John Popper: Zygote : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

With hits like "Run-Around" and "Hook," Blues Traveler have concentrated more accessible flair than most of their jammy brethren; on their 1996 concert album, Live From the Fall, they barreled their way into not only Beck's "Loser" but also "The Inch Worm," a tender song popularized by the celebrated rocker Danny Kaye. For all this, fans may thank John Popper, Blues Traveler's large leader, who clearly believes that pop music is a place to express oneself fully, even at the risk of seeming like a complete flake.

Zygote, his solo debut, recorded with a band that includes Dave Matthews' drummer, Carter Beauford, and most of an outfit named Cycomotogoat, is a doozy in that regard: It's a singer-songwriter album done from a neoboogie point of view. It opens with "Miserable Bastard," a super track whose guitar riff is so frisky, you don't mind it going on forever. Popper portrays a murderer on "Bastard"; on other tunes, he's a fouled-up lover dreaming of Audrey Hepburn, a 7-Eleven philosopher proud to be "Growing in Dirt," a vaguely Nick Cave-style cabaret singer, someone who remembers Jesus Christ Superstar fondly. Popper is, as he sings, in love with "His Own Ideas." The album, it must be said, is weird as all hell; effecting a finale worthy of Pere Ubu's David Thomas, Popper ends it on "Fledgling," wherein he coaches a young bird about life. But the production, by roots vet Terry Manning, just sings, and as a singer-songwriter, Popper eats cliches for breakfast. (RS 821)

JAMES HUNTER