Jack Logan: 3Buzz Me In : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Jack Logan became a minor legend a few years ago as the Georgia mechanic who found midlife semi-popularity fronting a rock band. But that kind of cute story doesn't suit him well -- Logan is all about demythologizing life, and on his third solo album, Buzz Me In, he shrinks his already modest universe even further. Where his earlier albums were sprawling affairs that gave a boozy whirl to everything from New Wave pop to lounge jazz, Buzz Me In is more refined and intimate, a diary of the "Ordinary Person" glimpsed in the final song. Violins, trombone and sax add subtle colors to the sparse arrangements, which suggest a back-porch strumming session rather than the roadhouse rambles of Bulk, his 1994 debut. Logan's relaxed voice is confiding but never self-pitying; the art is in the haikulike details as he ponders a noisy ceiling fan ("Hit or Miss") or a sink full of dishes ("Melancholy Girl"). Many of his loner's stories -- "Worldly Possessions," "Diving Deeper" -- are left purposely open-ended and are all the more poignant because of it. (RS 814)

GREG KOT