National Music Reviews
Geoff Westen
I’m Not Crazy
Disturbing Music
Street: 01.06
Geoff Westen = Oingo Boingo + The Cars – David Byrne
Westen is an interesting musician. On one hand, he writes fairly passable pop music with a slight edge (his big claim to fame is having Alice Cooper record a cover of his song “Leather Boots”) and on the other he seems—literally—stuck in the ’80s.
Of course this isn’t always such a bad thing, but by default you are limiting yourself and therefore your audience. I’m Not Crazy’s 10 tunes are fairly interchangeable and therein lies the problem that so many before him have faced: a lack of distinction.
Simply put: there isn’t a “hit” here. Still, the breezy “Partyline” and “The Big Mistake” are passably pleasant. There are two “alternate” versions of previous songs (using a lyric as their titles) which are a tad more interesting since they mix things up a bit. Apparently no one bothered to tell him that the dead man’s party actually ended. –Dean O Hillis