''Short Sharp Shocked'' is the second album by

Michelle Shocked Michelle Shocked (born Karen Michelle Johnston; February 24, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter. Her music has entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, and received an award f ...

. Originally released in 1988, it was remastered and reissued in 2003 as a two-CD set by Shocked's own label, Mighty Sound. The title is a play on the phrase

short, sharp shock The phrase "short, sharp shock" means "a punishment that is ... severe but only lasts for a short time". It is an example of alliteration. Although the phrase originated earlier, it was popularised in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1885 comic opera ''The ...

. The record title and cover image is similar to that of the 1984 Chaos U.K. album '' Short Sharp Shock''. The photograph of Shocked that appears on the cover was taken by Chris Hardy of the ''

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...

'' at a protest in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

during the

1984 Democratic National Convention The 1984 Democratic National Convention was held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California from July 16 to July 19, 1984, to select candidates for the 1984 United States presidential election. Former Vice President Walter Mondale was nom ...

. The front cover of the 2003 re-issue de-contextualized the original photograph by closely cropping it to Shocked's face, but the back cover features it in full, with the restraining officer's eyes not obscured by airbrushed-on sunglasses like the front cover of the original Mercury release.

Reception

'' Q'' magazine's

Robert Sandall Robert Paul Sandall (9 June 1952 – 20 July 2010)
- accessed December 2010 was a British musician, music journali ...

wrote, "Where this album hits hardest is in the playful unpredictability of

ete Ete, Été or ETE may refer to: People * Erik Zabel (born 1970), German cyclist known by the nickname "Ete" * Eteuati Ete, New Zealand actor Other uses * ETE (tokamak) at the National Institute for Space Research in Brazil * Ete, Hungary * ...

Anderson and Shocked's arrangements," and observed, "'When I Grow Up' ... introduces a jazzy, acoustic bass shuffle, then starts bouncing miscellaneous sound inserts around beneath the vocal. From here, it's pretty much all stops to the thrash metal finale at the end of side two." Including the album in its best-of-the-year round-up, ''Q'' wrote, "Her excellent band revels in every opportunity she gives to cut loose and take chances, which heightens the spontaneous feel of her raggedy vocals. Second albums can often be a disappointment, but this is a firecracker."

Track listing

All songs written by

except as noted. The final track is a remake of "Fogtown", originally from ''

The Texas Campfire Tapes ''The Texas Campfire Tapes'' is the first album by American singer and songwriter Michelle Shocked. The album was on a Sony Walkman during an impromptu set performed by Shocked around the eponymous campfire at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texa ...

'', with punk band MDC. It was not listed on the sleeve or disc of the original release, as Shocked "wanted it to surprise people".'' Q'', May 1989

Personnel

*Michelle Shocked – vocals, acoustic guitar *

Pete Anderson Pete Anderson is an American guitarist, music producer, arranger and songwriter. Anderson is most known for his guitar work with, and critically acclaimed production of, country music star Dwight Yoakam from 1984 through 2002, a partnership th ...

– electric guitar, six-string bass guitar on "Hello Hopeville" *Jeff Donavan – drums *Dominic Genova –

acoustic bass The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar a ...

, electric bass *Skip Edwards – piano,

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

*Michael Tempo – percussion *

Al Perkins Al Perkins (born January 18, 1944) is an American guitarist known primarily for his steel guitar work. The Gibson guitar company called Perkins "the world's most influential dobro player" and began producing an "Al Perkins Signature" Dobro in ...

–

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

Byron Berline Byron Douglas Berline (July 6, 1944 – July 10, 2021) was an American fiddle player who played many American music styles, including old time, ragtime, bluegrass, Cajun, country, and rock. Life and career Berline was born in Caldwell, Kansas ...

–

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

*Don Reed –

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

Rod Piazza Rod Piazza (born December 18, 1947, Riverside, California) is an American blues harmonica player and singer. He has been playing with his band The Mighty Flyers, which he formed with his pianist wife Honey Piazza, since 1980. Their boogie sound ...

– harmonica *Kristina Olsen –

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more trad ...

*Banjo Jim Croce –

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

*Sophia Ramos – vocals * MDC – vocals on "Fogtown" Technical personnel *Pete Anderson –

arrangements In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

Peter Doell Peter Doell is an American recording and mastering engineer known for his work with Miles Davis, Toto, Céline Dion and The Beach Boys. Doell has been a staff engineer at Capitol Studios, Sunset Sound Recorders and Universal Mastering Studios W ...

– engineer (Capitol Studio B) *Leslie Anne Jones – additional Engineering *David Leonard – mixing engineer (Larribee Sound) *Andy Batwinds – second engineer *Bobby Lacivita – second engineer (Sound Castle) *Eddy Schreyer – mastering engineer (Capitol Studios) *Michael Dumds – production assistant

Charts

Album

Singles

References

{{Authority control Michelle Shocked albums 1988 albums Mercury Records albums Albums produced by Pete Anderson Albums recorded at Capitol Studios