AMG Review of Clarence Greenwood Recordings

David Jeffries
All Music Guide

When a singer/songwriter fights the big record label -- in this case Dreamworks -- because the label doesn't understand the artist's vision, then buys back a record so he can find someone else who cares enough to release it, it's admirable and has a "this must be good" allure for sure. One listen to The Clarence Greenwood Recordings and you might have a guess at why Dreamworks said "no." It's a wandering album, one that Greenwood's fan base can connect with, but more difficult for everyone else. The timely "people wanna bomb us" number, "Bullet and a Target," is the album's centerpiece single; it presents a shock-value laundry list of depressing situations, Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" for the Dave Matthews generation. Elsewhere a vagrant falls in deep love with a billboard and D'Artagnan meets his match. From there it gets more undecipherable, but it's a record he fought hard for and his fans will love trying to figure it all out.