Review of True Reflections

By Waldo Jaquith

On Tuesday, June 19th, Boyd Tinsley released his solo album, True Reflections, which is the first solo album by a Dave Matthews Band member. Such creativity and independence should be rewarded, as with any time that a band or its members branches out and tries something new. In the case of True Reflections, however, this is simply not a behavior that should be reinforced.

The only song by Tinsley with which most DMB fans will be familiar is the album's title track, "True Reflections." Although the song is often quite enjoyable in concert, it is not generally praised for its lyrics.

Remember the times you hung with the boys now,

Remember the things you used to say.

I thought by now you'd be the president,

But after all that was yesterday.

You've had time to go out in the world now,

But you've chosen to run away.

When people ask you what your doin' now,

You don't even know what to say.

Find some inspiration,

It's down deep inside of you.

Amend your situation, yeah.

Your whole life is ahead of you.

Your whole life is ahead of you.

Unfortunately, the quality of Tinsley's lyric writing has not improved in the decade since he wrote "True Reflections." Most of the songs' lyrics are simply so uncreative as to be instantly forgettable, but some of them are so bad as to be cringe-worthy. "Perfect World" is the worst offender:

It's not a perfect world,

I don't want to lie.

Sometimes it makes me laugh,

Sometimes it makes me cry.

I'm beginning to wonder why,

I won't tell no lies.

I just don't know why,

No matter how I try,

I wonder why,

I wonder why.

The lyrics are, in short, a wash.

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