Originally slated for release by Atlantic Records and then dropped by the label, Jon Brion‘s solo debut album Meaningless is released on the artist’s own Straight To Cutout label. 
Jon Brion recently grasped a long-overdue foothold in the eyes of the mainstream music-buying public with his instrumental score for Magnolia, but that is far from this artist’s first good effort.
Abandoned by Atlantic Records and finally released by the artist himself through CDBaby, Brion’s solo debut Meaningless showcases his deft pop songwriting ability. Brion’s style made him a particularly good fit (and foil) for Jason Falkner when both were members of the one-album-wonder group The Grays. Brion tends to play more toward the acoustic, not-quite-so-elaborately-produced aesthetic, which is fine, but his best songs on Meaningless are the ones which are textured and multi-layered. “Gotta Start Somewhere”, appropriately enough, kicks things off. Other highlights include the Beatlesque “Walking Through Walls” (the best song I’ve heard this year) and the quirky “Her Ghost”.
Fans of pure pop music (the real thing in the tradition of Lennon, McCartney, Lynne and Rundgren, not the canned variety that passes for Top 40 fodder these days) should make the effort to find this one.
- Gotta Start Somewhere (4:15)
- I Believe She’s Lying (3:28)
- Meaningless (3:24)
- Ruin My Day (3:50)
- Walking Through Walls (5:43)
- Trouble (3:28)
- Hook, Line And Sinker (4:26)
- Dead To The World (2:24)
- Her Ghost (4:10)
- The Same Mistakes (1:59)
- Voices (7:34)
Released by: Straight To Cutout
Release date: 2001
Total running time: 44:48
2002 music review by Earl Green