Beaver Nelson
Undisturbed (Black Dog) Beaver Nelson’s first two albums were prime examples of end-of-the-century roots rock, chock-full of well-written tunes performed with heart, grit, and crackling energy. Undisturbed seems to be missing something, but just what is hard to pin down. Nelson again works with producer/ guitarist Scrappy Jud Newcomb and they’ve assembled a fine group of Austin musicians including Cornbread Traylor, Malcolm “Papa Mali” Welbourne, Mambo John Treanor, and Ian McLagan to back them up. Unlike his earlier songs, however, Nelson’s melodies seem less focused. He’s still quite the wordsmith, of course, tunes like the appropriately playful “Eleven Again” and the penetrating acoustic ballad “Experiments In Love” demonstrating his refined lyrical sense. But elsewhere, the local favorite seems to be recycling musical ideas; at times, especially on the arena rock snippet “What Is That to Me?,” his compositions sound incomplete. The rousing opener “Mad River” and country-rock ramble “When We Were Friends” burn with a familiar fire that recalls Nelson’s previous work, but whereas his first two releases were filled with such moments, on Undisturbed they’re few and far between. Given that Nelson waited a long time to get albums one and two out and that this one follows up Little Brother by just a year, maybe it’s just that Nelson needs to take a little more time between releases for fine-tuning.
This article appears in October 19 • 2001.