Russell Crowe & 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts - Bastard Life Or Clarity (2001)

Anyone who witnessed Sting's savagely comic diaper-wearing performance in Dune or heard Don Johnson's mid-'80s recordings can state with authority that actors and singers are generally safer within their own realms. There have been notable exceptions of course--Bowie in the Man Who Fell to Earth, for instance and, to a lesser extent, hunky actor Russell Crowe with TOFOG. An acronym for Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts, TOFOG finds Crowe singing and co-songwriting unremarkable, frequently downcast barroom rock along with an otherwise unknown squad of Aussie mates. Having set the bar relatively low, Crowe and his cohorts manage to acquit themselves here without too much damage, although their conceit of being just a bunch of regular Joes cranking out melodic, serviceable rock--a point driven home by frequent, chummy bits of between-song chat among the members--is a bit rich. Nevertheless, Crowe's voice is both pleasant and in tune and he's clearly reaching for poetic plateaus within his lyrics. Poppier songs such as "Sail Those Same Oceans" clip along on a strumming electric guitar part and TOFOG sweep the peanut shells up off the tavern floor in the careening "Things Have Got to Change." Bastard Life or Clarity only goes south when Crowe attempts to demonstrate how in touch he is with the female psyche (no, really) in the maudlin "Wendy." Every bit as silly as it sounds. --Kim Hughes