Jimmy Buffett Album: “Beach House on the Moon”

It's been said that Jimmy Buffett provides an escape for every baby-boomer with a lousy job and credit card bills to face. On this album, he often sounds like just such an animal. Surprisingly void of beach-and-bar songs, this one clearly finds our hero in a landlubber frame of mind. Nonetheless, the Pirate Looking At 53 is still capable of soundbite lyrics like "I got a PBS mind in an MTV world" and, if some of this album's best songs were not written by Buffett (an unusual circumstance for him), his knack for putting his own stamp on others' songs is still in fine form. This is not an every-song-is-a-gem album, but in the age of skip buttons, there's plenty to recommend it.

The sad truth is, several of Buffett's own contributions find him in a holding pattern as a writer, particularly "Math Suks," reportedly a grafitti-inspired title and easily among his least impressive songs ever. (Then again, anyone who recalls the eighth grade could identify!) But Bruce Cockburn's "Pacing the Cage" more than makes up for such shortcomings. A rather flowery statement of uncertainty and isolation, it's a bit outside Buffett's usual deadpan style, but his knowing delivery and the subtle instrumental backing put the song right at home in his canon. In a similar slow-song vein, "Semi-True Story" and "Lucky Stars" find Buffett as close to his country roots as he's been at any time in the past two decades. They also provide a welcome dose of his patented low-key humor, although he didn't write either of them. (The former, featuring a reference to a legendary 1973 parking lot incident involving Buffett, will be a special treat to serious fans.)

Best of all, just when you might think Buffett is relying too heavily on other people's songs, he serves up two bona fide winners. "I Will Play for Gumbo" is the album's most energetic entry, with an accordion-driven Cajun style melody backing up Buffett's quirky declaration of love for the title food, capped by the best couplet he's given us in years: "It's a little like religion and a lot like sex/you should never know when you're gonna get it next." Then there's "I Don't Know and I Don't Care," an announcement of exasperation with 90s style Personal Issues; it strikes me as a gentler version of the Eagles' "Get Over It." As long as Buffett can give us a pair of top-notch songs like these, he'll get decent reviews from me.

I own a lot of Buffet's Cd's and this was a real disappointment, it was like he said it was time for a new album so he thought of all the current cliches and used them to make songs of them. I was very unhappy, the only one that was original Jimmy was "Beach House on the Moon".

Its hard to find any missteps on Jimmy Buffet's musicial career. However, this CD sounds a little tired in spots and overly corny in others. In also contains, Math Suks, probably the most least thoughtful song of Jimmy Buffett's career. To incorporate playground nonsense in a song and crude unrealisitc comments in a beauty paegeant in a song just does not work for me. The title track that opens this recording kind of meanders for nearly seven minutes with the lack of a catchy melody. The second song Permanent Reminder of a Temporary Feeling where it has a catchy melody also procedes at a slow sluggish pace that makes it somewhat forgettable. You Call It Jogging and I Will Play For Gumbo are two of the stronger tracks at least rhythmically. However, creative wise they sound like slightly cheaper re-writes from the Banana Wind sessions. Lucky Stars and Oysters and Pearls are two strong tracks no doubt about it. And it is always nice to here the use of the steel drums on many of the tracks. However,the half baked effort really puts this effort at 2 1/2 stars.

I was very excited about this new CD after the lift I got from Bananna Wind. After listening to this CD one time in my car, on the way home from the record store, I literally tossed it out the window into the bushes along route 78. It was not even good enough to give away to someone else who might have different taste. It was just plain terrible. I will not buy another JB CD without previewing it first. It seems like Jimmy sold out and just cranked this one out to meet a contract commitment or something. Sorry Jimmy, I still love ya, but this CD sucks worse than math.

As a Parrothead, I was excited about Beach House On The Moon. If you're standing at the shelf scratching your head, trying to decide whether to pick this record up, pay close attention to the cover. It is a good clue.

First, you have Jimmy sitting there, and yes, he is on the record. But he seems to just "sit there", with little to no imagination. So goes the music within. Jimmy has been exploring more and more bizarre subject matter of late, likely a product of his recent success as an author. This isn't bad, but it isn't Buffett, either. The album has its encouraging moments, like when the disc hits the introspective "Pacing The Cage", and you think he will get back on track. But then Jimmy falls clumsily with the rather absurd and juvenile "Math Suks". I still love Jimmy Buffett, and maybe I've become "old school" and Jim has sailed to new waters and left me behind clutching my "Boats..." boxed-set. This is an Enhanced CD, and the video footage that Jim includes is fun. The album ends strongly with the short and sweet "Oysters and Pearls", but there is too much filler in between. The song "Permanent Reminder of a Temporary Feeling" is great lyrically, but the melody is tired and strained. Jimmy Buffett has become a full-fledged businessman, and this album almost gives the impression that he is too busy to concentrate on his music. There is no disputing his talent, and there are a few good tracks on this offering. But overall, it is rather forgettable.