gunsella
11-03-2006, 02:58 PM
Us music geeks love making lists. We want to quantify everything. Who is the best, worst, loudest, ugliest of them all? In this spirit one would expect that I would choose the best Buffalo Tom album for review. For the first time in my geeky life I am finding it impossible to choose a favourite. In my eyes this band can do no wrong. So I simply chose the one that is playing on my portable music device as I type this. From the heading of the page it must be clear that I have chosen their fourth album, 1993’s Big Red Letter Day.
This Boston trio’s third album, Let Me Come Over, was the one that brought them to the attention of the wider community beyond the college radio scene. More polished than the previous two releases (self-titled and Birdbrain), there was still evidence of their rougher roots on songs such as Velvet Roof and Stymied. But for Big Red Letter Day it appears they decided that they would put their integrity on the line and go for the big bucks. Their uniquely simple approach to pop-rock songwriting is unchanged, the aural experience is still totally gratifying, they still rock hard (and play softly too), but the guitars are less grating and raw. However, they were unable to remove the gravel from Bill Janovitz’s distinctive voice, and all in all this appears to be a winning combination.
Janovitz has a way with lyrics such that I still get shivers listening to him. He rhymes like a gangsta but he carries so much weight in his words. Take, for instance, the final song on this LP, “Anything That Way”:
The moon was full, your whiskey sour
Oh girl there’s no need to be so dour.
Cos when you walk with me in the beginning of the day
You said “I don’t need anything that way”
I’m wishing things could be the same
When things got broken you came
My moods were always changing, they blue then brown then grey
You said “I don’t need anything that way”
Clearly this is a song about a relationship turned sour, but the analogy with whiskey is stunning and unexpected. From the opening line of the song he paints a picture of the night things began to go wrong using so few words but such graphic imagery. His rhyming is effortless like Dylan (see “Tangled Up in Blue” or “Shelter From the Storm”. It feels like his stories could only be told in this language and is merely an extra bonus that every line rhymes when it needs to.
His vocal delivery is the other half of what makes his lyrics so great. He could make you cry just by reading his address off his fat royalty cheque that he got for selling their song “Tree House” to Nike for television advertisements. Here is another song with simple yet effective rhymes and excellent use of mental imagery.
Tree house, your mind is like a tree house
I climb up the shaky ladder
Your bird flies with you
It’s claws of orange hue
And I watch you flying over my head.
You could not care less
So you got more
Like driftwood from the shore
You were rotten to the core.
But Buffalo Tom is about more than just lyrics. Musically, their songs are masterpieces of their genre. They rarely use more than five chords in their highly original songs, proving that, contrary to popular belief, not every song has been written yet. For their music sounds like no-one but themselves. For Buffalo Tom simplicity is the key. A typical verse will move between two or three chords, with a third or fourth as a foil near the end of the verse. For the chorus they will most often rework these same few chords, but a vocal melody will boost the chorus into a new energy level.
Take the album’s sixth track, “My Resonsibility”, featuring bassist Chris Colbourn on vocals. The verse is just two chords shifting back and forth. But instead of succumbing to the desire for new chords, they instead choose to introduce layered guitars to maintain the interest of the listener. Then the melody changes, still over the same two chords. In fact, it is not until 2 minutes into the song that a third chord is introduced. And it doesn’t feel boring at all.
Seventh song, “Dry Land” breaks my rules – this song features a sum total of six chords. Four of them are in the verse, the other two are in the chorus. Again it is their mastery of lyrics and vocal delivery, vocal melody and most importantly, band dynamics that makes this song such a winner.
Buffalo Tom is not a band of virtuosos but they understand the importance of the dynamic push and pull that beats at the heart of every good pop song. They understand harmony and melody, and they know where all the parts of a song should go. Buffalo Tom are not heavy but they can rock. If you are after killer riffs and technically brilliant guitar solos you will not find them here. What you will find on Big Red Letter Day is 11 pop songs, all skilfully crafted and executed, as quality pop should be.
Addendum - According to their website they are rehearsing a new album at the moment. This is great news for me, as last I heard they had broken up.
This Boston trio’s third album, Let Me Come Over, was the one that brought them to the attention of the wider community beyond the college radio scene. More polished than the previous two releases (self-titled and Birdbrain), there was still evidence of their rougher roots on songs such as Velvet Roof and Stymied. But for Big Red Letter Day it appears they decided that they would put their integrity on the line and go for the big bucks. Their uniquely simple approach to pop-rock songwriting is unchanged, the aural experience is still totally gratifying, they still rock hard (and play softly too), but the guitars are less grating and raw. However, they were unable to remove the gravel from Bill Janovitz’s distinctive voice, and all in all this appears to be a winning combination.
Janovitz has a way with lyrics such that I still get shivers listening to him. He rhymes like a gangsta but he carries so much weight in his words. Take, for instance, the final song on this LP, “Anything That Way”:
The moon was full, your whiskey sour
Oh girl there’s no need to be so dour.
Cos when you walk with me in the beginning of the day
You said “I don’t need anything that way”
I’m wishing things could be the same
When things got broken you came
My moods were always changing, they blue then brown then grey
You said “I don’t need anything that way”
Clearly this is a song about a relationship turned sour, but the analogy with whiskey is stunning and unexpected. From the opening line of the song he paints a picture of the night things began to go wrong using so few words but such graphic imagery. His rhyming is effortless like Dylan (see “Tangled Up in Blue” or “Shelter From the Storm”. It feels like his stories could only be told in this language and is merely an extra bonus that every line rhymes when it needs to.
His vocal delivery is the other half of what makes his lyrics so great. He could make you cry just by reading his address off his fat royalty cheque that he got for selling their song “Tree House” to Nike for television advertisements. Here is another song with simple yet effective rhymes and excellent use of mental imagery.
Tree house, your mind is like a tree house
I climb up the shaky ladder
Your bird flies with you
It’s claws of orange hue
And I watch you flying over my head.
You could not care less
So you got more
Like driftwood from the shore
You were rotten to the core.
But Buffalo Tom is about more than just lyrics. Musically, their songs are masterpieces of their genre. They rarely use more than five chords in their highly original songs, proving that, contrary to popular belief, not every song has been written yet. For their music sounds like no-one but themselves. For Buffalo Tom simplicity is the key. A typical verse will move between two or three chords, with a third or fourth as a foil near the end of the verse. For the chorus they will most often rework these same few chords, but a vocal melody will boost the chorus into a new energy level.
Take the album’s sixth track, “My Resonsibility”, featuring bassist Chris Colbourn on vocals. The verse is just two chords shifting back and forth. But instead of succumbing to the desire for new chords, they instead choose to introduce layered guitars to maintain the interest of the listener. Then the melody changes, still over the same two chords. In fact, it is not until 2 minutes into the song that a third chord is introduced. And it doesn’t feel boring at all.
Seventh song, “Dry Land” breaks my rules – this song features a sum total of six chords. Four of them are in the verse, the other two are in the chorus. Again it is their mastery of lyrics and vocal delivery, vocal melody and most importantly, band dynamics that makes this song such a winner.
Buffalo Tom is not a band of virtuosos but they understand the importance of the dynamic push and pull that beats at the heart of every good pop song. They understand harmony and melody, and they know where all the parts of a song should go. Buffalo Tom are not heavy but they can rock. If you are after killer riffs and technically brilliant guitar solos you will not find them here. What you will find on Big Red Letter Day is 11 pop songs, all skilfully crafted and executed, as quality pop should be.
Addendum - According to their website they are rehearsing a new album at the moment. This is great news for me, as last I heard they had broken up.