Wow – here we are at another
milestone – review number 600!
It is hard to fathom how big a
project this has become (I’ve been at it since 2009), or how much longer I
still have to go (a long way) but for now I’m just enjoying the journey.
It is fitting that this review be
of a band that my wife Sheila put me on to, since she is also the person who
encouraged me to start blogging. This in turn got me writing creatively again
as well – thanks Sheila!
Disc 600 is….The Things We Left Behind
Artist: Blue
Rodeo
Year of Release: 2009
What’s up with the Cover? The band standing
in a field at what I believe is sunrise, although I suppose it could be sunset.
Coupled with the title of the album it makes me think about how the sun leaves
everything behind every day, only to welcome everything back a few hours later.
Until one day it blows up into a red giant and incinerates the earth of course.
For now let’s just enjoy the sunrise.
How I Came To Know It: This was just me buying their
latest album when it came out. I usually buy new Blue Rodeo albums as gifts for
Sheila, but I can’t say for certain if that’s what happened in this case.
How It Stacks Up: We have 13 Blue Rodeo albums, and I like all of them
in one way or another. “The Things We Left Behind” is one of the better ones,
and I’m going to put it fifth, just behind “The Days in Between” (reviewed back
at Disc 452) and “Lost Together” (reviewed back at Disc 467).
Rating: 4 stars
Usually when I review a
double-album, the things I want to leave behind are half the songs, since
double albums are almost always bloated with throw-away tracks. It was
therefore a pleasant surprise when I first heard this record and discovered the
material was so consistently good.
“The Things We Left Behind” is a
return to form for Blue Rodeo after a couple of lesser records (2005’s “Are You
Ready” and 2007’s “Small Miracles” – neither of which I’ve reviewed yet). Like
all good Blue Rodeo albums both Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy are on their game, and
their styles complement and support each other.
For Keelor, this means bringing
the rockabilly to the album with “Never
Look Back” which could have been a rock and roll hit in any of the last
four decades (although apparently not this one). He also delivers some of his
best introspective mood pieces, particularly “Don’t Let The Darkness In Your Head.” Keelor can stray into self-pity
with some of his songs, and “Don’t Let
The Darkness…” is surprisingly upbeat, and it feels like the title’s
message is mostly to himself. I’ve been walking to work at five in the morning the
last couple of weeks and this song has been a comforting whisper in my ear as I
move through dark and mostly empty streets. It didn’t so much keep the darkness
out of my head so much as it made me appreciate it all around me; it’s good for
thinking.
Cuddy is the more folk side of the
two songwriters, and while his work on “The Things We Left Behind” isn’t his
absolute best, it is close. “One Light
Left in Heaven” is a reminder that no one turns an argument into a song
like Jim Cuddy. You’d think based on his subject matter that he’s breaking up
with someone every month. If that were true, he sure does it beautifully:
“You know I’ll wait here for you.
I’ll wait here for you
No matter where you go
Or what you put me through
And I have walked this floor for hours and hours
Underneath the moon
And I am slowly disappearing here
Just a ghost that’s shining through
And I don’t know if you’ll come back to me
Or if you want to
But I’ll be waiting for you.”
As with their most recent album, “In
Our Nature,” Michael Boguski is on keyboards and adds a depth to the songs with
his flourishes without letting the arrangements get too busy. In fact, there is
an overall sparseness to the album that appealed to me. Over the years Blue
Rodeo has experimented a fair bit with production and arrangement values, but I
like them best when they keep it simple. They do that here, and the songwriting
on “The Things We Left Behind” is easily strong enough to stand up to the
resulting scrutiny.
There are a couple of Greg Keelor
noodle-fests on the album (“Million Miles”
and “Venus Rising” where he gets a
bit too self-indulgent. “Million Miles” holds together OK under
the pressure of over nine minutes of meandering, but “Venus Rising” is a sprawling mess. Together the two tracks total 19
minutes, and without them the album could be 14 tracks long (my usual maximum)
and total 65 minutes. You could even fit it on a single disc at that point.
Still this is a minor quibble on
what is an amazing display of both songwriting and execution. If the boys want
to put the record out as a double LP and it’s as good as this, then who am I
tell them otherwise?
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