Pros: "Brilliant" and "clever" don't even begin to describe this man's lyrics.
Cons: You'll get your toes stepped on. Musically a little off-kilter at times.
The Bottom Line: If you thought his lyrical contributions to other bands like the Newsboys were great, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Squint is a true work of genius.
Alright, I've got to get this out of my system. Steve Taylor is perhaps the most clever and ingenious songwriter in Christian music ever. Every time his name comes up in any other review that I'm working on, I have this irresistible urge to stop and pay homage. And most of my readers are probably wondering, "Who is this Steve Taylor guy and why does divad23 think he's so darn cool?" Squint, Taylor's alternative rock opus released in 1993, is my final answer to that question.
Back when I was a wee lad and I first got into Christian music, I had heard Steve Taylor's influence on bands like the Newsboys without knowing it. His lyrics tended to be witty, and his production strived to balance out the inherent "pop-ness" of most of the supposed "alternative" Christian bands of the time with something a little more quirky. I was a bit intimidated by Steve Taylor's solo work at first, being observant enough to notice that one of the songs on Squint was called "Jesus Is for Losers". I figured he couldn't be mocking Christ on a Christian album, but I was still a bit put off. (I hadn't learned to appreciate the value of irony and self-deprecation in music just yet.) I had seen his music video for "Bannerman", a silly little song about the guy who holds up the "John 3:16 banners" at football games, but it struck me mostly as weird. Then one morning I caught another of Taylor's videos - the aforementioned "Losers" song, and the meaning behind the title hit me over the head like a ton of bricks. Pretty funny, I thought to myself, and at church that day, I made sure to borrow my youth pastor's copy of Squint. Needless to say, I was unprepared for the amount of good stuff that would be packed into the album. But I was hooked, and now, seven years later, Squint remains in my memory as one of the most intriguing, intelligent, and challenging Christian rock records of all time.
As usual, I now face the daunting task of backing up that claim…
The Lament of Desmond R.G. Underwood-Frederick IV I was starting to track with my inner guide, I was getting in touch with my feminine side, but when the doctor starts whistling "Happy Trails", tends to take a bit of wind out of the old sails…
Phew, what a title! One of the first things you’ll learn about Steve Taylor is that he has a penchant for the ridiculous. This song is built mostly on a hooky guitar riff and a bouncy rhythm, sort of like an attempt at taking a Nirvana song and making it deceptively happy. Taylor sings from the point of view of a man who suddenly finds out from his doctor (and a rather insensitive one at that) that he is about to die. Suddenly, this accomplished individual who apparently has lots of money and free time to get in touch with his inner self is faced with his stubborn agnosticism. It’s a refreshing change from the old-school Christian rock approach that uses nothing close to subtlety in saying, “You better accept Jesus before you die and go to Hell.” Here Taylor is simply affirming (in a very twisted an whimsical tone) how important the idea of God suddenly becomes when we realize there aren’t too many grains of sand left in the old hourglass. Freddy, get ready to meet your maker, as it were.
Bannerman Sports fans everywhere dying for a drink, but they've gotta find the well first…
Definitely the most popular song from this album (likely due to it being the least threatening or confusing), this happy little tune starts out with an amusing little sequence of acapella vocals before Taylor’s alternative sensibilities kick in. The song overall is still pretty poppy and fun to sing along to… if you can get all the words down. As I mentioned above, it’s a playful tribute to that guy who seems to be present at every football game with the John 3:16 banner. Steve Taylor mentioned that though he thought it was kinda cheesy, he had to appreciate the guy’s tenacity. Interestingly, most people who see the banner already know roughly what John 3:16 says, and Taylor appreciates this because it’s an uplifting message of salvation being put across, and not a message of hellfire and brimstone. You have to love that he rhymes “thermos” with “epidermis” in one of the verses as he describes this poor guy freezing his watusi off at a sporting event but still sitting there waiting for the chance to raise his banner. Amusing little song.
Smug All you smug-starved millions in the thick of the search, welcome to our church, whatcha wanna solve?
We can help you evolve from merely self-righteous to perfectly smug.
So far, the first track has been more of a challenge to non-Christians and the second track has been fairly non-challenging. That’s about to change – most of Taylor’s focus is on the rampant hypocrisy within the church, and never have I seen it more aptly described that within this song. Carried along on a strong drum cadence, a wonderful Edge-style guitar lick, and a rapid-fire chorus, this song has all the ingredients to get you humming along until you realize that this punchy little tune is getting all up in your face about self-righteousness. Steve Taylor handles this with an extreme dose of sarcasm, taking the point of view of a “smug” Christian who is giving less mature Christians instructions on how to attain righteousness and other symbols of power. Some of the key steps to becoming smug are as follows: “Swallow your convictions.” “Pretend you’re in a band.” “Strike the proud pose of our country club brethren.” You get the idea. Taylor isn’t afraid to make little jabs at pop culture icons, either, revealing the ingredients for smug-ness as “One part Master Limbaugh, two parts Madame Streisand”, and later stating, “We love being politically Koreshed.” Ouch. The best part has to be the creepy voice as the song fades out, grumbling and growling about righteousness: “I’m good! I’m humble! I’m better than you!” You get the idea.
Jesus Is for Losers They don't grade here on the curve, we both know what we deserve…
You wouldn’t expect it from the title, but this tune is a more serious follow-up to “Smug”, cutting all of us who think we are holier than others down to size. The music backs off a little to allow Taylor’s gritty voice and pointed lyrics to shine, opting for lighter drums and moodier guitars as a backdrop. Here Taylor describes how he’s basically way off course on the search for righteousness, and he isn’t accepted by God for anything he did, but rather because of “Grace from the blood of a tree.” The song is very disarming – a no-fluff presentation of the state of humanity, and on the topic of grace, he asserts that “The self-made need not apply”. This approach may seem brutal and even offensive to some Christians (It ain’t the first time Taylor’s raised some eyebrows with a song, and it ain’t gonna be the last), but remember one of the standout lines of nearly everyone’s favorite hymn: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me”, and you’ll get the idea.
The Finish Line The vision came, he saw the odds, a hundred little gods on a gilded wheel. "These will vie to take your place, but Father, by your grace I will never kneel."
Here Steve Taylor takes on a traditional analogy – the life of the Christian as a runner in a difficult race requiring lots of endurance – and he runs with it (pun intended). It starts off as a slow, swirling rock ballad and builds from there, describing the runner’s initial conversion experience and the joy and dedication that follows, only for him to get dragged down as time goes on, finding that “every strong conviction comes tumbling down”. Though very inspiring, the poetry here is less than pretty: “Malice rains, the acid guile is sucking at your shoes while the mud is flesh/It floods the trail and leaves you dry as every little god buys its pound of flesh.” The boy starts to fail miserably as he becomes drenched in sins and broken promises, and Steve Taylor is brave enough to insist that this happens to us all, but most of us are “locked in the washroom turning old tricks, deaf and joyous and full of it” – in other words, trying to pretend we’re not as messed up as the struggling person we look down upon. The ending is dramatic without being bombastic as the boy finally collapses at the finish line, and it makes the story much more compelling than the typical song written to encourage the struggling Christian. This song is a definite highlight of Taylor’s career.
The Moshing Floor All you baby boomers, feigning dismay, you hired the nanny, you faked her resume…
Appropriate to the title, this song kicks in with a little feedback, and proves to be a gritty, bumping and grinding alt-rock song meant for rowdy audiences (at least, by early 90’s standards). As is the case with most of the album’s back half, the meaning isn’t as easy to get in this song, and Taylor’s descriptions of the modern music scene are esoteric at best, but I think he’s making a jab at the judgmental adults who think rock music is inherently sinful simply because of the things they see rowdy young people doing to each other at concerts and so forth. “What you blaming me for? I’m just the soundtrack,” Taylor interjects. However, he also seems to be poking fun at Christian bands who have little purpose other than to be rowdy and make noise, so the overall message seems to be that our kids are being taught conflicting things and we need to take more responsibility for our actions instead of simply shunning anything that has to do with their “alternative” culture.
Easy Listening Color me old-fashioned, but I still remember when, the sermons were affirming, 'cause the Lord liked us better then, it's 2044 and I don't want to be my brother's keeper no more…
This track probably annoyed a lot of people, but I think it’s a blast. Steve Taylor’s vocals turn strangely Caribbean in this bizarre stutter of a song that sounds something like constipated reggae. He portrays the point of view of an old geezer in the mid-21st century, complaining about how things aren’t like they were in the old days when the church wasn’t constantly examining its problems and was content to be stuck-up and self-righteous. “Why do you young hotheads have to go and get caught up in a radical phase?” It’s a humorous track akin to “Smug”, if a little less accessible at first (and the vocals can still be a bit hard to understand even after you know all the words). Taylor might even be making a jab at the overly soft and non-threatening nature of most of Christian radio near the end of the song – “I’m okay, you’re okay, we’re okay, so/I think I’m gonna by my own radio show/Spread the good news and the Barry Manilow/Happy talk, no rock, non-stop easy listening.” It’s no mystery that Taylor’s frustrated with his own society, and I’m assuming that this is what led him to form Squint Records in 1997, which has cultivated culturally relevant Christian bands such as Sixpence None the Richer, Chevelle, and Burlap to Cashmere. But we’re still stuck in 1993 right now…
Curses Ignorance or apathy, which way? "We don't know and we don't care," they say…
This tune is (thankfully to some) a more traditional alt-rock tune, floating on dark, moody guitars and half-there vocals but exploding into a strong chorus when appropriate. The main focus of this song seems to be generational curses, most likely dealing with absentee fathers, which is a theme that hits close to home for me. Taylor describes a barren landscape in which mothers and children are left to fend for themselves while the uncaring fathers wander the earth. Or is this a message about hospitality and the church’s inability to properly care for the hurting world around them? Taylor is just vague enough here to keep you guessing…
Sock Heaven Seven good years, followed by a feeling I'd hit the glass ceiling, maybe I'd best disappear. Pick any market, pick a straitjacket, if you can't act it, misfit, you don't belong here…
This is a very bizarre track, resting on a solid beat, but built on a mangled mess of programming, slide guitars, bass, and odd sound effects that would make Radiohead proud. Apparently Taylor got frustrated one day with that ever-present problem of socks losing their mates in the wash, and decided to write a song about what happens to those missing socks. Behind it all seems to lie Taylor’s uncertainty about his career – he knows he doesn’t completely fit into to happy little box that most people think of when they think “Christian music”. But it required a lot of digging to figure this out (okay, I asked a friend who’s been a fan of Taylor’s for a lot longer than I have). I still don’t quite understand how some of the lyrics fit in, but maybe it’s just Taylor’s stream of thoughts. What stands out in my mind are the following lines: “And every day that we died just a little more/I was sure you were sovereignly watching us dangle/I don't get it now, but I'll get it when/In sock heaven I see it all from your angle.” Bizarre but reverent. You gotta love it. I believe that Ashley Cleveland sang backup on this one, but I’m not 100% sure.
Cash Cow (A Rock Opera in Three Small Acts) Woe to you, proud mortal, secure in your modest digs! You think you're immune? You, who couldn't finger said cow in a police line-up with the three little pigs?
Okay, if you thought that was weird, then prepare yourself for the rock opera. The “three acts” part is actually a bit misleading – the first act is no more than some strange voices singing “Move in closer to the middle of the frame”, and then the second act begins, which comprises the meat of the song. A slow, sad dirge begins, over which Taylor begins to narrate a scene from Israel’s history – taking enough poetic license, of course, to weave in whatever pop culture references he sees fit. He describes an evil idol – the Cash Cow, that “rose from the gold of the children of Israel (and most of the adults)” to consume their attention and become an unholy fixation in their every day lives. Sound familiar? As the pace quickens and Taylor’s narrative gets more and more edgy, it becomes almost like one of those horror stories that kids tell around the campfire, in which people are consumed by lust and greed. “Cash Cow, master of disguises! Who’s gonna change shape at will? Who’s the eye on the pyramid on the back of the dollar bill?” Throw in the voices of a few crazed victims who have already been licked by the Cash Cow, and a little maniacal laughter for good measure, and you’ve got the makings of a seething analogy linking the Israelites and their golden calf to modern day society. As everything comes to a screeching halt and the music dies down, you are left with a pointless “intermission” that lasts for fifteen seconds or so, and then act three, which is just a fun little guitar solo, Taylor’s version of a hidden track. It’s not exactly the calm worship ballad that a lot of Christian rocks albums feel the need to end with, now is it?
I’ll admit, this album isn’t for the faint of heart, the Christians who just want to hear how Jesus makes everything happy in the world. And in all fairness, the music gets a bit weird and Taylor’s gritty voice isn’t for everyone. However, if you like intelligent Christian rock and you haven’t unearthed this classic, you should make an attempt to dig it up somewhere, or at least read the lyrics. But wear good shoes. You might just get your toes stepped on.
TRACK REVIEW SUMMARY Excellent: The Finish Line, Smug, Jesus Is for Losers, The Lament of Desmond R.G. Underwood-Frederick IV
Good: The Moshing Floor, Bannerman, Cash Cow, Easy Listening
Decent: Curses, Sock Heaven
Weak: NONE
Skippable: NONE
Website: http://www.sockheaven.org
Steve’s record label: http://www.squinterland.com
Great Music to Play While: Preparing your Sunday sermon on how to be smug.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.