Tracklisting[]
- Nite Becomes Day
- Pablo Picasso
- My Way Home
- Son's Gonna Rise
- Sideways
- Penitentiary
- Hurricane Waters
- D'Artagnan's Theme
- Bullet and a Target
- Fame
- Deep
Review[]
Citizen Cope, also known as (if you couldn’t have guessed) Clarence Greenwood, returns for his second full-length, and comes up decisively short. Juggling genres, Greenwood sings soulful, nicotine stained ballads backed by a combination of R&B influenced drum machines with just a dash of Latin beats. For the most part, the concentration lies on the raspy Greenwood whose voice lies somewhere between soul-hip-hop and folk-country, has promise, but falls to cliches. His lyrics could be described as very bluesy, though his story writing lacks inspiration. Most of the songs utilize a piano harmony, a drum machine that overlays various Latin beats (congas, etc) and an extremely subtle and lightly plucked acoustic guitar. He can even bust out the occasional guitar solo (see #4). Production is good, in fact it is too good; Greenwood loses what could be some very important natural rawness. Here’s an artist who could receive praise playing one night with the likes of RJD2 and then spend the next day at Bonaroo on paper, but would likely get a poor response at most independent shows where the audience knows the difference between actual and scripted originality. By Mpardaiolo