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Ricks Road

Texas

℗ 1994 Mercury Records 522 130

Texas • 1994 • Ricks Road

Texas sound a bit like a countrified version of the Pretenders put through a car wash on Ricks Road, to the point where the music is so clean, one's mind just slips around and off of it. There's a squeaky-clean polish to "So Called Friend," a stab at southern twang that doesn't seem genuine...it's a sound best left in a studio and indicative of a band trying too hard to make a hit song. There are simply too many studio effects and fake sounding instruments throughout the album. One imagines the harmonica to be some sort of Casio creation. It's like listening to Cher doing a Dusty Springfield impersonation. "Fade Away" tries so hard to have an aggressive hook that it becomes quite awkward. "Listen to Me" is supposed to be uplifting, but it mostly stumbles around a light beat and strings that go nowhere. Still, it's one of the album's better moments, because it's somewhat restrained. It's not overbearing like most of the other songs. "So in Love With You" starts out quite promising, but devolves into an unbearable din when Sharleen Spiteri reaches for high notes that just won't materialize. "Tired of Being Alone" is quite good; first, because it's almost impossible to ruin an Al Green song, and second, because it's less glossy and more immediate sounding than the rest of the album. It's production is credited to Texas and Kenny MacDonald. The remainder of the album was produced by Paul Fox who seemingly twisted knobs to the point of exhaustion. The production is so overblown that it's reminiscent of a Meredith Brook album. From a lesser band, Ricks Road might be an interesting misstep, but from Texas, who have shown themselves to be capable of much more heartfelt artistic expression. It's an outright shame. Later releases would see a more organic, far more successful approach. The world didn't need another Cowboy Junkies, and, thankfully, Texas didn't continue down the bland path they paved with Ricks Road. The album is best left to fans collecting their entire back catalogue, as it's quite weak from start to finish. The album is a bumpy affair, and it's clearly the wrong route, as the band quickly substituted pop and hip-hop elements for the Southern phoniness displayed here. The album is just one or two decent songs above being classified as drivel. White on Blonde and The Hush are worlds beyond Ricks Road. — Tim DiGravina.

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So Called Friend

Yeah I'm gonna make you wonder if you're my friend

Yeah I'm gonna make you wonder if you're my friend
Yeah that's the way I choose them all my friends
Do you think you're close with all your promises
Do you think I act strange when you talk to me
It's cause I don't see you

Yeah I'm gonna make you wonder if you're my friend

Yeah I may as well tell you you'll never be my friend
Ah that's the way I choose them all my friends
The telephone always rings when you've got success
You only want us when we're at our best
But we don't hear you

Yeah I'm gonna make you wonder if you're my friend

It isn't our fault that your life's depressed
We've listened and we've learned
That all of the words that you say
Yeah all of the words that you say
Mean nothing

Yeah I'm gonna make you wonder if you're my friend

Fade Away

(Johnny McElhone — Sharleen Spiteri)

With every little smile do you know me better
You know I'm never what I seem
Cause I don't worry about the future
My days they pass just like a dream
Are you scared of what you're seeing
Does it make me seem so cruel
And now I'll ask you if I hurt you
That's just something that I do

If you don't listen to me
You'll stay the same
And you're just gonna fade away

Listen hear the secret in my voice
Are you so gone that you can't hear
Scared I've forgot you for no reason
Maybe that's what you can't bear
Then give me more than words and gestures
Give me something I can keep
That's how you get to love forever
That's why you've gotta try and see

If you don't listen to me
You'll stay the same
You're just gonna fade away
If you don't listen to me
You'll stay the same
You're just gonna fade away
If you don't listen to me
You'll stay the same
If you don't listen to me
You'll stay the same
If you don't listen to me
You'll stay the same
And you'll fade away

Listen to Me

You came down as if from heaven
Laid a soft hand on me
I kept on walking and thinking
Where my life's gone I should weep
Well I don't know where I've been going
I've never known the reason why

So listen to me
I'm scared to cry

The angel sat down at my table
I told her all my doubts and pain
She said there always is a time for love
That it will come to me again
But I don't know where I've been going
I've never known the reason why

So listen to me
I'm scared to cry
Well I don't know where I've been going
I've never known the reason why

So listen to me
I'm scared to cry

Yeah listen to me
I'm scared to cry

You Owe it all to Me

Never thought there would be a time
When all you'd wanna do is fight
It's made me suffer lonely days
And i'm waitin for the evenings sun
To come along and calm me down
Can't you see that on my face

Without me you would be nowhere
All alone I've cared
You owe it all to me
Without me you would be nowhere
All alone I've cared
You owe it all to me

I know it seems to you sometimes
When we're alone I tend to hide
Leave my feelings locked behind a door
As I watch the wind cut through the trees
I never wanted you to leave
I only wish i'd told you this before

Without me you would be nowhere
All alone I've cared
You owe it all to me
Without me you would be nowhere
All alone I've cared
You owe it all to me

What kinda life am I to lead
With this love you've given me
I thought you were a friend of mine
But everyday you're someone new
And that's the one I've got to lose
Why do you make it so hard to fight

Without me you would be nowhere
All alone I've cared
You owe it all to me
Without me you would be nowhere
All alone I've cared
You owe it all to me

Beautiful Angel

(Johnny McElhone — Sharleen Spiteri)

Nobody wants to take the blame
Everybody wants to stay the same
All I want is what you had
I never meant to make you feel so sad
But you should have known it
Cause I tried to show it
So it woudn't happen this way
Yeh I tried to show you

My beautiful angel
My beautiful angel
I only wanted you

To this day I can't explain
Why I stole him away
I guess I thought you'd run to me
I didn't really know how wrong I'd be
Well you should have known it
Cause I tried to show it
I've been tasting your tears for too long
Yeh I tried to show you
I never asked for nothin
I, I only wanted you

My beautiful angel
My beautiful angel
I only wanted you

I tried to show you
My beautiful angel
I only wanted you

So in Love with You

I'm so in love with you
Whether it is right or it's wrong
I'm too weak to be strong
I'm so in love with you

Well you say you need something
To help you when you're down to take your fears away
Yeah you say you'd do anything
To keep your feet off the ground
And help you on your way

You're all I need
Yeah you are all that I need

I'm so in love with you
I'm so in love with you
Whether it is right or it's wrong
I'm too weak to be strong
I'm so in love with you

When you see your reflection
You say it isn't you
Then you turn the other way
And I'm watching you suffer
Yourself and your pain
Please don't fade away

You've Got to Live a Little

Have you still got the illusion
Of what's lying ahead
Then you'd still have your innocence
And days wouldn't seem so bad
But i've always wondered
Why you've never grown
But now i know

You gotta take a little time for yourself
You gotta live a little life on your own
You gotta take a little time for yourself
It's just what you're needing

Storms always make you happy
But they hide everything inside
Make believe that they're soft to touch
Then they blind you with their light
That has always made me wonder
Why you've never grown
But now i know

You gotta take a little time for yourself
You gotta live a little life on your own
You gotta take a little time for yourself
It's just what you're needing

I Want to Go to Heaven

(Johnny McElhone — Sharleen Spiteri)

You know I can't tell the truth
Cause all I do is lie
I feel like I'm laughing all the time
But all I do is cry

I wanna go to heaven
Yeh I wanna go to heaven
But I don't wanna die

I gave you it all child
But I, I paid for that
You walked away from me
Yeh you turned your back

I wanna go to heaven
Yeh I wanna go to heaven
But I don't wanna die

I'll take what you can give me
I'll use all I can use
Yeh I'm sleeping with my worries now
I've nothin else to lose

Yeh I wanna go to heaven
Lord I wanna go to heaven
But I don't wanna die

Fearing These Days

You only see me when I laugh
Never hear me when i cry
I'm tired of fearing these days
I'm sitting here on my own
Talking to myself alone
And I'm tired of fearing these days

All I need was an explanation
Why you treat me so mean
You always play the part with no hesitation
That's the other side I've seen

Please don't fail me
Don't fail me
Please don't let me fall

If all my nightmares come today
Will you hide them far away
'Cause I'm tired of fearing these days
It'll wash away the past and pain
Let me start from new again
I'm tried of fearing these days

You always hit me when there is no reason
To feel superior to me
When all I want is a confrontation
So i can find a release

Please don't fail me
Don't fail me
Please don't let me fall

Tired of Being Alone

Do I know if you are sleeping
Cause you lie so still and warm
Yeh the darness and the silence wrap around me
Don't hear your cries that make me sleep so sound

Maybe I've been missing you
Oh maybe I've been missing you
For so long

If one day you said you were happy
I think your spell would be broken for good
Sometimes I pray
If you are unkind to me
Maybe I'll love you more for that

And maybe I've been missing you
Oh maybe I've been missing you
For so long

And maybe I've been missing you
I've been missing you
For so long yeah yeah

Winter's End

Sometimes it seems like winter's end
The weeks they just go on like a friend of mine
The sadness it has left a trace
I think that you can see that on my face again

And it always made things better
Now my days seem so much better
Now my days seem so much quieter
And I know
Yeah I know
It will never be the same again

Sometimes I feel my hands are tied
I need someone to come and cut these ropes of mine
They'll wear a coat of wind and rain
To drive away the fears that I can't face again'

And they always make things better
And my days seem so much quieter
And I know
Yeah I know
It will never be the same again