TRUMAN
Payne Avenue (Geffen)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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I'm not here to warn you away from Truman's debut album, Payne Avenue, nor am I here to recommend it. There's something kind of strange about it that is either terrible or wonderful, depending on your point of view. It's perfect. Yeah. The players serve the songs without going over the top and distracting, they're all more than sufficiently talented, the songs -- a grab bag of semi-hard rock, modern alt, Americana and something that sounds like 70s AOR -- are pretty well-built, the production is bullet-proof and there's even a kind of trippy little sway to some of it that I enjoy, at least while it's playing. The problem, for me, is I can't remember much about it once it's off. There's one tune, "Dead On," that sticks with me simply because it has a certain kind of huge, hurricane of sound I like. Otherwise, they strike me as the modern equivalent of the countless talented bands who opened for big names in the 70s and were never heard from again. I can't help but feel there might be hope, though, if they can just bring in someone with a gift for writing hooks. And perhaps allow some splinters in the production. This much gloss tends to suck the life out of rock and roll.

© 2004 - DJ Johnson