Marshall Crenshaw - #392: The EP Collection (2015)

Marshall Howard Crenshaw (born November 11, 1953) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for hit songs such as "Someday, Someway," a US top 40 hit in 1982, "Cynical Girl," and "Whenever You're on My Mind." He is also the co-author of one of the biggest radio hits of the 1990s, the Gin Blossoms's "Til I Hear It from You." His music has roots in classic soul music and Buddy Holly, to whom Crenshaw was often compared in the early days of his career, and whom he portrayed in the 1987 film La Bamba.

Born in Michigan, Crenshaw performed in the musical Beatlemania before releasing his self-titled album in 1982. Crenshaw could not replicate the commercial success of Marshall Crenshaw and follow-up Field Day (1983) with later albums. Crenshaw has also contributed songs to other artists, writing singles for Kirsty MacColl and the Gin Blossoms. A quote from Trouser Press summed up Marshall Crenshaw's early career: "Although he was seen as a latter-day Buddy Holly at the outset, he soon proved too talented and original to be anyone but himself."

#392: The EP Collection is a Marshall Crenshaw compilation album containing tracks from a series of six previously released, vinyl-only EPs, completed between April 2012 and April 2015, plus two bonus tracks. The first six tracks are new, original Crenshaw compositions. The next six tracks find Crenshaw covering songs by a diverse group of artists (The Move, The Carpenters, The Bobby Fuller Four, James McMurtry, The Lovin' Spoonful and The Easybeats). The two bonus tracks are a live recording of The Everly Brothers' song, "Man with Money", with frequent Crenshaw touring partners, The Bottle Rockets, just days after Phil Everly's passing, and an early '90s demo of a never before released Crenshaw song, "Front Page News".