CD REVIEW: Larry O. Dean "Throw the Lions to the Christians!"

Larry O. Dean  "Throw the Lions to the Christians!"

I’m not going to lie- I’m not the biggest fan of country or western.    I can listen to a few select musicians here and there known to the world as country for lack of a better word, but on the whole, I would say that I do not like the genre.   In fact, I usually tell people I’ll listen to Johnny Cash, George Jones, Willie Nelson and Robert Ellis, but not much else in terms of country. 

So now I put on this album titled “Throw the Lions to the Christians!” which is somewhat of a funny title to me, and I find the musical style of Larry O. Dean to not be that of just country and western but this is some straight up honky tonk sounding music right here.    This is country, but it crosses a country line for me that really makes me not enjoy the musical side of it.

The only reason I kept listening to this album is not for the musical value of it but rather because of the lyrics.     The song “Well-Ordered Day”, for example, is about how this guy has nothing to really complain about today.     Now, correct me if I’m wrong here, but I thought that country music and the blues were supposed to be sad.    If you don’t have anything worth complaining about, then perhaps you should become a pop artist.  I don’t know if being a happy country star will get you over with the country listeners.  

I’d go so far as to compare the song “Well-Ordered Day” to the Ice Cube song about having a good day as well.   I mean, if a once member of N.W.A. can rap the line “I’ve gotta say it was a good day” then perhaps a country artist should be allowed to do the same.    While it’s a fair argument, the one thing you have to consider is that Larry O. Dean is no Ice Cube.   I can’t tell Ice Cube what to rap about because he’ll either shoot me or put me in a lousy Barber Shop sequel.    I can critique Larry O. Dean a bit more harshly though because all he’ll probably do is write a crappy song about it if he takes any real action.

Furthermore, we must remember that Larry O. Dean is not the Ice Cube of country because he has a song called “Nose Job” that is about- you guessed it- getting a nose job.   He actually sings about how his friend got a nose job and how he thinks it makes him look better, but Mr. Larry O. Dean (Please, Mr. was my father) he thinks he’d rather stay ugly than go to the doctors for that.    While I don’t disagree with his views on plastic surgery, I do think it’s kind of a strange subject (and delivery) for a song to be sung by… well, anyone.    These are the types of things I write about in music and wish I was just making up as some cruel joke between the reader and myself.   But, no, sadly this is all too real and I am now that much worse off for having listened to it.