Lonnie James
This Land Is Your Land
teenage USA

Lonnie James has sure been around the block a few times playing in amazing bands like Possum and the Superfriendz. This, his first solo album, immediately sucks you in with his raw song-writing prowess. Lonnie's voice has that nasally, raw country-aspect to it that compliments his songs delightfully.

The album has a slight rigidity to it, probably stemming from Lonnie's drumming career, but it becomes less-noticeable with each listen. The music on this album is gentle and quite simply lovely. Lonnie's lyrics are elegant and even witty and undeniably charming, much like Lonnie's voice. Humor is obvious on this album, Lonnie does a cover of Germ Free Adolescence. Despite all this, the album is really not all that upbeat. This is the type of music I chronically associate with drinking coffee and reading, but to pass this off as background music is to ignore the quality and talent that makes this album tick.

The light-hearted philosophical aestheticism of this album is immaculate. Every listen seem to lend an added recognition of the sheer skill of song-writing demonstrated here. This album really needs to be given a few solid, full-attention listens before it can be fully appreciated, but it's well worth the effort.

The only problem I have with this album at all is the oddly shaped case that doesn't fit in my CD holder, but then again, it somehow seems fitting that it should stand-alone.

Copyright © 1998 Laura Bowman