Cody ChesnuTT: The Headphone Masterpiece : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

In the course of the thirty-six songs that make up The Headphone Masterpiece, Cody Chesnutt describes himself as a "lunatic with conviction," a broke but ardent lover who's got "a dick full of blood and a wide-open heart to lean on." He's also a new breed of American troubadour. Fluent in the blunt rhetoric of hip-hop and the staccato codes of rock rhythm guitar, Chesnutt has created one of the most emotionally raw albums of the year. The two-disc Headphone Masterpiece, which is homemade and sounds that way, gathers musical strands from all over the pop universe into unadorned, remarkably intimate stream-of-consciousness musings on love, money and responsibility -- some lasting just a few seconds, others full-blown compositions that soar on Chesnutt's gorgeously earnest falsetto vocals. Depending on what track you hit, Chesnutt might be a Beatles worshipper (the lushly harmonized "She's Still Here") or a preacher ("When I Find Time"), a psychedelic voyager on a mission of love ("Can We Teach") or a disciple of Stevie Wonder ("Michelle") who likes to whisper sweet, pleading melodies. It's ragged, sure and messy, too. But then, so's real life.

TOM MOON
(RS 906 - October 3, 2002)