Released: 1992
Tracks: Young and Naïve; Now You Can Open Your Eyes; Sea of You; Virgin Mary Candle; Scatterbrain; Fallen Angel; Love Thang; East West North South; Lockjaw; Overwhelmed; IOU; All I Ever Need; Take for Granted; Under Your Evergreens
Best track: Fallen Angel
Track to skip: not a second
*This* is where it gets good. All of Davíd’s music up to this point was always (OK, nearly always) good, but this album, his first on CD, is the beginning of the ‘WOW’ stuff. Coming off the mostly disappointing Summer Songs II this album is really what he’d been needing (and probably wanting) to do the whole time. ALL of the songs on here are great and this is just a super solid album. By now the band had solidified into Davíd on guitar and vocals, Clay Pendergrass on bass, Michael Hale on drums, Jim Cocke on keys and Goddess Juliana Sheffield on vocals. Some guests on here as usual: Davíd’s brother Joel, John Bush and Brad Houser from the New Bohemians & violinist Reggie Rueffer. Since David knew he was making a CD (as opposed to just a cassette like all previous albums) he obviously spent more money, probably because he had more money to spend. The results are the best album up to this point for him.
A lot of these songs are ‘classics’ although none are probably played anymore. Unfortunately. The songs Now You Can Open Your Eyes, Virgin Mary Candle, Scatterbrain, Love Thang and Fallen Angel were all live staples and ones that I shook my ass to on numerous occasions. They’re all great songs, but Fallen Angel is above the rest. It’s such a perfect and beautiful song. The Bohemian guys sound fantastic on it. The part that really just gets me is the verse that starts “200 miles from Mexico…” MAN! That guitar part totally gives me shivers. It’s simply amazing and the song just melts me. Juliana has a mild vocal part in the song and she’s great as always. The main ‘shiver’ spot on the album is the bridge of Under Your Evergreens, the “You will be mine, I will be yours” part. Awesome is just too weak of a word to describe the impact of these two things.
Most Dah-veed albums are eclectic anyway, but I think this one and Culture Vulture stand out as monumental in their eclecticism. The band happily covers all ground here: Latino ballads, reggae, jazz, funk rock, country, straight pop…it’s all here. Like all great albums, all the material flows wonderfully from track to track. I think at this point the band could pretty much do anything they wanted and it’d all be good stuff. They absolutely succeed here. This album is getting harder and harder to find, but I’ve seen it available online occasionally and you’ll have an even better chance to get it if you’re in Texas or especially Austin. Excellent and classic album.
Rating: 95
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