An aptly titled album as Camozzi’s songs consider the beauty and barbs of life and love. Texan Camozzi has released this third album of his songs which he recorded in LA. His producer Matt Downs is also responsible for all the instruments other than Gary Mallaber’s drums. The end result however is a very full sound that sits behind Camozzi’s rough-shod voice that is somewhere between late Kristofferson and early Robert Earl Keane. Not an instrument of perfection but one of some personality. It is the voice of someone with some experience of the vicissitudes of life.
The tempo and tone is similar throughout the albums ten original songs. Something that may not makes for instant standouts or easy listening. Add to that themes are fairly downbeat and some may head for the hills. Others will enjoy its pervasive mood that includes the title song which considers “the beautiful way we hurt each other”. Children are the subject in songs such as Like A Child and in the promise of the title that is Daddy Don’t Do Cocaine. These are big brooding ballads that are centred around the voice which is accompanied on the title track by of the sweeter contribution from Helen Henderson and by Downs and Danny Wilde elsewhere.
Not an album that will be attractive to all but to those acquainted with his previous albums or who warm to honesty of his writing then Victor Camozzi may well be an singer/songwriter to add to the list of those less known Texans (such as Calvin Russell) who haven’t quite reached the status of some of their more recognised musical alumni but who are making records that have merit in their own right.