Except when Mr. Webb is performing stark voice-and-piano renditions of his songs, however, the mood is one of canned showroom nostalgia.
Stark's voice is a particular highlight, like Grace Slick but with good intentions.
She is well-known for her use of experimental form and her stark, direct voice.
Ms. Glück, on the other hand, writes startling, ironic poems in a stark, unadorned voice.
Carolyn Apcar emailed Stark to voice concerns that aspects of the plan did not seem believable.
As Bonnie Susie Cleland from Dundee is put to the stake for her love of an Englishman, and Roberts's own songs flit between the pastoral and the political, his stark, Scottish voice cuts beautifully to the bone.
Ilaiyaraaja has sung over 400 of his own compositions for films, and is recognisable by his stark, deep voice.
No doubt, it is a beautifully (if rugged and stark) emotive voice, but the acrobatic instrument of the past is not present.
And then for the Broadway production, I rewrote the original play, with the images starker, the voice even more urgent and filled with human pain.
But Mr. Adams kept the songs stark and his voice exposed.
Paul McNamee of NME magazine wrote: "It's a wonderful song that shifts from simple stark piano and voice to a ringing, clattering burst of intent and proto-prog four-part harmony".
