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Stanley’s music continues to resonate
By John Benson
The calendar says 2014, but you’d think it was 1984 considering the year Michael Stanley had.
In addition to new album “The Job,” Stanley recently released career-retrospective “The Solo Years — 1995 to 2014.” Then there’s the little business about his annual holiday shows with backing band the Resonators.
Eyebrows weren’t raised when Stanley booked a Friday show at the Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield. What did come as a surprise, especially to Stanley, was the gig sold out so fast that another date was added for Sunday at the same venue.
“It’s kind of a mini version of the old days,” said Stanley, laughing, referring to three decades ago when the Michael Stanley Band sold out four nights at Blossom Music Center (an attendance record of 74,404 tickets were sold, which stands today). “I think it’s a little bit of the casino has that new thing going on, and it’s a nice room to play.
“And for whatever reason, there was a confluence of things this year, things Michael Stanley-oriented. There’s also a certain amount of people who think nothing happened since 1987, so it’s like, ‘Oh my God, he still does play? Maybe we should go check this out.’”
If that’s the case, there’s plenty to check out with Stanley being prolific of late. His newest studio effort, “The Job,” is his third in as many years. Stylistically, the project is more of a quintessential solo effort, while previous albums varied from dealing with loss (“The Ride”) to just having fun (“The Hang”).
As for the three-CD set “The Solo Years — 1995 to 2014,” Northeast Ohio’s favorite son cherry-picked through two decades of music divided between the energetic tunes on “The Rousers,” the ballads “The Weepies” and the fan- favorite “Crispy’s Critters.”
“It was an interesting trip to sit down and listen,” Stanley said. “There were a lot of things I haven’t heard in a long time. It was like we had some good music during that time period.”
At 66, Stanley admits age is a consideration. He points to the title behind Neil Young’s “Rust Never Sleeps” as a motivating factor to keep moving. Still, the question regarding retirement is valid. However, the Cleveland rock icon sounds like he’s not ready to strike up the band for the last time.
Stanley said, “There are two things I think about: Do you still want to do it? The answer is yes. And the second: Can you still do it? And that’s always up for interpretation. We don’t run around on stage as much as we used to in the old days. but we’ve gained some panache and a little savvy and that sort of thing.
“As far as songwriting goes, every time I sit down and write a song, I’m hoping it’s going to be the best one I ever wrote. It usually isn’t, but it might be a good one, and that’s all you can ask at this point.”