With the album's opening words, "He's always giving you free advice / Of ways you can avoid telling him no" (from "Are You the Trash"), Mark Eitzel sets the tone for all that follows. This is Eitzel's music at its best, stripped down to its essential sadness, dominated by the echoing of his acoustic guitar and bourbon-soaked vocals. Even the beautiful accompaniments--from Kid Congo Powers, Yo La Tengo's James McNew, and Sonic Youth's Steve Shelly--that grace 5 of the album's 11 tracks are beautifully, if not painstakingly, understated. Possibly no other living songwriter can mix passion and resignation so powerfully without even a hint of self pity. This is poetry from the corner of the bar--from the man sitting alone watching everyone else's misery--all told with grace, humility and a touch of black humor. --Bill Snyder
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