Description
Squint is the fifth studio album by the American singer, songwriter, and producer Steve Taylor, released on Warner Alliance in November 1993, a CCM imprint of Warner Bros. Records. The album was recorded by Russ Long at The Salt Mine in Nashville, Tennessee; with Steve Taylor producing. Mixed by David Bryson at Different Fur in San Francisco, California. According to All Music Guide, Squint is “a fun album from beginning to end.”
On this album Steve Taylor is backed by a session band consisting of Phil Madeira on keyboards, Jerry McPherson on guitar, as well as Wade Jaynes and Mike Mead on bass and drums respectively (actually the rhythms section of Taylor’s former band project, Chagall Guevara), with Eric Darken providing percussion.
Steve Taylor’s absence from CCM left a noticeable void. His biting humor and quirky mix of rock, new wave, and pop, not to mention dynamic (an overused worse used correctly here) stage presence, were a hard act to follow. To Steve’s credit, I don’t think anyone even tried.
And why would anyone bother? Taylor’s intellectual antics made him a sort of musical Chesterton, defending the Christian faith while taking on any number of sacred and secular “cash cows” and dragons: nary a windmill in the bunch, and his lance seldom missed the mark.
Well, guess who’s back with tongue firmly in cheek? Steve Taylor would like you to know, “The news of my impending death came at a really bad time for me.” Squint finds him little removed from what his fans have always loved best about his stomping grounds. The attitude is half the fun, and in one of my favorite tunes it’s everything. Without quoting the whole song, «Smug» takes a good, hard look at the attitude that seems to be everybody’s (right, left, saved, unsaved) nineties fashion statement. Both Madame Streisand and Master Limbaugh “love to be politically Koreshed,” while the Church often ministers to the “smug-starved millions” encouraging them to “strike the proud pose of our country club brethren / friendly as a tomb.” And about as elitist; only the dead need apply.
A variety of music styles are brushed by Taylor’s fun-loving pop sensibility; alternative art rock on «The Finish Line» (no, it’s not about a boundary dispute in Finland), reggae in «Easy Listening», and good old pop in Taylor’s take on the «Bannerman», the late twentieth century’s answer to «The Praying Hands». If the biting wit has gotten sharper then surely it is tempered with love. «Jesus Is for Losers» finds Taylor and his humility firmly locked in a bear hug.
Indeed, lyrics this telling would probably break the back of a lot of CCM’s so-called artistes. “If I was groping, groping around for some ladder to fame / I am ashamed / if I was hoping, hoping respect would make a stury footstool / I am a fool… / Just as I am / I am needy and dry / Jesus is for losers / The self-made need not apply.” Steve Taylor has never been a self-made man, but maybe that’s part of his appeal – for all his incredible talent, biting wit, and chuckles of admonishment, he’s never pretended to be anything more than a part of our family. To the post-Chagall king of the Clone-Clock Cleaners, we say not, Welcome back, but simply, Heigh-ho Rocinante!! [Dave Canfield, Cornerstone Magazine, Issues 102/103 1994]
One of the funniest (and certainly best attended) press conferences of this past spring’s Gospel Music Association week happened when our man Steve, the once-and-future prince of Christian alternative music, revealed that he had signed a new contract with a Christian record label. In typical Taylor fashion, the artist swore his allegiance to the gospel marketplace, and promised he would do nothing to try and influence the packed room of media mavens to embrace his new album – all the while tossing cash, jewelry and finally clothing into the crowd! By the time Taylor had doffed sport coat and shirt, the audience was left staring at Steve’s T-shirt, reading “John 3:16,” not a joke, but the theme of what became the first single from ‘Squint’, «Bannerman» (just look for the banner at any major sporting event and you’ll get the gist of the song).
In the five years since Steve has released an album tailored (sorry, had to do it) to the Christian marketplace, ‘I Predict 1990‘, he’s retired, taken a sabbatical, spent two years trying to establish ill-fated Chagall Guevara (which achieved a measure of success, but nothing worth writing home to mom about) and finally, returned to writing songs on his own. ‘Squint’, the first fruit of those labors, finds Taylor surviving with wit and hard-earned wisdom intact.
The modern rock attitude which permeated Chagall’s music has been retained (as have some of its personnel; Taylor also utilizes some near-grunge riffs and neo-industrial, U2-influenced clang on a few tunes). At least two of the songs refer back to Taylor’s experience in the ill-fated Chagall. «Sock Heaven» (you know, the place where the other sock goes) speaks of “one little band, spinning ’round together/ couldn’t cling forever… Pick any market/ Pick a straight-jacket/ If you can’t act it, misfit/ You don’t belong here.” «The Moshing Floor» (where the young go to get threshed and thrashed) is something the artist no doubt observed at Chagall’s festival appearances (a few years ago, Taylor emerged from the pit at Cornerstone with one of his ankles bent in a direction it wasn’t supposed to go); more than that, the song is about the lack of responsibility parents show which drives their kids to such bizarre forms of bonding. That topic carries over to «Curses» as well, finding Taylor lamenting the disintegration of the family – “Sworn as their provider all your days/ Will you, my man, buckle under these curses?”
The church, a favorite Taylor target, gets its deserved comeuppance in a few spots, with Taylor including himself in the congregation. «Easy Listening» charts the direction in which the church might head if we can’t resist the seduction of sloth (“Tickle my ear and I’ll pay for your show/ Sing about stuff that I already know”); in «Smug», while taking celebrities as Rush Limbaugh (and easy and big target) and Barbra Streisand to task for their quasi-intellectual elitism, Taylor again saves his most potent ammo for the body of Christ – “We can help you evolve from merely self-righteous to perfectly smug… Friendly as a tomb/ Fragrant as the bottom of a locker-room broom.” The album’s lyrical center, however, is the thought-provoking «Jesus is for Losers». In a bit of gut-wrenching introspection, Taylor questions his motives for seeking success (“If I was groping for some ladder to fame/ I’m ashamed”), his obstinacy when Chagall appeared to be splintering (“I am stiff-necked and proud… why do I still play to the crowd?”) and his resolve to relinquish lordship to Christ (“Just as I am in a desert crawl/ Lord, I’m so thirsty/ Take me to the waterfall”).
Despite such somber digressions, ‘Squint’ is actually one of Taylor’s most uplifting albums; it’s hard not to smile (or at least wince) at tunes which hit so close to home. Unlike past albums, where Taylor sometimes ladled the cynicism and sardonic humor on with a shovel, this time, he uses a spoon, and carefully mixes the more pointed lyrics with compassion and understanding. [Bruce A. Brown, CCM, November 1993]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/squint/1442353008)
CD tracklist:
01. The Lament Of Desmond R.G. Underwood-Frederick IV – 4:02
02. Bannerman – 3:14
03. Smug – 4:22
04. Jesus Is For Losers – 4:19
05. The Finish Line – 5:25
06. The Moshing Floor – 4:01
07. Easy Listening – 3:42
08. Curses – 3:55
09. Sock Heaven – 4:46
10. Cash Cow (A Rock Opera In Three Small Acts) – 5:38
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Warner Alliance.
The February 1994 issue of CCM Magazine featured a cover story on Steve Taylor.
A double-page advertisement for Steve Taylor’s Squint was featured in the November 1993 issue of CCM Magazine.
A full-page advertisement for Steve Taylor and Some Band’s Squinternational Tour ’94 was featured in the September 1994 issue of CCM Magazine.
Squint: Movies from the Soundtrack VHS (Warner Bros. Records 1994) Songs featured: 1. Smug / 2. The Moshing Floor / 3. Jesus Is For Losers / 4. Bannerman / 5. Sock Heaven / 6. Cash Cow (A Rock Opera In Three Small Acts) / 7. The Finish Line.
Squinternational Tour Promo Spot
CREDITS. Produced by Steve Taylor. Made at The Salt Mine, Nashville, engineered by Russ Long. Mixed at Different Fur, San Francisco by David Bryson, assisted by Matt Murman. Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering, Portland. Strings arranged by Carl Marsh on track 05 and 06. Art Direction and Design by Buddy Jackson, Jackson Design. Photography by Ben Pearson. All songs written by Steve Taylor.
Musicians: Steve Taylor (Vocals), Donna McElroy (Vocals on track 09), Phil Madeira (Keyboards, Voice Actor on track 03, Slide Guitar and Percussion on track 09, Backwards Slide on track 10), Jerry McPherson (Guitar), George Bradfute (Guitar on track 01, 06 and 10), Dave Perkins (Rhythm Guitar on track 02), Wade Jaynes (Bass, Guitar on track 10), Mike Mead (Drums), Eric Darken (Percussion), Russ Long (Tambourine, Electronic Drums on track 07).
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