I listened to this CD over and over again and I just couldn't get into it. The lyrics weren't anything too thought provoking or deeply profound, just your run-of-the-mill average lyrics about lost love, doubts on your own decisions in life, and mistakes you've made. Besides the lyrics, the music was too dull. It tried to be too complicated, and in the process failed miserably in serving up something that was listenable. The only two songs that are interesting are "Domestic Life" and "Whistlin' Dixie." Both of them keep the instruments to a minimum, keep the pace slow, and keep everything very intimate. The other thing that I didn't like on this disc was the fact that Tom Hall's own vocals couldn't pull off some of his own lyrics with the pace of the music. Like in "Whistlin' Dixie" when he sings, "Just tired of the real world, just bein' a bum," his voice is far too monotone to pull off the emotion needed in the voice to become compatible with the music.

This disc was just too dull and predictable for me to get into. Tom Hall's voice and lyrics were nothing spectacular. The lyrics either couldn't paint a picture of what he was trying to get across, or his voice couldn't paint the picture he was trying to get with the lyrics. I'll give this disc a D-.

Toilet Boys: Toilet Boys

Tom Jones - Live at Caesars Palace: Engelbert Humperdinck - Live at the Riviera, Las Vegas

[Issue Seven // April 1998]