Citizen Cope - The Clarence Greenwood Recordings

Genre rock Publisher RCA Records External Links Official Website RCA Records

Citizen Cope (AKA Clarence Greenwood) tried mercilessly to blend reggae, blues, rock, and East Coast R&B on his second album, The Clarence Greenwood Recordings - either for fear of being labeled or as a sincere attempt to muddy the waters of genre classification. His true goals are unclear because a little a less than half of the album is stunning while the other tracks require a complete overhaul.

The Clarence Greenwood Recordings opens with "Nite Becomes Day" which utilizes a reggae and funk groove while electronic instruments and a sliding guitar riff fill the rest of the sonic spectrum. Although this musical backdrop is common in contemporary pop, Greenwood succeeds in giving it a unique, honest appeal. Greenwood's lyricism takes on a catchy, reggae and folk feel mixed with a hint of Bob Dylan, "It's the same thing that makes the moonlight / Meet up with the sunlight...We're not immune to addiction or disease / Got violent deaths in our family trees...Love...I'm a say it again." Fortunately, he succeeds in blending these honest confessions with the music and doesn't "say it again" too much as he does in later tracks.

The next track, "Pablo Picasso" follows with a reggae swing beat over a minor piano melody accented by bongos and a slightly overdriven guitar. The lyrics romanticize an obsession with a woman, "The woman that I love / Is forty feet tall / She's a movie star / She's in all the papers." The woman isn't even real and Greenwood, if describing himself, is merely obsessed with the woman's image that is plastered on the city billboard, "They say that a wild man defending his lady / But for some odd reason / They keep calling you a painting." Lyrically and musically "Pablo Picasso" is strong and surreal; though the self-idolization and complacency in the lyricism becomes exponential as the album spins through. The third track, "My Way Home" actually starts during "Pablo Picasso" in a quick, fluid transition. Here, Greenwood seems to be confessing that he's lost his way and through poor poetic verse he let's the listener know that he's "...finding his way home."

The fourth track, "Son's Gonna Rise", features guest lead guitarist Carlos Santana, whose fancy guitar work sets forth imagery of the West Coast, contrary to Citizen Cope's East Coast influenced music. Greenwood's lyrics flow free and fluidly about a woman in a car who is delivering a child. After this track, the album takes a nose-dive into the ground just as Citizen Cope was beginning to expand his eclectic style.

The album's lyrics turn into meaningless rambling repetition, and drawn out self-confessions while the music becomes unoriginal and vague. The music even seems like generic filler that, if it didn't contain lyrics would sound like it was created for the sole purpose of licensing. Citizen Cope tried too hard to declassify himself or he lost sight of what his goals were - either way, this is a failing sophomore release from an artist who's shown promise in past releases and with the confines of this album. It'll be interesting to see if he's corrected himself in his next release or if he'll fall into the same hole again.