DAVID LOWERY

The Palace Guards

[429 Records/Savoy]

It’s taken San Antonio’s David Lowery nearly three decades to succumb to the urge of recording a solo album, although he was always the dominant creative force in his bands Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker. As it stands, close your eyes and The Palace Guards morphs into a very good Cracker album. The nine songs here veer between country cornpone and blazing rock, with Lowery’s signature wit resonating most on the sardonic “Baby, All Those Girls Meant Nothing to Me”—yeah, Charlie Sheen, this one’s for you—and the sublime stop-and-start title track, which is chock-full of political innuendo. Lowery’s melodic arrangements offer that distinct “Low” tattooed formula that is as comforting as it is familiar. Either way, The Palace Guards fulfills its dual duty as intellectually stimulating and musically entertaining. –Nick Krewen