Kevin Max is DC Talk's weird and zany egomaniac who walks the very thin ledge between artistic eccentric and idiot, so his solo album was inevitably to be the most intriguing of the three. The danger may have been that the artistic freedom that he seemed to yearn for more than the other two would leave him looking stupid. Well not so. This is better than the sum of DC Talk's parts in its originality, lyrical depth, and deftness as well as in its sense of just being a more solid piece of work all around. Maybe all three of the band have less pressure to deliver the big Christian hit album that has been weighing on their shoulders for so long. Unfortunately that is as much about good clean you-don't-have-to think-too-much Christian clichés as it is in the simple pop songs that Supernatural was full of.
Max is adventuring out into the whole vastness of the world outside the bars that held him in the band. There is true poetry in "Union of the Soul" and "I Went Over the Edge of the World" and much more thought provoking lyrics throughout. Max's voice is strong, versatile and assured and there is something about the playing, the arrangements, the underlying samples and strings that make this album need constant re-listening. There's enough happening in word and sound to keep your attention for a long time to come and there are still pop choruses that catch your daily humming -- try sucking "Be" and "Her Game" without chewing!
The main theme seems to be summed up in "Be" when, in anthemic Martin Smith mode, Max sings as much to himself as the rest of us:
Be, be yourself
There's no one who does it quite like you
And be no one else
'cause if you don't who is going to
When you are as individualistically unique as a Kevin Max that truth has even more significance but it is one that all of us with our quirks and foibles need to be singing and believing. There is no doubt that producer Adrian Belew has shaped this debut album in such a way that Kevin Max falls on the side of artist rather than pretentious fool. How he can fit this kind of freedom back into the form of DC Talk's next outing will be an interesting question. Another is whether he can take it from here because here is crying "potential, potential, potential!!!!!!!"
Other coverage for this album
ReAL Magazine 2001Reviewed by Josh L!Anyone familiar with the work of Kevin Max knows that he always seems to have a flashy trick up his sleeve. Be it a new book of poetry (Unfinished Work, coming this fall from Thomas Nelson publishing), a pithy saying at a concert, or an unmistakable vocal line during a solo, Kevin keeps his audience guessing. For some reason I thought his first solo album, Stereotype Be, would prove an exception…The Phantom Tollbooth 2001Reviewed by Chris MacIntoshThe release of this project from Kevin Max is the second of a trio of solo albums expected from the members of dc talk due out before the end of the year. I have been waiting for a solo project from this guy since he recorded the song "Lonely Moon" on the Mark Heard tribute album a number of years ago. dc talk is good at what they do, but I always wondered if these guys could cut it on their own.…Similar sounding releases
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