Consumer Guide Album

Lyle Lovett: I Love Everybody [Curb/MCA, 1994]
What his claque cheered as wit, wisdom, and soul I suspected of meanness, pretension, and bald (ha ha) expropriation, but now that he's gone Hollywood, I enjoy his smarts and sound. Right, there is the character who killed his grandma for her gold tooth la-dee-dah. But whether he's flattering penguins, flirting fruitlessly with waitresses and record ladies, getting Dr. King's picture out of South Carolina, or nailing the limits of somebody else's soulful sincerity, he keeps it sprightly. This is pop, where clever gets you further than wise. B+