Grant Langston: Chinese Fire Drill

Anybody who enjoys quasi-country pop with Bare-Naked-Ladies-caliber lyrics should come to Plush on Friday night because Grant Langston will be accommodating yearning ears. This CD is also available, if the date is already booked on listeners' schedules. The disc starts out promising with "Slice of Misery," though the song aims to please about as many people as Langston could fit into his living room.

Granted, at times listeners can relate to what he is talking about successfully, like in "You Kill Me," when he sings: "You kill me but it's just so romantic to wrap my lips around the knife."

After three or four songs, however, Langston's voice begins to grate because he isn't really talking about anything central to anyone else's life but his own.

Lots of songwriters can do this well, as long as they keep the listener interested in why they are doing it. In "Jumbo's Clown Room," Langston sings about going to a strip club with his friend because, "In the land of cheese and silicon/these girls have a little more."

Langston doesn't try to be earth shattering or life altering or anything he's not. For a career-making album, though, he might want to start looking for inspiration outside of his normal sphere of influence, which appears to be any mirror within view.