Released: 1993
Tracks: Steer Clear; Cold Samba; One Drop; Silawe; Carnival; For Keeps; Cupid Awake; Simple Things; Influence; Up; Severe; Isis and Osiris; Evolve
Best track: so hard! Either Influence, For Keeps, Isis & Osiris or Evolve
Track to skip: none
On this album it is seriously impossible to pick a best track. You can make a case for at least 10 of these songs being the ‘best’ and you’d have a valid argument. Culture Vulture was the first album under the band name of “Dah-veed” which is nice sarcasm to everyone who mispronounced Davíd Garza’s name. It’s not “David Garcia”, as many have wanted to call him; the name of the man and the band is Dah-veed. It’s always just easier to refer to the man/the band as Dah-veed Garza. So if Eyes Wide Open is the beginning of the ‘wow’ stuff, then this album is the culmination of all that; this is absolutely the best album Davíd Garza has ever made. Now, I’m not going to claim that he’ll never make an album as good as this; it’s always possible. For now though, it’s the best one. The core of the band is still Davíd on vocals and guitar, Clay Pendergrass on bass, Michael Hale on drums & Jim Cocke on keys. Juliana Sheffield is on most of these songs doing her wonderful backing vocals and after that there are just a lot of guests. I can tell that Davíd was trying to make the absolute best album he could (that should always be the goal) so every song is filled with what it needs to be great. Some songs have a huge multi-percussion breakdown (Severe) and some are extremely sparse, like For Keeps, which is just guitar, violin & voice. I just love this song and it’s SO gorgeous that I nearly bawl every time I hear it. Reggie Rueffer, the said violinist, plays the absolute perfect notes to accompany Garza’s delicate guitar playing. I’m not one to get all emotional about love songs (I usually don’t care for them), but this one cuts through my defenses and just turns me to mush. I love it.
Dah-veed expands on the eclecticism of the last album on Culture Vulture. I think the biggest difference is that Culture Vulture is a lot more rhythmic. Lots of danceable rhythms abound on this album, which in turn meant that in a live setting all of these songs were just killer. Besides attempting new musical styles (for example, polka on Up) and rhythms, I’m always struck by how much better Garza’s lyrics had become by this album. Isis and Osiris is about how divorce affects a child and the sort of tug-of-war that can exist over the child of divorced parents. The line, “Imitating us is the worst thing you could do, because ever since you’re born we’ve been imitating you” totally sums up the whole thing of how stupid divorcing parents can be in that situation. My parents divorce wasn’t anywhere near as childish, but having gone through that I really relate to the lyrics as a whole. Like any great songwriter, Davíd Garza writes lyrics that relate to many different people in hundreds of ways. And that sort of brings together the whole ethic of not only this album, but also Dah-veed’s music as a whole: there’s something there for everyone regardless of what kind of music you listen to. Culture Vulture is absolutely one of my all time favorite albums and I love every second of it. I highly recommend seeking this out.
Rating: 97
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