Well, that was depressing triple
overtime, watching hockey for five hours just to lose Game 1 of the Stanley Cup
finals. Argh. And now my reward is the worst…Blue Rodeo
album…ever. Well, at least it’s Blue
Rodeo.
Disc 521 is…. Nowhere to Here
Artist: Blue
Rodeo
Year of Release: 1995
What’s up with the Cover? It is hard to tell.
I think there is some sort of farmhouse in the distance, but the whole
thing is obscured by some sort of dust storm or strange camera filter. Like the album itself, the cover photo could
be simple and beautiful but instead it is all messed up and hard to follow.
How I Came To Know It: Sheila is a big Blue Rodeo fan, and I’m completely
converted. She bought this one to fill
out her collection.
How It Stacks Up: We have all twelve of Blue Rodeo’s studio
albums. Overall, it is a great body of
work, but something had to be last.
“Nowhere to Here” is that something.
Rating: 2 stars.
“Nowhere
to Here” is the follow up to Blue Rodeo’s greatest album, “Five Days in July”
and it was apparent early that it wasn’t going to live up to that masterpiece.
For
starters, let me say that I am a full-on Blue Rodeo convert. Their blend of rock, rockabilly and country
music is a unique one, and the way co-band leaders Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy bring
together their different styles is some kind of beautiful alchemy. These guys have twelve albums, many of which
are great and none of which are truly bad.
With all that said, “Nowhere to Here” is as bad as they get.
The
first couple of tracks (“Save Myself”,
“Girl in Green”) are a very weak way
to start a record. Blue Rodeo is
typically masterful at constructing new and interesting songs out of fairly
simple melodies. “The opening tracks of “Nowhere
to Here” sound like they are trying really hard to put together a new sound,
and the result sounds forced and artificial.
The melodic progressions are interesting, but ultimately
discordant. It reminded me a little of
Radiohead and not in a good way.
Similarly
the album layers on excess production, making it fuzzy and taking away from
what song structure there is. The second
track, “Girl in Green” isn’t quite as
bad, but like the opening song it is over six minutes long and just seems to
drag.
In the
middle of the album things improve a fair bit, and starting at track four, we
get the best three songs all in a row.
“Side of the Road” sees Keelor backing
away from his dreamy, dopey opening and approaching some of the magic he makes
on earlier songs like “Lost Together.”
“Better Off As We Are” is the album’s hit
and deservedly so. Although I find the
tempo a tiny bit rushed in the chorus, this is rightfully a Blue Rodeo classic,
with an instantly recognizable guitar riff to open it, and some tinkling of the
organ’s higher notes to add contrast.
The song is paradoxically celebratory of the human condition, even as it
is tinged in sadness in recognizing our limitations.
The trio
of good songs wraps up with “Sky,” a
classic Jim Cuddy mournful dirge. I’ve
said it in previous reviews but it bears repeating; no one does heartache like
Cuddy. The lyrics aren’t great, and
certainly not worth quoting like some of his other classics, but Cuddy can sing
the phone book and it would just make you think of old girlfriends with similar
names.
Sadly,
the success is short lived, and we are brought back down to earth with an
aimless stoner piece by Keelor called “Brown
Eyed Dog.” Lines like this:
“Sometimes my flesh entwines
With the bones of your breath.”
Are
caught up in the sound of the words and how they combine, but don’t build a
very strong image for me. Later Keelor
does a spoken word section which rambles aimlessly. The song reminds you of what it is like to
wake up on a sidewalk after a bender, and feels about as pleasant.
Nothing
else on the album is as truly bad as “Brown
Eyed Dog” although “Get Through to
You” has one of the worst forced rhymes I can recall in recent review
memory:
“I wish you could read my mind ‘cause
then you’d see
That I’d never take you for
granted
Even though sometimes it feels
like we’re on different planets.”
Yeesh.
Against
their other amazing work, “Nowhere to Here” clocks in as decidedly average. In places it succeeds and shows all the usual
excellence of a Blue Rodeo album, but too many of the songs are overwrought and
overlong (particularly the final track, “Flaming
Bed” which ambles aimlessly for over eight minutes).
I would
say “Nowhere to Here” is for Blue Rodeo completionists only. Fortunately, I am one, and even though it isn’t
an album I put on often, I admire these guys too much to part with even their
weakest offering.
Best tracks: Side of the Road, Better Off As We Are, Sky
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