All Understood

Musically, this is a middle-of-the-road adult alternative pop/rock album. The mostly midtempo songs are reasonably well crafted and tuneful, and Jay Buchanan puts a lot of gusto into his vocal performances (although sometimes he would benefit from greater subtlety), although the music doesn't have a lot of edge. Lyrically, this album is more idiosyncratic. It's not unusual that Buchanan (who wrote all the songs except for co-writing "Last Thing You Need" with guitarist Ty Stewart) deals with topics such as relationships and life's expectations, or that he is occasionally willing to use a conventional turn of phrase (e.g., "My whole world gets hazy, just thinking about you"). But he does get a little bit out there at times. "Out in the desert," Buchanan notes in "Satan Is a Woman," "they have metaphetamines and killing." "American Son" appears to be a statement about violence and religious intolerance in our society ("You teach your boy how to hold a gun/You think your God is the only one"), although the lyrics abruptly take an unexpected turn ("She's so skinny, so sick and pretty/But if I can't have a girl like that, then I don't want any"), which suggests that either Buchanan is broadening his social critique to encompass women's body images or else has a short attention span; then the lyrics shift again to address another aspect of our society ("With your excess, success, critique more, and appreciate less"), before summing up the problem with observations about the animal kingdom ("You know the pigs can make their promises, and the chickens they just cluck/But when the rooster wakes up in the ramp, they all know it's time to f*ck"). This isn't exactly trenchant protest music, but at least it seems spirited. ~ Todd Kristel