Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Curt Kirkwood -- Snow

Produced by Pete Anderson, who is Dwight Yoakam's producer. Essentially you have a kinda country-pop Meat Puppets record. Soaring and Byrds-like at times, never raising its temperature above that of a warm October day. The lyrics are Curt's style; somewhat impressionistic, they resonate but never tip their hand.

Curt plays about half the guitar and also splits backing vocals with his producer. Kirkwood's playing keeps the seedee from becoming any kind of cookie cutter Nashville pop affair, but Pete Anderson's contributions are definitely those of an ace nashville cat: clean, supple, tasty. He's a nice foil for the M. P. Interesting to note that a solo record is the first time you hear Kirkwood as half of a guitar duo; he's usually the whole ballgame.

On the whole, this is a very nice album, spotlighting the Meat Puppets leader as a songwriter of considerable merit and a soulful, tuneful singer. For me, this one stacks up against any Meat Puppets record after Up on the Sun.

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