JIM GREER
The Big Thieves Jail The Little Thieves (Fortune)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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I remember this feeling. You take the drug of your choice, things seem kinda normal, then a bit interesting, then suddenly the walls are breathing and even the ingredients on the Pop Tarts box demand your full attention. It's certainly not as if Jim Greer's just a tour guide in training at Mind Trips Inc, having done time with Tipsy and as the keyboardist for Dr. Octagon (a.k.a. Kool Keith). Guess that explains why my mind is spinning out of control at track 4, after I've been lulled into a secure place with some ballady (but far from boring) tunes, and I'm slapping my ear trying to kill an insistent cricket while Greer is going on about "this is what I mean."

I missed what he meant because I'm trying to kill the cricket, but now I'm wondering if I took too much of whatever it was I... wait, I didn't take anything!

Before I can get situated and hook into the song, it's gone. Fast, man. We're into something very heavy and fascinating, a combination of swirling sounds, driving floor toms, propulsive bass and odd mind-check lyrics like "I wrote an opera - the pages sank - into a riddle - into a blank - don't you know that the pages were blank?"

That's the only kind of opera I could ever attend, but that's neither here nor there.

All through this awesome little piece of plastic, there are twists and turns, both lyrically and musically, with moments of traditional singer/songwriter strumalong that seem to dissolve into a current of sound as far from singer/songwriter as it gets. Imagine [insert name of your favorite singer/songwriter here] playing the first two verses before Spirit kicked him into the pool and finished the song. Make sense? No? Good. A bit of confusion is appropriate here.

The thing I want you to know about Jim Greer's second album is that it's definitely among the most deserving of your attention on the indie scene. And since the indie scene is far superior to the major label scene, I guess that elevates it even higher. A lot of artists take chances, and you can hear it when it happens and say "whew, made it!" Thieves is a long string of chances taken with so much confidence that you don't notice the act itself and you're free to close your eyes, lay back and go with the flow with the music. Go ahead, you'll be fine.

© 2001 - DJ Johnson