| CD REVIEW Buffalo Tom |
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Band : Buffalo Tom In the mid '80s I had the good fortune to fall into a circle of friends whom not only taught me a lot about the Hardcore scene from around the globe, but also introduced me to some more “alternative” bands. One of those bands was Dinosaur Jr., a band which with its first 3 albums also brought us the best in their catalog. In 1988 the original line-up split, and singer/ guitarist J. Mascis would return with the band 3 years later, on the one hand pushing through his Neil Young influences, on the other hand capitalizing on the popularity of the Grunge scene. Weird intro? Not really! Like most people of my generation, and those around to be there when it happened, I was drawn to Buffalo Tom's first album because (like its successor) it was produced by the aforementioned J. Mascis...that and the fact that they had a small “insider” hit with one of the more electrified songs (I'm almost certain it was “Sunflower Suit”) on the album. The trouble was, even back then the band (centered around the trio of guitarist Bill Janovitz, bassist Chris Colburn, and drummer Tom Maginnis) had quite a bit of acoustics (and near acoustics) in their set...and the initial affinity and enthousiasm for this band soon faded, at least in my personal circles. Because by the mid '90s Buffalo Tom had become one of the US' more popular band, with their 1993 and 1995 albums (respectively Big Red Letter Day and Sleepy Eyed) even making it into the top 10 of the Heatseekerscharts in the US. In 1998 the band released its 6th album Smitten, toured in support for it, and then went on a lengthy hiatus! Well, at first there was still some activities, like the band wrote the theme song to the short-lived 1999 sit-com The Mike O'Malley Show. Their song “Taillights Fade” was used in the 1999 independent movie by the same title, and they also recorded a version of “Going Underground” for the 2000 tribute album Fire And Skill: The Songs Of The Jam (in fact, the song was released as a double-sided single – the “other side” featuring a version of The Jam's song “Carnation”, performed by Liam Gallagher & Steve Cradock – which got to #6 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1999. During the actual hiatus, two compilations (2000's Asides from Buffalo Tom, and 2002's Besides: A Collection of B-Sides And Rarities), and a live album (2005's Instant Live 6/1/05 Paradise, Boston) were released (the title of the latter indicating that the band had already resurfaced). Buffalo Tom properly re-emerged in 2007 to perform at the renowned SXSW festival, after which not only followed the new album Three Easy Pieces (in July), but also a Summer tour across the US in support of it. Further touring followed in Europe and Australia. The new album is the first through the band's own label, and sees the band continue in their musical ways of old. Meaning you get quite a bit of acoustics and near-acoustics, but also a couple of songs with a surprising electrical passage, and a couple of songs which are best classified as middle-of-the-road singer-songwriter stuff! I daresay, originally it was mostly the songs with a little more electrics in 'em that “did it” for me, album opener “Arise, Watch” with its ice 3-way vocals (lead plus nicely done different backings) immediately on top of 'em all! “Down”, with some additional organ keyboards (for which no specific credits were listed) followed close second...and among the “acoustic” tracks the duet with Tanya Donelli (check a total of 10 EPs, one mini-album, 2 live albums and 8 full-lengths from 1984 to date with Throwing Muses, Breeders' first 2 releases, an EP and 3 full-lengths with Belly, and 5 solo releases) immediately stood out as well (the song also making use of one Sean Staples to give the song a nice additional mandolin flavouring). Our editor-in-chief falling severely ill for a week, and not being able to anything much for the website, I decided to hold on to this album a little longer, give it a couple of extra listening sessions...and as so often happens when one does such a thing, I actually grew to like the differences on the album...listening more intently to the lyrics in some cases, coming to like the calmer songs in which the lead singer almost sings in an almost hurt-soft way with his slightly nasal/ hoarse voice more and more. Sure, I still feel sóme songs are too generically “singer-songwriter goes Rock” stuff, but there's quite a few ballads here which hurt in a delightful way, and there's also an equal amount of songs that Rock-pummel through the album. In essence, once you've wrought your way through the album a couple (make that a couple couple more) of times, you'll find there's quite a few songs to your liking! Regretfully, you'll only find one song (album opener “Arise, Watch”) off the new album posted at either the band's own webpage (www. buffalotom.com, from whence you can even download it for free), or at (www.) myspace.com/buffalotom2007...but in the latter case you've got some older songs to listen to as well! 89/100 Tony. |
