David Meece

Item: Odyssey
Author: Paul Hughes

Odyssey

(1995)

Reviewed by Paul Hughes

Discogs YouTube

Label Star Song RecordsThe LighthouseJuly 1995

adult contemporary ccm piano rock

The thing about a good book is that you can't wait to read it again. The Classics are like that, which is, in part, where they got the name. It's old, old stuff, but it doesn't really matter. And so it is with David Meece's compilation of his old stuff, plus one new piece that lets us know he's still turning out music that will one day earn the title "classic."

David Meece's music and I met at Knott's Berry Farm (a local amusement park) during "Jubilation." That's an evening event at KBF during which Christian music stars are sprinkled throughout the grounds.

Meece's future classic at the time was "To the Glory of God," which revolved around the Greek myth of Icarus, the son of Daedalus, the master craftsman. The boy made wings out of wax and, ignoring his father's warning, flew too close to the sun. The wax melted and Icarus fell to his death. Lesson: the gods are the gods and you are not.

With Odyssey David Meece is still Greek to us. The story The Odyssey is the chronicle of Odysseus and his travels around the Mediterranean (the known world). He gets into all manner of scrapes (sirens, the Cyclops, etc.) in trying to return to his one true love, Penelope. Sounds like the experience of certain millions of Christians seeking the One true love, right?

Meece pulls me in because I love literary references. Then there are his lush piano intros. Talent and literary sensibility packs a powerful punch. Best cut: "Seventy Times Seven." It reduced me to a heaving mass of tears the first time I heard it, years ago. Some things never change.

Meece figures he's at the point in his life when he can reflect on and refer to some of the earlier points. He's right. This album has the range and diversity fitting for a life of ups, downs, highs, lows, ins, outs-a life, in short, like most.

Meece has long been all things to all brothers and sisters and by all means he has surely inspired some. Toe-tappin' ditties alongside the ones that tear the tears right out. Don't forget his ballads, the unabashedly bubble-gum flavored pop stuff, and the same resplendent piano followed in other cuts by authoritative synthesizers.

One grouse: In being something for everyone, one runs the risk of being everything to no one. What if, I wonder, one doesn't like synthesizers? Also, and I write as a confirmed layman in regards to music (I'm a consumer, not a producer) a lot of the rhymes are really simple. This from a fellow who knows Icarus and Odysseus?

Of course, even the best books occasionally have dog-eared pages and coffee stains. Above all, David Meece returns again and again to the birth/gift/sacrifice theme. It is the focus of the collection and illustrates one thing: You can never fly too close to the Son.