Customer Reviews

Overdub

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What will it take for Davíd Garza to hit the big time and get the commercial attention he deserves? His debut album, 1998's This Euphoria, featured one of the catchiest songs of the latter 90's that no one heard with "Discoball World." A fairly heavy M2 rotation and Best Buy promotion that summer couldn't buy him the sales he deserved either and unfortunately, unless the WB prostitutes several of the tracks off Overdub, commercial success is highly unlikely for this disc as well. Aptly enough his sophomore album's first single, "Say Baby," laments the current state of commercial radio as he croons, "DJ's won't spin your jam unless you say, `baby love me honey.'"

Garza can best be described as what Lenny Kravitz would have sounded like had he laid off the Prince and went for Zeppelin & Hendrix instead. On the hypnotic "God's Hands" he channels Jeff Buckley singing an Indian raga over swirling guitars. Juliana Hatfield repays Garza for his production and guitar work on her Beautiful Creature by turning in a guest appearance lending background vocals to "Keep On Crying." Mr. Garza, I have some kids named Dawson and Felicity on the phone for you.

Well, this is a pleasant surprise. David Garza, who is not a household name, has released an album far better than pop musicians who are considerably more famous. Blue-eyed soul in generous doses...No lack of cheeky humor. And just when you think he's a satirist, skewering holy rollers or the music industry, he flips into the gorgeous Roy Orbisonesque lyricism of "Alone" or the sweet honesty and directness of "Let Me Be." This is as beautiful as it is anonymous. If you're looking for a hidden musical treasure, check out Garza's "Overdub" or Joseph Arthur's "Redemption's Son." Singer-songwriters of exquisite quality didn't only make music in the 1970s.

Davi'd Garza has been a talented musician ever since his days back with Twing Twang Shock a Boom and Dah-veed. His last Lava-Atlantic release "This Euphoria" was followed up by "Kingdome Come and Go" and "Summer Songs 3" on his own label.

His new Lava-Atlantic release does not let fans down. While maybe not as catchy as "This Euphoria" this is a spectacular cd. Not only does he redo "God's Hands" and "Let Me" from Kingdom Come and Go, he also redoes "Too Much" which was the last song on his cd "Four-Track Manifesto". Get this, though, if you have an operational MP3 player, this cd is practically 2! On the cd are MP3s of alternate versions of all the songs. And believe me, they are just as good as the cd versions. Some are acoustic, most are alternate lyrics, they are different songs, and yet, the exact same.

Anyhow, Davi'd has delivered another great cd which will delight fans. If you haven't heard him yet, start with "This Euphoria" then buy this.

I guess I can call myself a David Garza neophyte! I picked up this cd two weeks ago...the blurb in my BMG music catalog described him as a mixture of Prince, David Bowie and Donovan, and that really piqued my curiosity. While my musical tastes are wide and diverse (classical to punk), my favorites tend to fall within the moderate zone of each genre. I am getting burned out on commercial pop radio these days, so I find myself questing for new `undiscovered' (read: not commercially bombarded!) treasures...and I think I found one! I really like the lilting poetic-ness of the lyrics, and the wit! Some of the lyrics are just plain fun, but some can be construed as `deep'. Even if you aren't looking for great philosophical lyrics, this cd just rocks! My favorite song on this cd is `Crown of Thorns'; it has a wild, chunky, guitar riff that is irresistible! `Too Much' is another goody, very toned-down, which suits the song to a `T' - - I think this song must be where some reviewer pulled the Prince reference - - there's also a very nice blue-sy guitar touch to this one. `Say Baby'' is all about the tribulations of trying to get radio-time for your song; it succeeds at worming its way into your brain and you'll find yourself singing it all day long. `Blow My Mind' is a simple rockin' song; nothing more, nothing less! `Keep on Crying' is a beautiful ballad-type of song, as is `Let Me'.

There is an excellent variety of tempo on this cd; I play it all day at work, and then I take it home and play it while I clean the kitchen! A very fun aspect of this disc is the `Underdub' tracks which are accessible if you play it on your computer. You can hear the acoustic or work-in-progress versions of these songs.

If I had any criticism, it would be that the lyrics can seem excessively repetitious, and that irked me the first time I listened to it, but now I just sing along! I've been impressed with this cd to the point of wanting to learn more about David Garza; there are a couple of websites and a definite fan-base out there. I was pleased with his bio, he seems like a really nice guy and I wish him much success in his artistic endeavors. I am looking forward to seeing him play live in the near future, he seems to be in L.A. a lot! and, I'm picking up his previous cd's so I can get a better picture of his artistic growth.

As is the case with most of the other reviewers, I, too, have been a David Garza for a decade. So, I am biased. HOWEVER, as a music lover with very picky taste, I assure you that David Garza is a real artist. The combination of his musical groove with his very personal lyrics make this CD quite enjoyable. You almost feel as though you are having a conversation with Mr. Garza. Listen to this CD and you will feel as though you've made a new pal, the kind you want to hang out with and just enjoy his existence.

Native Texan Davíd Garza continues to hone his songwriting chops on his fourth CD Overdub. His last release, the independent label Kingdom Come and Go was an acoustic meditation on modern spirituality. With Overdub, the music emerges more uptempo while the struggle continues: against bland conformity ("Say Baby"), nostalgia ("Drone"), apocalypse ("God's Hands"), and love sweet love ("Crown of Thorns", "Keep on Crying", "Alone"). This Euphoria, his last major release four years ago, was glam heavy. Overdub mixes up the musical template from mid-tempo neo-soul ballads to Zeppelinesque raves. Garza's elastic voice - from Prince falsetto to Jeff Buckley croon, with a plain vibrato all his own - ties the disparate elements into a cohesive package.

Overdub is an absolute masterpiece. Each song is brilliant and catchy. He put's his all into his music and his live shows. I have been following Garza since 1990 in Dallas and have seen his music evolve from the accoustic neo-hippie folk sound to the present pop rock. And when you see him live he involves all sounds from his begining days to the present. Overdub is FULL of energy and also has bonus MP3's on the cd which are the same tracks as Overdub, but sound alot different. I beleive they were recorded on a 4-track and added as a bonus on the cd. GO OUT AND GET IT TODAY!

It's a great album. absolutly wonderful. I wasn't impressed with Kingom Come and Go the first time I listened to it, but I was awstruck by the energy this new album produced. This Euphoria is a masterpiece, and so is Overdub.

It's hard to easily promote such an unknown artist, but I wish that he could get the recognition he deserves. This is the album that will help push him into the mainstream.

I'm surprised that his Best Buy commercial didn't do more for him -that's how I discovered him. I would sit in front of the TV watching the commercials hoping in tosee it and hear the clip of "kinder."

This one gets better with every spin. Garza cannot be pigeonholed; he plays soul (including on Say Baby as he is apparently tweaking the industry for not recognizing it in his own work), some terrific hook driven arena rock ("Blow My Mind" and, to my taste, the best cut on the CD, "Crown of Thorns"), ballads in a voice with range that approaches that of the great Roy Orbison ("Soul Custody," "Keep on Crying," and "Let Me"), and even a bit of different perspective Christian rock ("God's Hands"). Sometimes he gets into a rhyming-for-the-sake-of-rhyming binge like a thousand bad Dylan imitators, but that's a minor drawback to a consistently satisfying and diverse CD.

Having grown up listening to the home-grown sounds of David Garza in his many incarnations over the years and enjoying fantastic live show after live show, I still find it difficult to describe the unbelievable breadth of musicianship that David (that's phonetically VEED...) brings to the tired world of "modern rock". No backwards-baseball-cap-suburban-pseudo-pimp-acne-macho-angst posturing here, (which, considering the current Lava/Atlantic lineup nowadays seems surprising...), just quality songcraft and refresing creativity from one of the few unique artists left in music today. Not a bad track in the set. 11 bonus MP3 tracks on the CD don't hurt. Why are you still reading my drivel? Click above and buy this album!