Search - Stuart Davis :: Stuart Davis

More Than Meets The (inward) Eye

R. Hanson | New Bern, NC USA | 06/07/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Would someone tell me, please, how to get Stuart's songs out of my head? I wake up in the morning with "Ladder" looping through my consciousness. I find myself humming the catchy "Savoring Samsara" while working in the shop. And when I do something I shouldn't have done, "Doppleganger!" is my excuse.Through interesting and innovative chord progressions, clever and condensed lyrics, and subject matter that keeps reminding you of your true Source, Stuart has a winner in this, his best engineered recording to date. Even the cool, metallic cover will visually stand out in your collection, begging that the album be played.Reviewers have mentioned that as his career develops, Stuart continues to grow and retain his loyal audience. Too, with this album, one can clearly see Stuart's continuing progression both as an artist and a seeker on the Path. His lyrics suggest that he is tending to turn his attention away from thwacking the soft underbelly of our most taboo subjects - as he has done so well in the past - and more toward his own developing spiritual path as he sheds more and more of his ego (little "self") to find Self. And he's pointing the way for us. (This should come as no surprise to those who read Ken Wilber's new novel, Boomeritis, where Stuart is prominently featured as one of the only `real' characters. One of Stuart's contributions to the book is his own true account of an experience of higher consciousness, and a unique, developing relationship that bordered on Tantric.)Some might think Stuart's lyrics to be simplified. Rather, I would call them "condensed" into the essential message, where less suggests more. Perhaps not surprisingly, this seems to cause some confusion, although it compels the listener to carefully check the lyrics on the liner notes. For example, in "Ladder" he writes, "I've got brains / Like antique floors / I built each one / on the one before / I use all three / But they don't agree." When you realize that he is talking about the Reptilian brain, the Paleomammalian brain and the Neomammalian (neocortex) brain - with all the levels of activity and consciousness that that implies - the song begins to take on a more significant meaning. (See Ken Wilber's "Sex, Ecology, Spirituality", pp. 102-104) But what's this? He sings, "One of them / Wants to love you" (Paleomammalian); "One of them, wants to club you" (Reptilian). But where's mention of the third brain? In Wilber's SES, Jantsch is quoted, "...the neocortex, finally, produces on this substrate as many different poems, tales, novels and plays as there are authors." This song is itself, then, an expression of the third brain. Whoa...so many levels. So is this a song about `evolution?' Absolutely not! Lyrics such as "If Ramana Maharshi / Came from Clay / There's MORE to evolution than a little DNA," and "The higher that we climb / the more the ladder sways" suggest that there are quantum jumps in development that defy the accepted definition of evolution. Stuart asks that we cast off the explanations that science alone might provide, turn our attention inward and ask the big questions.This is why I suggest that there's much more to Stuart's latest work than one might first realize. Listen to Stuart's latest album. Read the works of Ken Wilber (sometimes called "The Einstein of Consciousness.") You'll see that the creative genius of both men are closely interrelated, each expressing the subtle and direct, the sacred and profane, the hard ("Immanence") and the soft ("Invincible") in a wonderful display of `jumping up and down on the wire' of manifestation. But every now and then, if I can force myself to do so, I'll have to hum the theme song from "The Brady Bunch", just for a change."

The charismatic Bodhisattva-Bard of all things seminal!

hunmonk | pittsburgh, pa | 07/10/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You know how it is when someone says "you gotta check this guy out, he's amazing," and you think "yeah, whatever." I've been there and know how you feel...but trust me, YOU GOTTA CHECK THIS GUY OUT! First, Stu knows how to build a soaring pre-chorus and launch into the hook. If you don't find yourself singing along to "Rock Stars and Models," "Doppelganger Body Donor" (OH NO,OH NO!), or "Savoring Samsara" check your pulse. If you like melody you've come to the right cd. He also knows how to use a bridge, often carving out a still and quiet spot to emphasize the lyrics, and also for contrast before diving back into the song. And be prepared for the intensity of the 2 minute blast that is "Immanence." "Everybody wants to taste/a little something carbon-based/sex is proof the Holy Ghost/crawls around in stuff that's gross." Where are ya gonna get lyrics like that? Science, sex, and God all in one couplet. Quintessential Stuart Davis!Which brings us to my second point: Intelligent lyrics about sex, death, God, and the nature of Reality. Like the beautiful vulnerability of "Swim": "The only reason that it's scary getting old/is people treat you like you're too big to hold/and you still feel just like a kid." Or the blissful attachments we carry in "Samsara": I'm savoring samsara/even though the candy's hollow/it's all on my tongue/but there's nothing here to swallow/I know all these flavors/keep me here in hades/but it tastes so good/I keep incarnating." There's metaphor all over the place here too, especially in the "water trilogy" of "Dive," "Swim," and "Drown," which most people seem to think is the strongest part of the disc, the last two tracks being downright haunting. If you like language you've come to the right cd. And lastly this disc is unmistakably intense and present. Part of that is the great production, and part of it is just Stuart Davis. He just has something about him that demands that you pay attention. You will laugh with this cd, long with it, soar with it, and love with it. It's fun, beautiful, moving, spiritual, and it rocks out! Mostly is reminds us of who we really are, and that's an incomprehensibly wonderful thing. It is indeed true that "Stuart Davis is the best songwriter you've never heard of." I haven't felt like this about an artist or a cd since I first heard Purple Rain. If you are always looking to find that great new artist, congratulations, you just found him!"

Stuart's best album? Hard to say...

hess42 | 05/07/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I heard Stuart Davis for the first time in September of 2000. Since then I've seen him in concert 5 times and picked up all his albums. He's the best live performer I've ever seen, but while I've liked all the studio albums, the only one I felt really caught up to his live performance was Nomen Est Numen.Enter the new album, Stuart Davis. To me, this one truly captures the multifaceted nature of his music and performance. Songs about god, death and sex, with water as a metaphor for all three. A deliciously pop sound in Rock Stars and Models (perhaps the only one of his songs you can imagine hearing in heavy radio rotation)...but for me, the real masterpieces of this album are Dresden, Ladder, and the final three tracks, Dive, Swim and Drown. After this many albums, most musicians have lost something, or changed in a way that makes their new work unpalatable to existing fans. The nice thing about Stuart is that you can see the changes throughout his work, but from what I've seen from the fans who have been followers of the Punk Monk longer than I have, this evolution of his music has brough his fans along with him rather than leaving them behind. Not many artists in any form can say the same."