All Purpose

Every month there's one CD that just leaves me completely stumped. It's not because it is bad (those are real easy to review), but because it fails to evoke any real emotions from me. Just plain apathy - it could play all day in the background and it wouldn't affect me in the slightest. And this month that accolade belongs to All Purpose. All Purpose is now a one man show - Jon Lipton writes all the songs, plays the majority of the instruments and sings. He does recruit some friends to help out, but he does call most of the shots. Thank Friday, It's God is his debut and it apparently collects some of the band's most requested songs, along with some newer tunes. There's a certain familiarity in some of the songs, but it never lasts long enough to capture your attention. Lipton's vocals sound affected but fortunately some counterbalance is added by those of Darja Pahic - her voice adds some much needed sweetness to the mix and that works. Without her, things come across as being too dark, although I'm not entirely sure that was the intention. Perhaps All Purpose needs to re-bolster its numbers because, while Lipton can obviously write decent songs, he really could use some help to turn his ideas into something slightly more inviting.