One listen to the first track on David Lykin’s new disc and you get the dreaded feeling that this dude is going to blast his big message at you for the rest of the time it takes to hear the other tunes. “Houston” is big, with the sort of corny all-American flag waving mentality underneath that you can’t quite shake. And Lykins’ voice is booming, making sure you hear it and the messages it has to deliver. “Greetings from the Riviera” is wordy to the point of being distracting – I get that Lykins is going for the singer-songwriter thing here, but his story on this song just isn’t that compelling. So Lykins has stories to tell in his acoustic/rustic/country sort of way, but unfortunately his tales and tunes all start sounding the same fast. “Good News” could be “I’ve Been in Love Before” and vice-versa. “Here’s Your Love Song” is a pretty good classic country weeper and “Day After Valentine” is classic country corn. Undoubtedly Lykins has a good number of fans already. After all, there’s always an audience for this sort of thing. In that essence, Blurry White Guy should be a rousing success. (self-released)
