Airstream

David Wilcox belongs alongside rare songwriting talents like Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Cole Porter. His latest CD "Airstream" features fourteen new songs with edgy power and lyrical depth. He gets beguiling sounds using open tunings while abandoning back-up singers and drums and flutes; indeed, the entire album is David and guitar, and it's miraculous how he achieves catchy, toe-tapping rhythms and a melodic, creamy-rich sound with only six strings and one voice. He examines storms and stars with incredible intensity and sees relations ordinary folk miss, and sculpts these into emotional tour-de-force numbers which explore life. In "Perfect Storm", he leaves a cave's safety and walks outside to feel the frightening lightning -- an unexpected but powerful metaphor which captures the jolting thrill of life. In "Forever Now", a faded picture shows a young boy and girl under a boardwalk and David sees eternity in those smiles. He uses super-metaphors to great effect: how pursuing love is like navigating a boat -- the sunny sky (like love) confuses us, but the nighttime stars emerge to help us navigate -- that's why "we see best at night" he sings. In another, a "little white lie" is like a lethal drug pouch being smuggled through customs until it explodes in the gut. That several songs explore the breakdown of politics and needless religious conflict suggest he's in tune with the times and willing to explore topics many singers won't. His voice is deeper, sadder, fuller, more knowing than his previous work. New generations of listeners, bored with pop culture fluff, are tuning in to masters like Wilcox and exploring his music with the help of websites like YouTube. "Airstream" rivals his best CD "How Did You Find Me Here" in intensity and feeling. Buy this album! Every song is great! You'll love it! Five stars!!!!!

Wilcox has done it again. If you are a fan, you'll be especially pleased. If you're new to Mr. Wilcox's expert talents, you are in for a real treat. He melds original songs with wonderful guitarsman-ship - and his lyrics, as usual, pull together humor, wit, wisdom, and psycho-spiritual depth. This is another great album to add to your collection.

AIRSTREAM is an excellent album. FIVE STARS!!!! If you like David Wilcox, you will love this CD!

On his latest album, Airstream, David Wilcox takes a path that is at once more outwardly focused and introspective in its subject matter than his previous offerings. While this may seem paradoxical, songs such as "Three Brothers", "Plain View", "To Love" and "Falling For It" treat big topics such as conflict between religious faiths, global perspectives and the trap of war while "Forever Now", "Little White Lie" and "Never Change" are undeniably interior in their focus as if the singer/songwriter found himself drawn to the big issues of the day and while confronting them found it necessary to take refuge within his own thoughts and experiences.

Another thread that seems to run through the album is a melancholy tone that seems to inhabit many of the lyrics and almost all of the music. To me, there is a somewhat less hope than usually finds on a David Wilcox album (or perhaps its more subtly given) though I didn't find that this detracted from the album. Also, the narratively themed songs usually found have been replaced by songs either about issues or lessons learned. All of this makes for an album that, while similar to other albums, is different in its feel.

For me there were some really great tunes melodically in addition to those listed above such as "Perfect Storm" (my favorite tune off the album right now), the tongue-in-cheek "Reaper Sweepstakes" (which has been a concert favorite for a while now), the insightful "No Telling Where" and the wonderfully sentimental "This Old Car".

What hasn't changed is Dave's thoughtful lyrics, his beautiful musical craftsmanship and his strong sense of journey and discovery. This isn't an album you'll play while bopping around the house or driving around town but rather one you'll want to put on in the quiet moments or on a rainy day better suited for thought than activity. For these times, I can't think of a better companion that these snapshots from Dave.