Ron Sexsmith – Time Being (2006)
purchase this album (Amazon)
This may surprise you, given the periodic glimpses of my personal politics I’ve let seep into what is supposedly music criticism, but I never much cared for Bill Clinton as a president. The main reason for this is probably NAFTA, but many of my friends will tell you not to get me started on NAFTA, so I won’t bore you with the details. It isn’t important anyway. Clinton relates to this post only insofar as his periodic “appearances” on Late Night With Conan O’Brien always cracked my shit up, and how saying “I’m such a dumbass. Everybody hates me” in a lazy Southern drawl is instant comedy gold in my family to this day.
You aren’t sure where I’m going with this, I can tell. It’s cool. Bear with me for a minute.
What I’m trying to tell you here is that I’ve never given a shit about Ron Sexsmith, despite the mountains of critical praise that have been heaped on his music over the last decade and change. I listened to his Interscope debut, thought the Nilsson and McCartney comparisons were bogus, and never went back. I haven’t listened to anything he’s done for probably seven or eight years.
And yet Time Being has officially knocked my socks off. Right off! Seriously. I can’t even find my socks, this record is so good. After I’m finished writing this, I will have to go out and buy new socks.
Which brings me to this: Ron Sexsmith is awesome, and has always been awesome. The problem was me all along.
I’m such a dumbass. Everybody hates me.
This is a dense, finely woven nugget of great pop music, played with a sure hand by an artist who relies on melody over flash, depth over wit, and heart over muscle.
(Yes, I know the heart is a muscle, jackass.)
Anyway, I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Ron Sexsmith for all the bad things I ever said about him. And to tell you that you will enjoy the ever-loving heck out of this album. Start with “Never Give Up” (download) and “Ship of Fools” (download).
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