Don Dixon Albums (8)
'The Entire Combustible World in One Small Room'
Release Date 1/1/2006
Tracks 11
Label 125
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What The Critics Say
In the liner notes to The Entire Combustible World in One Small Room, singer/songwriter and producer Don Dixon confesses "(a) few years ago I gave up on songwriting...I was a philosophical (and quite frankly an emotional) shell." This goes a long way toward explaining why this was Dixon's first album of new songs since 2000, and suggests why this work feels decidedly different than his best-known material from the 1980s and '90s. Anyone looking for smart, edgy pop songs sung with a soulful edge will be glad to know that Dixon can still deliver the goods with ease, but there's a sharper, more intellectual, and more introspective tone to The Entire Combustible World than on Romeo at Juilliard or Most of the Girls Like to Dance But Only Some of the Boys Like To. A loose concept album, The Entire Combustible World consists of ten songs, each of which tells a story that takes place in a single room -- "Roommate" is a energetic rocker about a co-ed who won't admit she's fallen in love with the male friend with whom she shares an apartment, "In Darkness Found" focuses on a man suffering a crisis of faith as he sits in church on Sunday morning, a crooked politician is gunned down in a cheap motel on "In a Politician's Bed," "ICU" tells the tale of a man teetering on the edge of life and death in a hospital emergency room, and "Kitchen" records the thoughts of an angry man as he eats his dinner. Dixon's singing is skillful and expressive on each track, while his skills as a producer and an instrumentalist are in great shape -- he plays most of the music himself through the magic of overdubbing, and the end product is clever without being pretentious, ambitious without overplaying its artier side. It's a good thing Dixon's daughter helped encourage him to write start writing again, because The Entire Combustible World in One Small Room shows he's only grown and improved with the passage of time; this is a striking and powerful work from a man who seemingly has more exciting things to say now than ever. (And let's give Dixon a big hand for the coda -- a superb cover of Let's Active's "Room with a View" sung with his wife, Marti Jones.) ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
'Note Pad #38'
Release Date 10/23/2001
Tracks 14
Label Dixon Archival
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What The Critics Say
A superstar who took five years to follow up an album that, in turn, had been his first in six years would be matching the marketplace these days, but for a guy like Don Dixon, such a schedule indicates either a casual attitude toward his solo career or trouble interesting a record company in releasing his discs. Vermont indie Gadfly has taken on The Invisible Man, which may be the quirkiest release yet from a notably quirky artist. "This record is about mortality & redemption," Dixon notes in the CD booklet. "Many different characters appear as singers... I am none of them & all of them." He then helpfully lists the ages of the characters by song. The problem of appreciating Dixon's concept is immediately apparent. While one can expect, and find, a distinction in the authorial voice by very different ages, most of the characters fall into middle age, a period that certainly has its stages, but not ones as clearly defined. This is some hint to the general obscurity of the album's lyrics. While titles like "Tax the Churches" and "Digging a Grave" seem to announce their subjects right off, they don't turn out to be that clear. And not all the songs are all that musically accessible. The Invisible Man is an often puzzling album created almost single-handedly by a highly individual singer-songwriter who has made some attempts to create commercial music in the past, but this time seems to have followed his muse without much concern about whether anyone would be able to follow him. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Romantic Depressive'
Release Date 1/1/1995
Tracks 11
Label Sugar Hill
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What The Critics Say
Don Dixon is known primarily as a producer, but this rock-solid collection of original songs will make you wish he'd step out from behind the board more often. Nothing on this album is especially groundbreaking -- not his gravelly baritone, not his Memphis soul beats or his late-'50s chord progressions -- but everything here sheds new light on old traditions. A multi-instrumentalist as well as a fine songwriter, Dixon plays almost everything on the album, and the sound is dense without being muddy, snappy without being shallow. You'll recognize both the rhythms and the sentiments on "Angel, Angel," but Dixon's delivery and his way with a melody make it all sound brand new even while it takes you back 20 or 30 years; the album's best track, "Giving Up the Ghost," is timeless in its gutbucket romantic desperation. Dixon does sometimes succumb to cleverness (remember his earlier album called Romeo at Juilliard?), and you can't help but suspect that the lackluster instrumental toward the end of the album was just an excuse to use the title "Good Golly Svengali." It's also true that "Lottery of Lives," an anti-Vietnam song, is not only dated, but also comes off as a by-the-numbers diatribe. However, by "Never Slow Down," it's hard to tell whether he's tweaking the left or the right, and at that point he wisely puts down his pen and slips quietly away. Highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
An intimate live album featuring many of the best songs from the two previous albums. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Dixon's domestic debut featured more of his skewed songs, and here he was aided and abetted by such compatriots as Mitch Easter and Marti Jones (who is his wife). ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Most of the Girls Like to Dance but Only Some of the Boys Do'
Release Date 1/1/1985
Tracks 17
Label Demon
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What The Critics Say
Dixon put together Most of the Girls Like to Dance but Only Some of the Boys Do out of demos cut from 1981-1984. It's a kind of best-of from a man with a pure pop sensibility and a wicked sense of humor when it comes to matters romantic. (The 1986 CD version adds two songs to make a total of 16.) ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
