Stew

Stew is an anomaly, a singer-songwriter who harks back to that classic pop era in Hollywood, after Brian Wilson’s Smile soufflé deflated and guys like Jimmy Webb and Harry Nilsson were making a living by penning songs that balanced expansively arty ambition with commercial realities. This set, recorded live in the studio with a backing group that sounds like its members probably know the charts to Pet Sounds cold, finds Stew, erstwhile frontman for the hilariously misnamed group the Negro Problem (yes, he’s African-American), spinning an Elvis Costello-meets-Randy Newman web of modern weirdness that’s as quirky as it is cinematic. While there’s nothing on here as arresting as “Re-hab” from Stew’s 2000 album Guest Host, there are some quite captivating moments—a Francophile’s accordion-laced dream called “The Smile,” not to mention the wry title track, perhaps the closest thing to “Re-hab” here.