The Luxury of Time

by

David Mead

Edit

I bought this disc without having had heard a note of it (or having heard of David Mead himself), based on a Washington Post review that my wife gave me to read, which related it as Britpop-sounding music from a Nashville alum. I'm completely unfamiliar with Mead's work with the band Joe, Marc's Brother, so I can't say what the musical leap was from that outfit to his solo debut, but whatever it was, it was good medicine. "The Luxury Of Time" is full of impeccable pop melodies.

Although this record runs dangerously close to being over-produced--it's as slick as an ice rink--I believe the super-clean sound ultimately works in its favor. The record opens with two dynamite midtempo numbers, the ultra-catchy "Robert Bradley's Postcard" and the slightly more sedate "Sweet Sunshine", the latter of which was made for convertible-cruising down open highways. And the beautiful "Breathe You In" is a track that, in a more just world, would have been a thousand lovesick couples' dedication song to one another. Much of the album comprises ballads (especially in the last half of the disc), many of which toe the line of complete schmaltz. The achingly lovely "Landlocked", for example, sounds as if it could have been plucked from a Broadway musical. But the songs are leavened by a wicked, sometimes perverse sense of humor (with a few dirty words) and Mead's wonderful voice. In an age where few new artists seem willing (or able) to write gorgeous, timeless pop melodies without roughing them up with samples and guitar noise for a more contemporary sound, "The Luxury Of Time" stands apart by embracing its tunefulness.

If you appreciate the music of Crowded House, or the post-punk output of XTC and Elvis Costello, then I highly recommend that you take this leap of faith. This is pop music for grown-up tastes, of the sort that hasn't found any airplay in this country since the eighties, and I truly hope it somehow finds its audience.