THE CD: Lost In America (Vanguard)
PERFORMER: Edwin McCain
WEBSITE: Right about here.
BEST SONGS: “Gramercy Park Hotel,” “My Mystery”
LISTEN: here

When I first listened to Edwin McCain’s new CD “Lost In America” I must have been in a bad mood or something. I was reviewing McCain’s seventh release, having never heard him. His mix (maybe overproduced) of rock, folk, blues and country seemed bland to me; I was comparing it to stuff you’d hear on 93.3 K-Love. You know what I mean.

“Gramercy Park Hotel,” the first single, opens the CD and is a good alt-rock song. It’s a perfect example of the duality of McCain’s songs: at once catchy and inviting, the next moment you feel like you’re in an elevator or something, listening to the theme music from “Friends.”

The title track, a tongue-in-cheek American anthem, features another fairly dated production technique: singing through lo-fi effects. YEAH, like you hear on all those K-Love commercials! Escalades and prosthetic surgery are the new apple pie and Chevrolet, so McCain sings:

Yes we’re lost in america/in this land we’re so proud of/we got the cars, the girls, the money, the drugs/to get you out of your rut.

“My Mystery” is probably the most rockin’ song on the CD, along with the closer, “Babylon” — another good tune.

One thing I noticed was how many fade-outs there are on the CD. I thought that was more of a couple-of-decades-ago thing.

Yeah so, I think I owe this guy an apology for the K-Love reference. I rushed to judgment on that one. He’s a good songwriter with a kind down-home quality, and the band is good. It just seems a little too radio-friendly, not really my cup of tea.

Threaten your mother’s life or something on your CD. Now, that’s entertainment!

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