Couples in Trouble
None of Robbie Fulks's previous releases anticipated the range of moods, melodies, approaches, and arrangements on display here, from the traditional balladry of the album-opening "In Bristol Town One Bright Day" through the supper-club elegance of "She Needs You Now." His first CD for his own Boondoggle label defies categorization, though you could plot its ambitions on an axis that extends from the sophistication ofPaul Simon("My Tormentor") and the bite ofElvis Costello("Mad at a Girl," "I've Got to Tell Myself the Truth") through the Southern soul ofLucinda Williams("Real Money") and the industrial clang ofTom Waits("Brenda's New Stepfather"). As the title suggests, love's darker side provides the connecting conceptual thread, with most of the material striking a note of bittersweet maturity rather than the sardonic streak so prevalent in Fulks's earlier work.--Don McLeese