*** Cliff Eberhardt

12 SONGS OF GOOD AND EVIL

(Red House)

Evil kicks good's ass about 11 to one on Cliff Eberhardt's latest. This stark collection of melodic blues-, folk- and pop-inflected, acoustic originals doesn't shy away from sin -- greed, lust, addiction, self-pity, thievery, and hatred are variously explored, sometimes in narrative, sometimes in character sketches reminiscent of Lyle Lovett or Randy Newman. But as the title says, these are songs of good and evil, so the Beatles-esque love song "Someone like You" carries with it an S&M subtext. It's his tolerance for ambiguity that separates Eberhardt's intimate odes to self-pity like "Little Things for You" from more typical woe-is-me fare. And you have to go back as far as "Positively Fourth Street" to find the kind of deliciously scornful invective that's on "Good Example." In a field full of sensitive, new-age guys, Eberhardt digs deeper into life's complexities and discovers much more compelling things to celebrate.

-- Seth Rogovoy