Customer Reviews

self-untitled

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Stuart Davis is the thinking person's musician, which is not to say that his music isn't great in and of itself. The lyrics, however, are the core. He thinks before he writes, which is refreshing. And he makes the listener think as well. As a poet, I immediately chuckled along with Davis's observations of irony and juxtaposition that most pass daily without a second thought (e.g., Billboard, Little White Town, Only Changing Drugs). It's almost like a musical stand-up routine of a very dry sort. Hard to believe that all this perspective is found in a fairly young person... ah, but he's really an "old soul" if you pause to think about it. And his music is catchy enough to make you repeat each track til you know the lyrics by heart... and by then you'll be thinking the same "hey, wait a minute!" thoughts that he does! Talk about addictive!

I first heard Stuart Davis when he played a local university around the time of the release of this album. These songs and the songs on his other albums carry an aggressive folk sound and deal with themes you've never thought of in a song context. Stuart is as much an actor as a songwriter, as many of the songs are in the voice of an invented character. The first song on this album is an example. Only changing drugs approaches MN's large rehab industry as an addict who's exchanging their substance addiction for an addiction to support groups, rehab programs and 12 step programs. A strange statement to make, but something to think about. All in all, I'd recommend this as a good starting point into his catalog.

This album has some great songs on it, but you won't get the chance to hear most of these at his concerts anymore. I like some of the sarcastic humor found in several of these songs. I was not disappointed with anything about this album.