My family and I always play the “what song will be first?” game when we attend concerts.
I remember seeing Lyle Lovett perform with his Large Band once in Pompano Beach and throwing out a bunch of great guesses only to have him take the stage and launch into ‘Penguins,’ a minor track nestled in the middle of I Love Everybody, itself a collection of odds and ends.
This track, from Lyle Lovett’s 1994 album I Love Everybody, runs two minutes and 20 seconds. It probably took Lovett about 30 seconds more than to write it.
I Love Everybody is half a great album and half a forgettable one. It is made up of songs written before the release of Lovett’s first album, so you’d expect it not to contain his best work, yet it does feature quite a few gems.
Up next in my personal musical genome project is Mr. Lyle Lovett, in honor of my sister, whose birthday is today. (Happy Birthday, Amy!)
Lovett falls into the ‘COUNTRY PLUS’ category. The “plus” is a designation my nerdy family has used for years to differentiate special movies and songs within certain genres from more generic examples. So Woody Allen’s movies, say, are “comedy plus” while your basic Adam Sandler vehicle is a plain old comedy.
I’m more than a little fed up with Lyle Lovett.
Since his 1996 masterpiece, The Road to Ensenada, he has released seven albums, and he doesn’t appear to be trying on any of them. That group includes a soundtrack, a live album and three records dedicated almost exclusively to covers.
The other two albums — My Baby Don’t Tolerate and It’s Not Big It’s Large — have their moments but mostly sound like Lovett is going through the motions, coasting on the reputation he established over his amazing first six records.
Meet Me In Montauk 