Bitch Magnet – Sadie 7″.  Caff Corporation (CAFF 14).  1991.

1. Sadie
2. Ducks And Drakes

Buffalo Tom – Enemy 7″.  Caff Corporation (CAFF 6).  1989.

1. Enemy
2. Deep In The Ground

LES meets UES in matrimony; image courtesy of gossipgirlinsider.com

So, I finally saw last week’s episode of Gossip Girl. For my money, there is nothing surprising about Sonic Youth performing “Starpower” and bassist/guitarist Kim Gordon marrying Rufus Humphrey and Lily van der Woodsen-Bass-etc. The reason, as I will outline chronologically below, is that flirtations with mainstream popular culture is completely in keeping with their career. This cameo isn’t an isolated incident. If anything this network-savvy band pioneered how indie does synergy.

March 1, 1988: Ciccone Youth, a side project formed in 1986 between the band and Minutemen bassist/co-founder Mike Watt releases The Whitey Album. In this configuration, they took part of their name from Madonna’s surname. They also covered some of her songs, including “Into the Groovey” and “Burnin’ Up.” For good measure, they also covered Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love.” Were they taking the piss or celebrating 80s blockbuster pop? Maybe both? You decide.

June 26, 1990: Goo is released on DGC, marking their major label debut. 

In 1991, the Goo video album is released, a clip accompanying each song on the album. Among them are “Mildred Pierce” which features Sofia Coppola dressed as Joan Crawford, who starred in the 1945 film noir of same name, “Disappearer,” which was directed by Todd Haynes, and a few clips directed by Tamra Davis, including “Dirty Boots” and “Kool Thing,” which also featured Public Enemy’s Chuck D.

September 17, 1991: Kim Gordon co-produces Pretty on the Inside, Hole’s debut album, released on Caroline, a subsidiary of Virgin.

July 21, 1992: Dirty is released. Two noteworthy music videos come along with it. Actor Jason Lee, then unknown, is featured as a tragic skateboarder in ”100%. The clip was co-directed by Davis and Spike Jonze, who just made some movie about kids and monsters based on a children’s book. Chloë Sevigny, once a Sassy intern, stars in “Sugar Kane,” which also showcases Marc Jacobs’ Perry Ellis grunge collection.

August 9, 1993: “Cannonball” is released as the lead single to The Breeders way-ruling Last Splash. Kim Gordon co-directs the music video with Jonze.

September 14, 1993: Judgment Night is released, along with a successful soundtrack from Epic that pairs alternative/metal acts with rap groups. Sonic Youth and Cypress Hill collaborate on ”I Love You Mary Jane.”

Cover to Judgment Night (Epic, 1993); image courtesy of brianorndorf.com

1994: Kim Gordon creates X-Girl with Daisy von Furth, a sister clothing line to Beastie Boys Mike D’s X-Large collection. I see DJ Tanner wear an X-Girl blue jumper on Full House and want one.

August 25, 1994: Sonic Youth contributes “Genetic” to the My So-Called Life soundtrack. Released on Atlantic, the compilation features other Juliana Hatfield, Afghan Whigs, Daniel Johnston, and (of course) Buffalo Tom, who every fan remembers played a show on Pike Street.

Track list to the My So-Called Life soundtrack (Atlantic, 1994); image courtesy of mscl.com

September 13, 1994: If I Were A Carpenter, a Carpenters tribute album, is released on A&M. An alternafest, acts like American Music Club, Shonen Knife, Babes and Toyland, and Matthew Sweet share time with SY, who cover “Superstar.” In late 2007, the song would make an appearance in the movie Juno.

Cover to If I Were a Carpenter (Rhino, 1994); image courtesy of whizzo.ca

October 27, 1995: CBS airs “The State’s 43rd Annual All-Star Halloween Special,” marking the MTV sketch comedy troupe’s network television debut. Sonic Youth is the musical guest. Few people watch (I am one of them), and CBS decides to pull the plug. 

May 19, 1996: Fox airs ”Homerpalooza,” The Simpsons‘ penultimate episode of its seventh season. In it, Homer goes on tour with Hullabalooza (re: Lollapalooza), taking canons to the gut to the bemusement of thousands of jaded slackers. Several acts made guests appearances, including Smashing Pumpkins, Cypress Hill, Peter Frampton, and Sonic Youth. The band also provides an “alternative” version to Danny Elfman’s iconic theme song, perhaps getting closer in tone to what creator Matt Groening had originally envisioned when suggesting that avant-jazz composer John Zorn write the show’s theme song. The song is later featured on Rhino’s Go Simpsonic With The Simpsons: Original Music From The Television Series compilation.

"I'm so disillusioned!"; image courtesy of taringa.net

June 5, 1996: James Mangold’s debut feature, Heavy, is released in the states. Moore composes the score.

June 1998: I watch the “Kool Thing” video at a Gadzooks in the Mall of America during a trip to Young Life camp in Minnesota.

July 13, 2001: Larry Clark’s Bully is released in theaters. Moore composes the score.

July 25, 2005: Gus Van Sant’s Last Days, the director’s take on Kurt Cobain’s final days, is released in the states. Gordon appears as a record executive based on Danny Goldberg trying to turn the main character’s life around. Moore also served as a music consultant.

May 2006: Former Pavement bassist Mark Ibold joins the band. This has nothing to do with matters of synergy or cross-promotion; I just happen to think he’s kinda cute. He was also featured in a comic strip, but the name escapes me. His catchphrase is something to the effect of “I’m Mark, the bassist from Pavement” but I’m butchering it. My friend Susan told me about it, so maybe she’ll share in the comments section.

Mark Ibold, perhaps around the time he was dating Oksana Baiul and before the Pavement reunion tour; image courtesy of amazon.com

May 9, 2006: Moore and Gordon appear with daughter Coco in “Partings,” the Gilmore Girls‘ season six finale. 

June 15, 2007: Pitchfork reports that SY will be contributing a track to a Starbucks compilation.

November 21, 2007: Todd Haynes’s I’m Not There is released. Gordon’s makes a cameo as folkie Carla Hendricks, who is based on Judy Collins. The casting furthers my suspicion that SY friend Todd Haynes must have been influenced by the band’s fandom of The Carpenters and preoccupation with Karen Carpenter’s tragic struggle with anorexia. They cover “Superstar.” He makes a biopic about Carpenter called Superstar. Coincidence?

September 8, 2008: Choosing not to renew their contract with Geffen, SY sign with indie stalwart Matador.

November 3, 2008: Moore and former Be Your Own Pet frontwoman Jemina Pearl cover The Ramones’ “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” specifically for “There Might Be Blood,” a season two episode of Gossip Girl. 

February 16, 2009: Gordon debuts a clothing collection called Mirror/Dash for Urban Outfitters.

Is this bad? Hmm, maybe. I suppose it depends on your outlook. I’d say it’s no worse than The Flaming Lips performing on Beverly Hills, 90210 (although, maybe for it to be equal, Wayne Coyne would have to play a short-order cook at the Peach Pit). Beyond paying the bills and circulating their brand, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a fair amount of post-modern, art-school, post-Warholian why-the-hell-not? factoring into all of Sonic Youth’s above-ground forays. Or perhaps they (gasp!) like many of these texts and ventures. 

Perhaps the band knows that dabbling with the mainstream is tricky business. Maybe this explains why Moore (and, to a lesser extent Gordon and guitarist Lee Ranaldo, though not media-shy drummer Steve Shelley) cultivated an authoritative presence in recent music documentaries like Punk: Attitude, Kill Yr Idols, and I Need That Record! It may also have fueled a need for an outlet through which to channel more experimental projects, resulting in the band forming Sonic Youth Recordings in 1996, along with Shelley’s Smells Like label and Moore’s Ecstatic Peace label. In addition, Ranaldo has done a considerable amount of writing, creates installation projects with his wife Leah Singer, has an extensive solo career, and has performed improvisatory film scores as a member of Text of Light.

And, you know. The band is still really good. Even as folks mine their discography or weave them into above-ground mainstream corporate media culture enterprising, they’re still challenging themselves and making great music. Earlier this year, the band released The Eternal, their 16th album. Peaking at #18 on the Billboard charts, it also boasts a consistently great set of songs and a painting by late guitarist John Fahey for its cover. This blurring of art and commerce, for good or for bad, is in keeping with the band and their contributions to music culture.

It’s an absolute pleasure to bring Chris Simpson into the America Is Just A World fold.

Part of my inclination for adding more interviews and material to what I’ve already written for the book is to really uncover the narratives that have been overlooked, and no band’s lifetime has the same mixture of mild coverage and crass disregard for the group’s actual story like Mineral. For many, Mineral was a pre-eminent mid-90s emo act, if not the pre-eminent act of the time. And yet, a large portion of their story is generally unknown, despite the band’s importance on future generations of C chord pluckers.

Andy Greenwald dedicates three pages or so to the band in Nothing Feels Good – a whole three pages! On Greenwald’s terms, that’s an infinite space for a band to take up if the name of their project doesn’t start with a “Dashboard”. Without speaking to Simpson, Jeremy Gomez (bass), Scott McCarver (guitar), or Gabriel Wiley (drums), Greenwald conveniently tried to fit a square peg in a round hole.

Fortunately, Simpson has been kind enough to lend some time to this ongoing project of mine, and was able to jot down some answers to my endless stream of email questions. As you can see from just a sampling of this material, his perspective will be genuinely helpful for the final version of America Is Just A Word.

Here goes:

Tell me about your personal experience growing up. When did music first hit you, or was it something that was always a part of your life? When did you start playing music?

Chris Simpson: “I lived in Denver, CO from the age of 4-17, so it feels like where I grew up for the most part. I was really into sports as a kid and got into skateboarding in my early teens. My mom was very passionate about music and we always had to listen to whatever she was hot for at the time. My first musical loves were Lionel Richie and Barry Manilow. The first record I bought with my own money was Michael Jackson’s Thriller. At about 14 I think I ditched the sports and skating and decided to go full-on into the music.”

How did Mineral form?

CS: “I finished my last year and a half of high school in Houston, TX. I had met a few friends during school there from going to a lot of shows
and playing solo sets at clubs and coffee shops. I knew I wanted a band and not to perform on my own ultimately. I moved to Austin with my then girlfriend and some other people who were involved in music. Soon after doing so I met Scott and we started trying to write together. We had a very difficult time finding common ground at first. I remember that summer that two records came out that sort of
crystallized our direction, The Catherine Wheel’s Chrome and Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream. We were huge into U2 and Sugar and
Buffalo Tom and Superchunk, etc. We started out playing with a different bassist and drummer calling the band ‘I The Worm’ which was
an awful thing to call a band. Soon after this we started playing with Jeremy and our friend Matt who had also moved to Austin from Houston
that summer, and eventually Gabe took Matt’s place and Mineral, as it was known was begun.”

With The Power of Failing, the album artwork has such a stark, minimalist layout – just a white cover with a little text and a photo and a black inner-cover with a little liner notes here and there: is there any particular reason (artistically, economically, etc) why you decided to go with such a format?

CS: “I think there was a general aesthetic amongst all the bands we found ourselves peers with— Texas is the Reason, The Promise Ring, Christie Front Drive, Boys Life, Knapsack, etc. Everyone seemed to be interested in art work that was minimal I guess. I think we were just
more interested in letting the music speak for itself.”

Why did Mineral break up?

CS: “As we started writing the second record, I began to feel like we were growing apart as writers and personally. I just wasn’t excited about working together anymore. It didn’t feel free or inspiring. It’s like any young relationship I guess. You assume at 19 that the relationships you have in your life will always be there, but realistically, as you get older you start to move in different directions. It was basically me and Jeremy’s decision at the time to quit the band. It was not something that the other guys wanted or liked, so things were pretty sad at the end between all of us. I have ultimate respect for Scott and Gabe as people and bandmates and was sorry to be the driving force behind the end of the band, but you have to follow your heart and instincts.”

What are your thoughts on “emo” in general? When did you first hear it used in combination with describing the music you made (be it with Mineral, the Gloria Record, or Zookeeper)?

CS: “I’m confused and uninspired by it. I remember when I first heard it was when I gave a tape of Mineral to someone I respected who was also a musician and he asked what sort of stuff it was. I guess maybe I mentioned Sunny Day Real Estate as a reference and he said, “Oh, so it’s kind of emo?” I was confused and thought he was referring to the club Emo’s here in Austin where we played a lot in those days. I couldn’t figure out what he could mean by that as a description because as far as the bands who played at Emo’s at the time, I don’t think we were the norm. It was much more of a crusty, garagey, sort of punk sound for the most part. Soon after I realized what it was he was saying and that a lot of other people were saying it too. And they were referring to a lot of predecessors like Rites of Spring, etc that I was unfamiliar with. There was also a real tie to the hardcore scene, which seemed to me to be the farthest from what I identified Mineral with. So, yeah…”

In Andy Greenwald’s book Nothing Feels Good, he pegs Mineral as “a quartet of deathly serious young men,” yet, all lyrical connotations
aside, it doesn’t seem to be the case – the liner notes to the Power of Failing include a description that states “Mineral = pizza boys
gone rock.” Do you feel that the label of “emo” has done something of a dis-service to you (and various others) and your music?

CS: “My friend Chris Colbert said it was belittling to the content of the music, and I think that’s an accurate assessment. It was fun for a bit
to feel that there was this movement that we were considered a part of, but pretty soon you start to realize the danger such classifications pose to creative freedom. The fact is that it was a movement, but not one we were going through so much as one the people who listened to us and came to our shows were going through. As far as Andy Greenwald, I haven’t read the book but I think he was communicating something that a lot of people were also echoing. There was a seriousness and intensity to the material which was not necessarily mirrored in us personally. But most outsiders would have had no way of knowing it. We were, as the liner notes said, actually four pizza boys gone rock.”

konturatu orduko, udazkenaren balkoitik begiratzen diogu udari, hostoak erortzen hasi dira eta egunak laburtzen. berokia jaztera gonbidatuko gaitu eguraldiak eta euri tanten musika entzungo dut larunbat goizetan ohetik jeikitzean. baina gogoko ditut egun hoiek, gogoko dut baite ere udazkeneko egun hotzetan euririk egiten ez duenean hondartza hutsetan pasiatuz, itsasoari begira denbora pasatzea.
gogoko ditut udazkenak, nire talderik gogokoenaren musikak soinu banda jartzen diolako bertako egun grisei, gaurkoan hiru abesti aukeratuko ditut ongi etorri emateko aste hontan heldu den udazkenari:

counting crows walkways
nahiz eta minutu bat eta erdiko abesti bat izan, oroitzapen asko gordetzen dizkit abesti honek bere barruan entzuten dudanean. recovering the satellites diskako azken abestia da eta ezin zuten adam eta bere lagunek abesti ederrago bat aukeratu diskari bukaera emateko. nire bizitzako bidegurutze batetan entzuten nuen diska, diska oso osorik entzutean emozioz abesten nituen abesti batzuk, saltoka hasten nintzen beste batzuetan, ohean etzunda beste batzuekin, baina walkaways zetorrenean, begiak itxi, eta guztiok antzekoak garela eta bakoitzak bere bidetik burrukatu beharko duela esaten zuen adamek, and someday i`m gonna stay but not today. bidegurutzeetan ezin zara eta erdian geratu jendeari begira, aurrera egiteko bide bati heldu beharko diozulako beti.

sekretutxo bat: abesti hau igande askotan, resakarekin entzuten nuen.

counting crows – a long december

hirugarren abestiarekin urte osoan zehar atzean utzi ditugun momentu horiek gogoratuko ditugu, galdutako aukerak, lortutako ametsak, joandako lagunak eta batez ere etorriko diren irrifarrak. adam duritzek abesten duen bezala: a long december and there`s reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last. melankoniaz jazten du bere musika adamek, abenduko egun hotzetarako, hitzen berotasunaz berotzeko…

Counting Crows – A Long December
Cargado por Tunashaker. – Ver más clips de música, videos en HD!

Note: we had some audio problems in the first few minutes of the show, so we are missing a channel – stick with the show, it gets fixed.

Squeaky swings and tall grass
The longest shadows ever cast
The water’s warm and children swim
And we frolicked about in our summer skin

I don’t recall a single care
Just greenery and humid air
Then Labor day came and went
And we shed what was left of our summer skin
“Summer Skin” – Death Cab for Cutie

Summer Lovin’. Endless Summer. Summer of ’69. Boys of Summer. Girls in Their Summer Clothes. There are thousands of reasons musicians write about the lure of a carefree summer. Then we begin to resist fall’s steady pull with all the strength we can summon. Yet here we are post-Labor Day, back to school and filled with melancholy. For our first Great River Radio “Confluence” segment, we will try to capture some of the palpable feelings that arrive with the end of summer. The catalogue is rife with good tunes for this theme as you’ll hear from Buffalo Tom, Death Cab for Cutie, Bob Dylan and Nina Simone. What’s your favorite end-of-summer tune? Let us know, and we’ll try to sneak the request in during the show.

We’ll also kick off season four of Great River Radio by catching up with music you may have missed over the summer. With new song and CD releases by Radiohead, Brother Ali, Why?, Joe Henry, the Dirty Projectors, Holly Williams, the Believers, Avett Brothers, Imogen Heap and many others, there will be plenty to choose from.

Join us today for the first live Great River Radio broadcast of the season. As always, we sift through the scrap heaps of music to bring some of the best new and lasting music to your desktop.

Catch the stream live today at 4-6 p.m. CST: http://kustradio.com
Check in during the show via iChat or AIM: kustradio

And just a reminder to send us some topics for upcoming “Confluence” themes. You suggest a mini-theme, and we find the tunes to match the mood. Feel free to challenge us – our brains could use the exercise.

Playlist

Drops in the River-Fleet Foxes
Harry Patch (In Memory Of)-Radiohead
Us-Brother Ali
How High the Moon-Les Paul and Mary Ford
Higher Ground-The Believers
Eden Was a Garden-Roman Candle
Summer Skin-Death Cab For Cutie
Summer-Buffalo Tom
The Last Rose of Summer-Nina Simone
Summer Days-Bob Dylan
Too Much Time-John Vanderslice
Frank, AB-The Rural Alberta Advantage
This Blackest Purse-Why?
Sick Muse-Metric
I and Love and You-The Avett Brothers
Three Days in Bed-Holly Williams
Doomsday-Elvis Perkins In Dearland
Here Comes A Regular-The Replacements (request)
Our Shangri-La-Mark Knopfler (request)
Runaway-Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Man I Keep Hid-Joe Henry
My Maudlin Career-Camera Obscura
Wait It Out-Imogen Heap
Coal War-Joshua James
Highway Song-What Bird
The Field-Mason Jennings

kalatxoriak urruntzen hasten direnean, udako argiak ilundu eta goizeko hotza hezurretaraino sartzen hasten zaizunean, orduntxe hasten naiz ni lanean. udako bi hilabeteak pasa dira, paisaia ezberdinez jantzi ditugu gure egun lasaiak, amaitzen ez ziren ilunabarrak margoztu ditugu gure begietan, baina udazkenak aurkitu du gunakako bidea eta guk ere laister aurkitu beharko dugu pasa den neguan garbitu eta plantxatu gabe armairuan sartu genuen berokia.
aurtengo kurtsoan lanetik idazten nagoen lehen posta da hau, zeruko hodeiei begiratu eta zure irrifarra margozten diet. lasai lasai niri begira daude eta nik beraiek besarkatu nahi ditut, zu besarkatzen zaitudan bezala, goxo goxo, muxu emanez,zuk niri begiratu eta ni lurrintzen naizen bitartean.
orozkotik…
buffalo tom taldearen summer abestia, udako oroitzapenak betirako gordetzeko…

Viikon biisinä bostonilaisyhtye Buffalo Tomin Taillights Fade levyltä Let Me Come Over (1992).

Levyllä vuorottelevat rajummat ja kevyemmät kappaleet. Jälkimmäiset ovat enemmän mieleeni. Mineral, Larry, Frozen Lake…

Mineral (Kylmät väreet ovat tosiasia Kitara on vaan niin hyvä.)

Bill Janovitz - weekly

If you’ve not heard the name Bill Janovitz, you may know his band Buffalo Tom. Although not as big as other 90s alterna-rock giants, they were critically acclaimed and well loved for their emotional, passionate rock songs and Janovitz’s great vocals. Although it’s been over a decade since their heyday, Janovitz has embarked on a (quietly) ambitious project to record an new cover a week, and giving them away on his blog.

Janovitz is older now, and has kids and a day job. He does a weekly residency in Boston and as a way of getting music out there, he has created this little “self-assignment”. 30 weeks in and he has yet to miss a week, although he is honest on his blog about how close he comes.

It’s one of the charms of his blogs; the stories he tells of what he has decided to cover. And what led him this week to the song. A conversation with a friend, a gig that he saw or something he read in a magazine can set him off. He also went seasonal for Christmas, New Year’s and the presidential inauguration. Reading this blog, you feel like you a peering into a man’s music diary. Which is essentially what this is.

Above all, Janovitz, a talented writer, goes on about the past. How the songs he has chosen came into his life. Stories of family, friends and poker nights that conspired to lead him to a tune, the one he’s singing for you now. It would make a great autobiography. I’m sure Nick Hornby agrees.

The range of songs Janovitz chooses is quite impressive. There’s breadth – from Hank Williams, Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, Bruce Springsteen, The Replacements, Blondie and Radiohead. But there’s also depth – little known gems by the Band (Whispering Pines), Husker Du (Hardly Getting Over It) and many others that have sent us back to the originals for another listen. Of course, quite a few gems we’ve never heard of at all. We caught a show in Boston and he covered two songs yet to appear on his blog that we loved – Neil Young’s ‘Barstool Blues‘ and Elvis Costello’s ‘Oliver’s Army‘.

Also mentioned a few times is a new Buffalo Tom record in the works. They still tour every now and again. I’m almost going to be sad when they do, if it interrupts this down home, intimate experiment.

Check out The Life And Times Of Bill Janovitz: Part Time Man Of Rock – http://billjanovitz.blogspot.com and get your mp3s now!

Some cool links and thoughts on Buffalo Tom after the jump. Also the fantastic videos for the Buffalo Tom classics ‘Taillights Fade‘ and ‘Wiser‘ .

If you’ve not heard Buffalo Tom, a great place to start is Asides - a greatest hits collection. Those to don’t like collections as a place to start, we recommend 1992’s Let Me Come Over, although it looks like the CD is out of print.

Buffalo Tom official site – http://www.buffalotom.com

‘Wiser’ from 1998’s Smitten

‘Taillights Fade’ from 1992’s Let Me Come Over

And listening to Archers to Loaf has made think of the soundtrack for My So-Called Life, which had a number of good songs on it, including this one.

This time of year always makes me feel like listening to one of my favorite bands, Buffalo Tom, a semi-obscure alternative rock group from Boston. Not only did Buffalo Tom play a large role in one of my favorite television series, My So-Called Life, but they also put down a track on the School House Rock! Rocks album, “Lolly Lolly Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here.” Let’s just put it this way, if any of my dear friends are reading this, put Buffalo Tom in your mental filing cabinet of “bands I’d love to see live.” Their shows are quite rare to come by these days. 

If you’re in the market for some new music, check out their video, and download some of their other songs. I recommend anything off their 1993 album, Big Red Letter Day: namely, “Sodajerk” and my favorite BT song, “Late at Night.” Their sound is a combination of: Dinosaur Jr., The Replacements, and Blind Melon. If you’re looking for feel-good ’90s with lyrics that make you think, Buffalo Tom is worthy of your ears.

I was one album off in my memory of Buffalo Tom losing it. This is the album where the wheels fell off and I stopped purchasing (they also took a very long hiatus after this release – perhaps understandably).

The band really have misplaced their mojo here. The tracks are way too soft and overproduced.  There is very little edge. The focus on slower numbers only serves to highlight their inadequacies.

It feels like a band going through the motions.  At the same time there is a sniff of desperation. New elements like harmonising are explored. The song-writing is laboured. They are grasping for rhymes, and wallowing in a deep pit of cliches.

I’m searching for redeeming characteristics here.  I guess if you’d never heard any of their other stuff you might see glimpses of gold and promise.  But when the fall has been so swift it is very hard to get excited.

The opening track (Rachel) is their best effort, but it isn’t anywhere enough to justify the album.

My CD comes with a bonus 4-track live set at Melbourne’s own Triple-R radio station.  As these are songs from their glory days, it just serves to remind us what has been lost.

File under: I think they meant smited

The prime motivation behind starting this blog was the incentive to revisit albums that might have been gathered dust on my shelf. Today is one of those days where I pat myself on the back for this brainwave.

For some reason I had pretty much forgotten this album.  For some reason I had convinced myself that Buffalo Tom had ‘lost it’ some time after Big Red Letter Day and that this album was the onset of this decline.  I was wrong.

I must have given this CD many spins back in the day.  Each track is very familiar, and its great to back amongst old friends.

While Big Red Letter Day was a chilled out set of slower tempo tunes, this album sees the band rocking out again. The drums have been cranked up, the riffs are flying again, and Janovitz is belting out the vocals.

The three opening tracks are big, powerful and fun. Rhyming “kitchen door” with “baseball team from Baltimore” is whacky (at least in the world of BT). It seems the boys were enjoying themselves a lot on this one.

The album retains the pace and quality right through its 14 tracks.

I’m glad to have rediscovered this winner.

File under: A cracking dawn

When you’re onto a good thing stick with it. Buffalo Tom didn’t fall for the “let’s get all experimental” trick upon the success of Let Me Come Over. Instead they just kept on keeping on.

Well, that’s not quite true. They slowed it down a bit here. The guitars are less harsh and you can hear more steel strings. The vocals are even more prominent and almost always in the slow-burner almost-ballad category.

Without their back catalogue, and the occasional flourishes from the drumkit, the band might almost be condemned to sit-down gigs. I’d be happy to lounge around and enjoy it as they worked their way through much of this album. As it is, the material probably straddles the nice line between ’sit and soak up’ versus ’stand and sway appreciatively’.

The songwriting is almost stronger on this album than the last. Vocal lines are better harmonised with riffs. The standout tracks – Torch Singer, I’m Allowed, Treehouse - are in the band’s top 6 or 7 all-time. The album doesn’t quite match up with its predecessor simply on the grounds of energy and highpoints. Nevertheless, this is a band very close to its peak.

File under: Not junk mail

This was the first BT album I bought. Listening to it in the context of it’s predecessors highlights what a huge leap it was for the band.

From the opening track it is obvious we are listening to a new and exciting Buffalo Tom. Staples is confident and measured, and substantially better than anything they’d recorded before. The drums are more powerful. The guitars are so swirling and layered that it is stunning they were still a trio.

The band then step it up further with their breakthrough single, the magnificent Taillights Fade. In case, you’ve somehow never heard the tune, here’s the vid:

The song’s a winner, and captures the sound of the album very well.

There is more killer on here. Velvet Roof ranks alongside the two aforementioned tunes as their best work. Porchlight mines a similar rich vein. Appropriately, so does Mineral.

What made the difference? The production is more sympathetic to the slower tempoed tunes. The vocals are less strained and more emotive. The lead guitar work is often more lyrical.

The album isn’t perfect. There is a slight sameness to several tracks. But it still stands out as an all-time fave for me.

File under: An invitation that is hard to resist

Buffalo Tom made considerable progress between their debut and this second effort.

They cleaned up their production and got considerably more diverse.

The core elements are still there. Bill Janovitz’s powerful and emotive voice. Pounding rhythms (where required), and swirling, driving guitar. If someone wanted to know what early-mid 90s college rock sounded like, you could do a lot worse than throw them this CD.

The diversity comes from the songwriting. The vocals are given more space and the tempos change considerably from song to song (and sometimes within).

The opening title track is a standout with a killer riff and restrained but catchy chorus. The following track, Skeleton Key demonstrates their new willingness to slow it down. By Fortune Teller they are really comfortable and competent in this more measured world.

My version of the CD finishes up with a couple of bonus acoustic tracks (one a Psychedelic Furs cover, the other an excellent reworking of a track from album one). Both demonstrate the capacity of the band to produce powerful (but not power-) ballads. They also presage further diversity in sound we would see on their future releases.

What would they achieve next?

File under: A big step up

Looking back at the list of reviews so far, I reckon Buffalo Tom are the third act thus far that I have owned a t-shirt in honour of. In fact, I have worn out two tees from this Boston trio. Both were purchased at gigs in the mid 90s, presumably when they toured albums 3 & 4.

It was album three that lured me (and many others) to this mob’s guitar-heavy indie-rock. I subsequently picked up this earlier work.

The debut reveals yet another band that was born pretty much fully-formed. The core sounds and approach are there for all to hear. Bill Janovitz’s voice is powerful and distinctive. The drums are pounding. The guitar buzzes and squeals in Dinosaur Jr-like majesty.

This last comparison is worth pursuing. J Mascis from said band produced this album. The guitar runs free on here perhaps more than on the band’s later works. The mix is a little dirtier too. Janovitz’s voice is the distinguishing characteristic – it lacks Mascis’ laconic drawl and is closer to Bob Mould’s (without the straining).

In the end what is lacking here is a killer single or two. The songwriting is still a bit weak and hackneyed.

File under: Nowhere near as ugly as the cover art

“Last Five” and journey home:

I’m On Fire – Bat For Lashes

The Heinrich Maneuver – Interpol

Song for Woody – Bob Dylan

Intermezzo From Cavalleria Rusticana – Mascagni

First Few Desperate Hours – The Mountain Goats

Jorge Regula – Moldy Peaches

Long Haul – Voxtrot

Lion’s Escape – Karl Larsson

Powerman – The Kinks

Seems that as much as I blog for work, I still fail to come up with anything to say for ‘myself’ here.

It’s a strange old time… I’ve spent a lot of time listening to the always glorious sounds of Last Days of April too after reading Karl Larsson’s blog and getting all giddy and excited at the prospect of the next album this autumn. This is one of my favourite bands, I’ve seen them in the best possible locations here when they played Chatham and even got a request in (Aspirins and Alcohol).

On the subject of albums… I’m very excited about the prospect of new ones this year from Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. along with the potential for another from the reunited Buffalo Tom. I still smile that two of my favourite bands (LDOA and BT) are unknown to most and I get the huge delight of watching the music be heard for the first time.

Meanwhile, I’ve been rediscovering old greats that I must have failed to appreciate properly the first time. Bruce’s Magic keeps revealing more and more layers as does his latest and I’m warming, at last, to Conor Oberst’s solo effort – just in time for his next one to drop.

I can’t stop delving into my current obsession – the second World War. NOT the whole battle and glory shit. Just the people involved. The personal stories and struggles… how they just got on with it and somehow kept going in the face of such horror and adversity both in action and on a daily life basis. I’ve cleared a couple of books on the subject (one by a U-Boat commander and the other a RAF fighter pilot) and have been leant Das Boot and Downfall….. I’m starting to develop some really fleshed out ideas for a novel set in this time.

I’ve been back and forth to Paris a few times this last month, to see my Beloved. I’ve made a huge decision too in life terms. I’ll say more when it’s appropriate too…

The noise of BrokenOrchestra seems to be on hold. I got fed up with the fuzz. It’s all about melodies and acoustic for me at the moment. Nothing gloomy, just a desire to strip it back and develop more as a player rather than drown in noise.

Buffalo Tom, Mega City Four, Element Of Crime, Stone Roses und andere, Paket bei Ebay.

He’s a lumberjack and he’s ok. He drinks all night and he reviews all day. Everett True reviews the singles of the week, 11th December 1993.

Listening to Adoration by The Cranes on Spotify and loving it. What are you doing?