CD Review: Peace, Love and Anarchy

Singer/songwriter, humorist, social commentator and minor genius, Todd Snider is, perhaps, a man out of time. His effortless mix of rock, folk, country and blues would not have sounded out of place, say, during the 1965-75 acoustic songwriter-oriented era. Much like his former label boss John Prine, Snider tends to mix words, emotions and the occasional "big thought" all together on his lyrical palette, setting it all down on a musical canvas with broad strokes.

Unfortunately, while Snider's approach might have worked during a time when Dylan-inspired wandering troubadours as musically diverse as Prine, Warren Zevon, Bob Frank, Jackson Browne, Arlo Guthrie and Eric Anderson could successfully record for a major label, these days the bar is set a little higher. You have to move "product" to keep a deal, and Todd Snider is a little too original, a little too eclectic to stick around the majors for long.

During the '90s, Snider recorded three albums for Jimmy Buffet's MCA-distributed boutique label, Margaritaville. Although these albums displayed moments of staggering brilliance (songs like "You Think You No Somebody" or "Rocket Fuel") and great humor ("Alright Guy," "My Generation, Pt. 2"), when Snider's sales failed to exceed his critical acclaim, he found himself out on the street. Those MCA-era albums have been distilled into That Was Me: The Best Of Todd Snider 1994-1998, a fine introduction for those unfamiliar with vintage Todd.

At the dawn of the new century, Snider found a kindred spirit in John Prine and signed with Prine's label, Oh Boy Records. During this decade, we've watched as Snider's art has matured and deepened over the course of three solid studio albums for Oh Boy, and although the acclaim has gotten louder and Snider's audience has gradually increased (albeit at a snail's pace), the artist himself, maybe driven by ambition, decided to leave a comfortable indie home to once again climb onto the lower rungs of the major label game, releasing The Devil You Know in 2006 for Universal's New Door Records imprint.

As such, Snider's Peace, Love And Anarchy is the obligatory departing collection of "rarities, B-sides and demos," culled from his time at Oh Boy Records. Although there are few revelations here -- and sparse liner notes offer little in the way of documentation -- there are a few gems hidden just beneath the surface. An acoustic version of "Nashville," seemingly a demo from Snider's East Nashville Skyline, works perfectly well without full instrumentation, while "Missing You," a demo from 2000's Happy To Be Here, is a little too rough around the edges to fit comfortably.

A talented songwriter with a penchant for clever phrasing, Snider has had several of his songs recorded by other singers, and a few of these are represented by Snider's demo versions of the songs on Peace, Love And Anarchy. Personally, I'd like to see what Snider's longtime musical foil Will Kimbrough could do in the studio with a full band version of "Feel Like I'm Falling In Love," originally recorded by Jack Ingram. Ingram also recorded Snider's "Barbie Doll," a bluesy song that displays Snider's intelligent wordplay. The demo for "Deja Blues," recorded by legendary country outlaw Billy Joe Shaver, is a twangy acoustic number that would also sound good with a full band behind it.

As with any collection of this sort, Peace, Love And Anarchy includes a couple of clunkers in the mix. Snider's cover of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Stoney" is so lifeless that it barely registers, and it sadly includes accompaniment by not one, but two local Nashville journalists -- Peter Cooper and Nicole Keiper. Cooper's fingerprints are also all over "Some Things Are," a decent song and a better performance, but with listing vocals that range from a folkie whisper to a bluesy growl, it's not one of Snider's better moments. Now I don't begrudge Cooper, the Nashville Tennessean newspaper's frontline music journalist, his opportunities as a musician, but as the overall producer for Peace, Love And Anarchy, surely he could have found some Todd Snider songs in the vault that didn't involve his own (unremarkable) performances?

It is with the musical "rarities" and not with the demos, however, that the treasures of Peace, Love And Anarchy are revealed. "Old Friend" is a fine country-flavored duet, of sorts, between Snider and Jack Ingram, with traditional country instrumentation (dobro, mandolin, steel guitar) provided by Peter Holsapple (The dB's). Holsapple also appears on "Combover Blues," a humorous song that should become an anthem for middle aged rockers everywhere. "East Nashville Skyline" is a love letter to Snider's adopted neighborhood that should have been included on the album of the same name, while the mostly spoken-word "From A Roof Top" offers non-natives a bird's-eye view of historic East Nashville.

Closing the album, "Cheatham Street Warehouse" is a full-blown rocker, the kind of highly-personalized story-song that Snider does as well, if not better, than anybody. With a band featuring Tommy Womack on guitar, drummer Craig Wright and pedal steel wizard Lloyd Green, the song is a lo-fi delight, Snider's soulful vocals barely struggling above the mix while the band bashes and crashes with ramshackle delight. Overall, the good and grand here outweighs the simply mediocre, making Peace, Love And Anarchy a solid collection with many songs that will appeal to Snider's loyal fans. For newcomers, however, I'd recommend any one of Snider's Oh Boy albums as the place to start familiarizing yourself with this talented and underrated performer.