GREG TROOPER
Floating (Sugar Hill)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Greg Trooper's gained some reasonable acclaim as a songwriter, with everyone from Vince Gill to Billy Bragg committing his work to vinyl, and no less than Steve Earle providing an unmitigated rave for this album's liner notes, but he's had less success breaking through as a performer in his own right. His six albums have appeared on six separate labels and he faces the same problems that most truly original artists confront when trying to break into an increasingly homogenized radio market. Floating is his first release for Sugar Hill, and with its release Trooper's finally on a label with the kind of distribution and marketing clout to give him some long-deserved exposure to the general public.

The twelve new songs here provide a range of styles, but whether it's the bare bones simplicity of "Apology" or the thought-provoking (in fact, to me, awe-inspiring) imagery of "Muhammed Ali (The Meaning Of Christmas)," there's always a point of view that, over the course of the album, is revealed as the distinctive outlook of a man with a distinctive talent for weaving words. The presentation is generally straightforward, but accented with everything from an honky tonk edge on "Hummingbird" to a Celtic lilt on "Inisheer."

This one's gotten more spins around my place than any other singer/songwriter album I've heard this year. It deserves a few spins around your place, too.

Track List:

The Road So Long * When My Tears Break Through * Lucky That Way * Floating * Hummingbird * Apology * From Only You * Rose, With You * December Skies * Inisheer * Muhammed Ali (The Meaning Of Christmas) * The Lasting Kind

© 2003 - Shaun Dale