical night. Apparently Martina was asked to do the show and said she would only do it if they could get Pat to do it. It seems Martina learned to belt out a song by listening to her Benatar records when she was a teenager. How about that?

I was aware of Ms. McBride having witnessed the horrific, yet strangely alluring “Independence Day” video from 1994. I loved the song and I loved the video though of course it was fairly disturbing. For those not in the know, the song is told from the perspective of a girl who’s mother is being abused by her father, while our 8 year old girl hits the 4th of July carnival, the mother burns down the house killing the husband and our heroine becomes an orphan. The song isn’t nearly as downbeat as it sounds, in fact it’s a rocking little tune that has a strange sense of empowerment to it. When it was released no one in radio wanted to touch it, but around the same time it was released a man named OJ was being pursued for abusing and murdering his wife, so I guess it was fairly timely. After liking the song and a few others over the years, it was after I saw the Crossroads show that I really became a fan.

A little while after I decided I loved the woman’s voice she started releasing fairly interesting little songs, of course most of these happened to have some form of horrible abuse or children on the verge of dying as a theme, but really through out country music you find that theme runs rampant.

I decided to make a little mix for the Leivas of Martina’s greatest ditties plus a few album tracks I had decided I really liked and along came McBride’s Ride our 93rd Bubbatune.

Of course I’m always mixing up the track listings so these are not in chronological order, but instead in a nice cohesive little way to highlight her singles, both rockin’ country and straight up belt out ballads, because if anything Martina can belt out a song.

Opening with “This One’s For The Girls” a little anthem of women empowerment, which is a theme I really dig for some reason?? The ballad “Where Would You Be” happens to be one of my all time favs by the girls so it was only fitting it broke up the pumping country pop of “..Girls” and the “Independence Day” kicker. “Anyway” follows which at the time I made the CD was the girl’s brand new single, so you see this is a really up to date compilation.

We go through almost every single one of Martina’s chart scoring singles including some awesome little kicks like “How Far” – a super ballad about how far you would go for love (of course), and the continuing saga of children in peril in “God’s Will” (one of the Leivas’ favorites) and the so horrible you can’t help but stop and listen “Concrete Angel” – the song’s protagonist is a little abused girl who doesn’t get any help from anyone until one night when it’s too late and her image is forever cast in a stone statue – horrific yet excellent.

Then there’s two more worthy of particular mentions, the country rockin’ “Two More Bottles Of Wine” all about trying to make it as a musician and a person and not really caring cause it’s after midnight and the girl still has two more bottles of wine to get her through – it’s a Delbert McClinton song that has been sung by others including Emmylou Harris but Martina does just as good on it making it her very own in an otherwise big career of fairly big ballads.

And speaking of ballads “Wrong Again” is also included and it’s one of the many Martina singles that hit the top ten and it’s one of my favorites. With its inclusion as the second to last song on the compilation it makes it the 15th song on this compilation that hit the top ten country songs – who knew she was that popular?

One of Martina’s biggest hits is the super powered “When God Fearin’ Women Get The Blues” all about some bible thumping housewife who stirs her last pot of gravy and takes off in her supped up Mustang leaving behind the church choir and a small town of confused people. I love it, though I may have elaborated more in the song were I to write it. Regardless, it’s fun, fast and furious and of course included here.

The highlight and the only real rare gem here is our final cut which is the live version of “When God Fearin’ Women Get The Blues” sung with Miss Benatar. I thought it was the fitting conclusion as if it weren’t for this performance (and a few others on Crossroads) that McBride’s Ride wouldn’t have ever even been a thought in the Bubbatunes catalog.

Martina McBride – McBride’s Ride (bub93)
Track List:
01. This One’s For The Girls 02. Where Would You Be 03. Independence Day 04. Anyway 05. My Baby Loves Me 06. Broken Wing 07. God’s Will 08. When God Fearin’ Women Get The Blues 09. How Far 10. Happy Girl 11. Concrete Angel 12. Life #9 13. There You Are 14. Wild Angels 15. Whatever You Say 16. Two More Bottles Of Wine 17. Valentine 18. Blessed 19. Wrong Again 20. When God Fearin’ Women Get The Blues (with Pat Benatar) (Live)

and one free download just cuz I love ya so -
When God Fearin' Women Get The Blues (Live) with Pat Benatar

Labels: bub93, Bubbatunes, Martina McBride, Music Life Pat Benatar

posted by swivek @ 8:23 AM