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CD REVIEW: Clowns of God - Suburban Dreaming
By Ben Ohmart - 05/21/2007 - 10:34 AM EDT

Artist: Band: Clowns of God
Genre: Folk
CD Review:
Have you ever heard Neil Innes? (I think that's how you spell it.) He was the guy who did the music for Monty Python and the Holy Grail, as well as interspersing his songs for Python's live shows while the comic boys toweled down in the back. Well, it's the live Neil that these Clowns remind me of. Especially lead voice Darcy Moore who is pretty much all of God here. He arranged, wrote, programmed, played, took photographs and graphically laid out what you see and hear before you. He's not a singer. And alas, he is a victim of the ever-decreasing cash flow problem so typical in the world of song and life. To that end, this is a songwriter's cd, not really a listener's. It's a demo to be thrust into the world of terrible musical politics, hoping to be noticed and have some feedback fed back into the composer, hoping for more than 'that's nice'.

It's difficult to review the just songs and not the total production. Well, for me it is after all these years. I admire the Clowns' spirit, lyrical content and humor more than the rest of it. The best song might be the opening 'So Good' just because of the way Darcy rearranges his throat between SO and GOOD. And then there're the lyrics from 'Behind Closed Doors' explaining 'I'm just a house in an ordinary street / With ordinary people that you're sure to meet / They stare at the sky they watch the trees / From their windows as they weave pirate tapestries.'

A 70+ minute cd of life everyone lives, shot out in a way most people would sound if they had a keyboard and a friend who plays drums. From a songwriting perspective, I like. I don't love. Not yet. But I think the Clowns of God are on their way. Some gigs, some feedback, some cash. They'll make it yet.


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