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Crown Jewels : Spitshine
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Classic, bluesy/alternative rock and roll...a blend of kick-ass playing, pop melody, twisted harmony and loud guitars.
Genre: Rock: Classic Rock
Release Date: 1996
Spitshine Record Label: Thunderdog Music
  • Buy CD - $12.00
Preview Song Name Time Format Price Select
Dark Desire 5:38 Album Only
Tim 3:10 Album Only
She Got No Hair 3:34 Album Only
Your Quest 4:14 Album Only
Money Don't Help 2:58 Album Only
Miss Lonely Heart 3:30 Album Only
Revolution (In The Air) 5:57 Album Only
Anybody Lovin' U? 4:39 Album Only
Trail Of Tears 6:05 Album Only
Fine Line 5:12 Album Only
Blank Track 0:26 Album Only
Bonus Track 0:38 Album Only
preview all songs

Album Notes

Brothers Steve & John Conte - from Mercury recording artists Company of Wolves - lead this eclectic rock & roll/power pop band. The Conte's multi-faceted career includes recording and/or touring with New York Dolls, Billy Squier, Paul Simon, Ian Hunter, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, Maceo Parker, Peter Wolf, Kevin Salem, Prince protege Jill Jones, Phoebe Snow, John Waite, Willie Nile, Glen Burtnick, Mr Henry and many others. You may have already heard music from Crown Jewels without realizing it...

On Television...
Smallville - WB ("So much For Love")
Providence - NBC ("Toughest Girl In The Neighborhood", "Last Confession")
Jack & Jill - WB ("Toughest Girl In The Neighborhood", "Last Confession")
Jag - CBS ("Heart Shaped Glasses", "Toughest Girl In The Neighborhood")
Angel - Fox ("Last Confession")
That's Life - ABC ("He's So Zen")
Winter X Games - ESPN ("Revolution in the Air")

On Film...
Wirey Spindell (Fox-Lorber), the new film by If Lucy Fell creator Eric Schaeffer features the songs, "Lovers On Earth", "Money Don't Help" and five new songs written by Crown Jewels and former Marry Me Jane singer Amanda Kravat.

Spring Break Lawyer (MTV/Paramount Pictures). "She Got No Hair" compliments a pool party scene.

Two Ninas (Castle Hill), a hilarious NYC romantic comedy starring Ron Livingston (Swingers) and Amanda Peet (Jack & Jill) includes "Last Confession" and "Toughest Girl in the Neighborhood".

The Stand In starring Kelly Rippa (All My Children) uses "Last Confession", "Money Don't Help" and "Dream", the theme song written for the film's closing credits.

The independent Hollywood film, Face the Music features "Toughest Girl in the Neighborhood" in the final scene and over the closing credits.

The Rules soundtrack is dominated by the Jewels..."Strawberryvelvetfiftycentshoes", "Believe me, Camille", "Last Confession" "Fine Line" and "Underground".

On Radio...
Linoleum, the band's latest record, has enjoyed nationwide airplay on more than 120 stations (AAA, college & AOR/ Modern Rock specialty shows), charting in CMJ with heavy rotations in the northeast and northwest.

On CD...
Along with their debut Spitshine, their sophomore release, Linoleum, the limited edition Bootleg Rarities and the new MP3only CD Bubble & Squeak, Crown Jewels appears on:

Billboard Talent Net: New Talent Spotlight Volume 2. This compilation CD features Crown Jewels, Jill Sobule and others. Crown Jewels has frequently appeared on Billboard Talent Net's Weekly Top Ten and Radio BTN charts.

NEMO Tasty Vittles compilation from the Boston music conference. Includes Crown Jewels, The Push Stars and Michelle Lewis.

Musician Magazine Best Unsigned Band CD (features "Tim" from the debut Crown Jewels CD.)

Stiff Competition: A Cheap Trick Tribute. Includes Crown Jewels version of "How Are You?" along with Robin Zander, Enuff Z'Nuff, Gilbey Clarke, Glen Burtnick and Sharon Middendorf (Motor Baby).

Honors...
London's Classic Rock Magazine crowned the band's Linoleum album # 5 in their Top Ten Albums Of 1999, placing higher than Foo Fighters, Metallica and Wilco.

Musician Magazine named Crown Jewels "One of North America's Ten Best Unsigned Bands".

Crown Jewels was called "One Of New York's Top Five Unsigned Bands" by the N.A.R.A.S./ Grammy Showcase.

Ironically, New York City's own Crown Jewels were honored with the title of "Best Unsigned Band In The Region" when they were flown to Nashville to play UnVailed, Sam Goody/ Musicland's national new music showcase.

On Tour...
In addition to their constant touring of East Coast clubs, the band has also appeared at these fine musical events:

North By Northeast (Toronto)
The Digital Clubfest and Intel New York Music Festival
The Philadelphia Music Conference
NEMO Music Conference (Boston),
The Atlantis Music Festival (Atlanta)
Concrete / Foundations F-Musicfest (Los Angeles)
The Mid-Atlantic Sound, Surf & Skate Symposium (Wilmington, North Carolina)
ASCAP and Songwriters Hall of Fame showcases (NYC)

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REVIEWS

Dig it!
author: FrancisAlbert
Pair this up with Bleed Together and its all you need in your collection. Its all about a golden voice and brillant base...
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Good All-American Sound
author: Joe Pruitt
Like I'm sure many people have, I ordered this CD after hearing Steve Conte on the anime show Cowboy Bebop. While the style wasn't exactly the same as the music from the show, I wasn't disappointed in the least. What I got was a good, solid, rock album, I guess down-home or down-to-earth is the best description that comes to mind. My impression was of a cross between the Black Crows and Led Zeppelin, and Steve's vocals are just as soulful and heartfelt as I expected.
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Outstanding!
author: Oz
one absolutle fantastic cd goes on the silk pillow next to my other Crown royal and The contes CDs!
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Classic sound, powerful vocals
author: Andrew Gossett
After hearing Steve Conte's work with Yoko Kanno for the soundtrack to the classic anime "Cowboy Bebop," I decided to give his band a try. I'm very glad I did. Spitshine is a consistently well-crafted classic pop-rock album, alternating between softer tunes, bubbily guitar pop, and harder cuts where they seem to be aiming for almost a Zeppelin style riff sound (specifically thinking of "Money Don't Help" here). The only problem I have with it is that the track order seems very predicable, never really straying from a harder song-softer song-harder song-softer song order. But all in all, it's a very consistent piece of work, well worth the money if you're into guitar rock. If you like this album, I'd recommend getting their second album, as well as a great indie alt-country band called Hubcap at http://www.hubcap.ws/
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