Perfecta

Great Album!

God what an album! This recording has been one of the most cherished possessions I have ever owned, I loaned it out once, after six months of bugging my friend for it's safe return I vowed never to let it go again. From the start Gene Eugene's fascination with Leonard Cohen is obvious in his use of his ex-wife's haunting back up vocals and his poetic expression - "l.c." is his questioning eulogy to Cohen. His lyric writing and cryptic self examination are classically Cohenesc. This album is an intimate glimpse into the soul of a man who has lost everything but his life. The album is the book of Job to music that is unmatched, comparisons to REM flatter Snipes, not Eugene. Eugene's break up with Riki Michele is the fuel to the torching of all he seems to have once valued and enjoyed. He slowly lets his personal tragedy slip out, the story unfolds with each line and song, and soon the whole album has drawn you into his struggle. The stifling pressures of meeting his financial obligations of his recording studio The Green Room (air), the gnawing lonely pain of having happy friends and fans constantly in and out of his home/studio (all you lucky people), his anger, confusion, and sense of loss and mortality are inescapable, powerfully presented, and sobering. All this sorrow is laid at the feet of his Creator in "try not to try" "Try not to try, it's a lesson hard, blind faith will scatter the stars, tonight can be a beginning ... try not to try , it is a sacred art, gripping the slippery stars, tonight can be a beginning" The most haunting point of the album comes in the gentle and comforting final track "don't cry,"Hey LowIt's time to goit's time to say goodbyedon't cryIt's wide and deepand fast asleepand now we say goodbyeand if you could goyou would I knowand if I could stay ...don't cryHis parting instructions proved difficult to follow in the year following as fans learned Eugene died in his sleep of a blood clot in the brain after dismissing himself from a group of friends and going to bed with a headache.

What Darcy, Roos, and Belt said are enough. Plan on having this played at my funeral.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy in American music is how underappreciated and unknown Gene Eugene and Adam Again are. Too Christian for mainstream success and too mainstream for Christian success, they made beautiful music somewhere in between. This CD is in my regular rotation forever, right where it should be. Do yourself a favor and discover this masterpiece.

Gene Eugene was one of the best songwriters ever. Hands down. "Stone" is an all-time favorite.