A Fresh review of It's All In Your Head from the Songmeanings.net website: This was my introduction to David Stephenson. Fortunately, he's neither the British rugby player nor is he a politician and member of the Klu Klux Klan - thankfully Wikipedia cleared this up for me! Instead, this David Stephenson is an Oregon musician in the post-punk/indie style and you can find him on MySpace along with his dog. It's All in Your Head runs about 47 minutes and offers sixteen tracks, each one twisting into a slightly different style but none in an overly jarring way. You're not in for a bludgeoning that plenty of bands hand out where their whole record seems to be built to support a couple singles. Stephenson obviously worked on each song to get it into its own personal best and that's an effort I feel the listener's truly going to appreciate. I'm not going to single out every song on this album since there are so many, but I'd like to point to a few I particularly enjoyed. There's Julie, a song that's named after a girl. Usually this is a bad sign for me, as it tends to lead to yearning, goofy serenades or adolescent mantras of hate. However, in this instance we get a song that actually feels as if the title references a real girl and trials of a relationship with her. It's painfully raw in places, self-effacing and comes out genuine the whole way through. In the song Snag we get a tune that hints at the flavor of the ever popular Steve Miller Band and in Jimmy Wilhelm, it reminds me of popping some crazy downer pills (that I've never taken, of course) and then trying to listen to an album. What I'm getting at is David Stephenson's vocal range tops many other singers out there and he's able to create entirely different atmospheres for different songs. You've got to admire a guy who can make one song feel distinctly reminiscent of Johnny Cash and turn around to twist his voice so it comes off an awful lot like Marilyn Manson. Yes, I said Marilyn Manson! I'd be curious to know if anyone else recognized that because both Hello and Sexy Universe give me major 'Hollywood' era flashbacks. To me the stars of this album are Dear Mr. Chapman and Sexy Universe. The Mr. Chapman happens to be Mark David Chapman, the guy who claims God told him to blow John Lennon away. In this song, Stephenson lets rip with a stream of emotional ink that he uses to spell out exactly how he'd prefer to avenge the death of one of pop music's better philosophers. Sexy Universe, on the other hand, begs radio play because I don't believe I've heard such a strong offering from an indie musician in terms of subversion. You absolutely cannot help but love this song! Now, I'd not really expected to love this album nor really like it. I figured I'd be getting another helping of bland indie rock that's pretty much the reason that indie rock sucks. David Stephenson went above and beyond the call of duty to churn out a very likable, accessible and yet meaningful record here that I definitely recommend. You get what you put in when it comes to producing music and so I think Mr. Stephenson can expect to sell a couple more gold albums' worth of It's All in Your Head. You can find the album over at a personal favorite music store of mine, CDBaby.com! Because after all, as Lavar Burton always told us, "You don't have to take my word for it..." ~Wolfgang Nibori of Happy Horror. If you visit David at http://www.myspace.com/davidjstephenson you will be able to listen to Hardcore, Victory Garden, Love's Mansion and other new smash hits. Here is just a few snippets of what folks are saying about the new material: My favorite thing he's ever done (Westport Headlands). I think I listened to it, no joke, ten times at least. The imagery is vivid as always, but the contrast between what occurs to me as a hopeful solemnity and the clear record of society's misdeeds is both true and defiant. I love this song. Thank you, David! Trevor, Berlin, Germany David, David DAVID! Thank you for finding me! I'm honoured to be contacted by you! Your songs sing so beautifully! Victory Garden is a superlative little musical polyptych spraying crusty, colourful soundwaves, like a complaining Nisyros, at sunset. The clean guitar octaves remind me of Snakefinger's guitar work on 'Serenade for Missy' from the cd: Heaven? by The Residents. Hardcore is a another great piece altogether, man, this will require multiple listens brother! You're wicked! I hear '60s influences, and the Smiths in the guitar playing and overall production, and a bit of Neil Young. The songwriting is fresh and poppy, yet hard rock melodic. PERFECT ALL AROUND! I wish you peace, happiness and excellent health now and in the future. Keep making great songs!Be Well!Sincerely, JAL P.S. HAPPY CANADA DAY to ya'! John Alfred Longlott, Canada Victory Garden and Hardcore are top notch... and we hate everything! so that's a real compliment. Peace and Love from Ohio, Wyatt Michael Samuel Atkinson only makebelieve Thank you for the kind words about my music and the req! i found your music SOOOOOOOOOOO GREAT! i really like it! it's original sound! i'm glad to have you and your art between my friends! keep in touch i'll do da same for sure. Peace Al Black Let's play sometime! you're stuff is awesome, i'm going to add it to all 12 of my myspace acounts! Electric Corduroy, Myrtle Point, Oregon Nice melodic tunes! "Lockstep Marching" is a great peace anthem. Made me think of Neil Young (one of my musical heroes). Peaceful greetings from Frankieboy, Rødovre, Hovedstad And now.....a smattering of blurbs about It's All in Your Head: ***David Stephenson is the real deal. ***What a Catchy Album this is! I just can't stop listening to this album. It grabs you from the opening and never lets up!!! ***Songwriters who have that way with words, that ability to make any phrase sound like rock 'n' roll, they're always interesting, no matter what they're saying, what key it's being said in,David Stephenson has it. ***If I could write out the lyrics from It's All In Your Head until my fingers cramped, but I could never make you understand why they all have permanent residence in my head, why they fill up my mouth while I'm walking up stairs or trying to fall asleep. ***It's All in Your Head is a passionate, moving tribute from Stephenson to the records he has bought. It makes a strong case that a new song is the best way to say "Thanks". If your are still reading this I just want to say I love you. Merci, David