"Take Your Lumps", Seb's ninth self-produced CD, presents 11 new songs from the man the politically correct love to hate. It jumps musical borders from country to punk to folk and rock without sacrificing a shred of credibility. Listen to the lead-in track "I'm Uma Pemmaraju". Here Sebastian takes the newscaster's top stories and dumps them into a jaunty, guitar-driven romp that belies the awful weight of the nightly headlines. At a time when a "protester'' ought to close ranks with the popular tide of opinion, Seb tells us to "Stop Picking On America'' ("and America will stop picking on you"). "Me & God" suggests that God sides with a humble country picker and if He had His druthers He' d be playing a Gibson like He intended decent people ought to. What the hell?

We get vignettes of girl troubles ("T.O. Girl Of My Youth"), families' troubles ("I Love My TV"), politician's troubles ("Government Policy") neighbours' troubles ("Neighbours"), political bigotry troubles ("Liberal Myths, Conservative Lies") and the trouble we all have figuring out a troubling world. It'd be bad news all 'round without Seb's disarming wit and wry sense of fair play that mirrors life's magnificent ironies.

James Marck