Notes
Scot Sax - I'm in a Mood Review by Marc Schuster A few months ago, I was driving my car when a DJ came on the radio and said that he'd compiled a list of his favorite songs about motorcycles for his daily "Top Five at Five" segment. The problem, he said, was that he'd only come up with four songs by two in the afternoon, so he called his friend Scot Sax to deliver the fifth. Within a half-hour, Sax wrote and recorded a catchy tune called "Dirt Bike" that dropped casual references to James Brown and Paul McCartney while coming across as a funky if unlikely cross between the music of Kenny Rogers and Prince. Though "Dirt Bike" doesn't appear on Sax's latest CD, I'm in a Mood, the track and the story behind it offer a telling counterpoint to his latest effort. Clearly the man is an extremely talented songwriter and performer, as evidenced by his ability to crank out a slick production like "Dirt Bike" on demand. What's more, anyone who's seen Sax perform live with any number of his bands, has attended his open mic nights, or has participated in one of the songwriting workshops he's conducted to provide music therapy for war veterans would guess that his energy and good humor are boundless. In short, nearly everything Sax does makes the life of a singer-songwriter look easy. With I'm in a Mood, however, he steps away from the happy-go-lucky, mercurial image he's always cultivated for his fans. Doing so gives Sax an opportunity to explore the moments of doubt that plague us all at one time or another. As a result, I'm in a Mood has a very private feel, and listening in on the proceedings gives us an intimate glimpse of the songwriter in some of his most vulnerable-and therefore human-moments. Musically, the opening tracks of I'm in a Mood call to mind a handful of my favorite Bob Dylan albums. The slide-guitar infused "Track 01" harkens back to Nashville Skyline, while bluesy numbers like "Track 02" and "Track 03," bounce playfully between Dylan's 1975 classic Blood on the Tracks and his Blonde on Blonde from nearly a decade earlier. As with all of Dylan's best work, the relatively spare production throughout Sax's latest CD lends itself to a sense of candor and sincerity that only serve to strengthen the sense of intimacy that In a Mood engenders. To put it another way, listening to the CD is like catching Sax playing guitar on his back porch when he thinks no one is looking. It's an honest glimpse of the songwriter at rest. In terms of lyrics, In a Mood finds Sax employing the amusing yet revealing analogies that have always been a hallmark of his songs. In Wilbury-spirited "Get Your Order Right," for example, finding true love hinges on the kind of decisiveness usually reserved for placing an order at a twenty-four-hour diner or getting a haircut. Later, in "I'm in a Mood," Sax directly addresses the tension between his inner doubts and his happy-go-lucky public persona when he sings, "You can remind me I'm a funny guy, but you can eat shit and die when I'm in a mood." Ultimately, it's the honesty of tracks like "I'm in a Mood" in that makes Sax's latest CD so refreshing. In the space of two or three lines, he captures what we all go through from time to time-the desire to be perceived as dirt bike daredevils who have it altogether despite the reality that we're flawed, moody creatures who sometimes prefer to be left alone. I'm in a Mood is the perfect CD for days when you're in your own mood-whatever that mood may be-because it's the kind of music that let's you know you're not alone.
