Greg Brown
Milk of the Moon
Red House Records CD 168

by Bonny Holder

One of the things I love about Greg Brown, and I have been a long time listener, is that throughout his 30-year career he has always been true to himselves.

His newest CD, Milk of the Moon, is a fine illustration of his multiple personalities. Let me illustrate this first with a non-musical observation. Greg Brown is a hunk. I mean he's a big, fit, handsome, sexy guy. I am not the first person to notice it! And he's past the years where this sort of physical attractiveness can be a simple yeah-I-guess-women-like-me-for-some-reason kind of shoulder-shrugging detail. So kudos to Muscular Greg who, in live performance, gives the audience something to look at as well as listen to. I admire fit and trim people, not being one myself.

But get online and look up some photos of Greg Brown. More often than not, he's wearing a dopey-looking hat, or the picture is just a tad out of focus, or there is some other indication that he is unconcerned about his image. But what about those muscle tanks he wears onstage? One wonders, "Hmm, as if Gwen Stefani was photographed wearing a baggy orange jumpsuit to prove somehow that her looks are irrelevant..." There's something a bit off-kilter about the congruity.

Greg gets rave, rave reviews for his performances in hundreds of venues where relatively few reviewers hear him, yet when he opens at Town Hall in New York, he is criticized as being lackluster and, well, boring. For thirty years he has written songs so sexual in nature that, by intermission time, there was not a dry seat in the house. And what was his persona during his long tenure on "Prairie Home Companion"? Good Midwestern Daddy.

The amazing thing is that all these aspects of Greg Brown are real. Making no excuses for his lack of a single, graspable personality is what makes the prolific, respected, songwriter so consistently engrossing.

This is at least Greg's 16th CD, and that is only on Red House Records, and doesn't include his breathtaking Over and Under released last year on Trailer Records (www.trailer-records.com), nor any of his contributions to several tribute and benefit CDs, not to mention some old vinyl that one or two of us still have in our collections.

Here's the menu for Milk of the Moon:

The album opens with "Lull It By," a stark and lovely ballad clearly sung and accompanied by a solo banjo. This is my favorite song persona ­ Intimate Greg.

"A Little Excited" comes next, with its honkytonk basement tapes sound. Hopeful Greg. "I'm a Midwest boy/ I'm a big dumb man/but I get a little excited/...when you come around."

"Let Me Be Your Gigolo," "we can crawl in the hidey hole," is Horny Greg. The vocal is fuzzy and the lyrics give new meaning to the terms "speak in tongues and lay on hands." Life is short, but I am tall, Brown announces brazenly to the world.

"Smell of Coffee," with its acoustic guitar sound, is Empathetic Greg sketching us a picture of lonesome working people that could be illustrated by many a rural MacDonald's ad. "Work is there when love is gone, the smell of coffee, crack of dawn."

"Milk of the Moon," the title song, is the Angel-of-the-Morning Greg, a lover with his thumb in his mouth, under the quilts, musing on the silkiness of womanhood. "Mud." Sex in the great outdoors! It's Earthy Greg.

"Ashamed of Our Love" is an interesting followup to "Mud." Karen Savoca sings background, and there is a clavinet in the band. Who is this? Puzzled Greg. "Steady Love" revels in hominess, with a boppy roller-skating organ and lyrics about what a good thing routine can be. It's Happy Greg!

Scary Greg is present in "The Moon is Never Full," with its Tom Waits-ish, low, booming bass. Folky Greg takes over in "Telling Stories," a circular song about peoples' primal need to sit around fires and spread their lore. "Never So Far" is the Richard Thompson Greg, presenting a romantic ballad of longing.

And the CD wraps up with "Oh You," a song perhaps for a daughter or sister. Endearing Greg.

Milk of the Moon is a good collection of good songs presented in a challenging order. While I would like to hear more Mean Greg, more Dangerous Greg, and more Pissed-off Greg, this will do for now. Brown's life is a work-in-progress and you, the listener, can jump in at any time.

Greg Brown's website is www.GregBrown.org and Red House Records is at www.RedHouseRecords.com


You can contact Bonny Holder at bonny-at-rockzilla.net

 
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