CD Odyssey Disc 1086: Blue Rodeo

Season’s greetings, gentle readers! Santa was very good to me, and I have a $50 gift certificate to my local record store burning a hole in my pocket. But before all that happens, let’s review something already in the collection.

Disc 1086 is…Palace of Gold

Artist: Blue Rodeo

Year of Release: 2002

What’s up with the Cover? It’s a collage full of various pretty things (flowers, guitars, colorful frogs) jumbled together to create a hill with a palace on top of it. I note with some disappointment this palace is not gold, although it does have a golden sun burning behind it. Maybe the palace got its nickname due to the memorable sunsets it enjoys.

As for the collage, while I like the individual images in isolation, they are a lot less appealing jumbled together.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila got me into Blue Rodeo years ago and I probably bought her this album when it came out.

How It Stacks Up:  We have 13 Blue Rodeo albums. Of those 13, “Palace of Gold” is in a dead heat with “Lost Together” at 6 or 7. Which is better (or more deserving of a four star rating) depends on how I am feeling at any particular moment. Today the Christmas spirit is making me feel generous, so I’m going to bump “Palace of Gold” ahead of “Lost Together” and into sixth.

Ratings: 4 stars

Before writing this review I listened to this album in perfect Canadian conditions: waiting for a bus in the freezing cold. The thoughtful artistic expression of principal songwriters Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor kept my heart warm despite the bite of winter, and the padded headphones did the same for my ears.

For an album that was supposed to be a departure from Blue Rodeo’s signature sound, the opening track off “Palace of Gold,” with its blasts of organ layered over country/rock melodies sounds an awful lot like what Blue Rodeo always sounds like.

Sure the arrangements are a bit more lush, and Cuddy and Keelor have added some horn here and there, but this is still Blue Rodeo at its core. This is a good thing because horns or no horns, “Palace of Gold” has some of Blue Rodeo’s finest songwriting. While I would have liked some of these songs stripped down a bit more so I could appreciate that songwriting, there were other times that I welcomed the orchestral swell of it all.

The horns make their first significant appearance at the end of track three, a Keelor number called “Homeward Bound Angel” and sound…OK. It felt a bit like they were trying to channel the Rolling Stones and they kept the song going about a minute longer than it needed to be. Then again, if you get mad at Keelor for stretching an otherwise good song then you’re going to be mad a lot. As an experienced Blue Rodeo fan, I knew enough to just shrug and enjoy the ride.

The album has two masterpieces, one by each band leader. Cuddy’s entry is “Bulletproof,” a plea in the midst of a fight with your loved one to stop the barbed retorts flying around the room before someone gets hurt. This song has an oddly placed  flamenco guitar solo in the middle of it, but it manages to work, chiefly because the cry of Cuddy’s voice as he seeks an emotional armistice is so powerful and honest.

One again I found on balance I was enjoying Cuddy’s folk-country style slightly more appealing than Keelor’s stoner rock, but both had their moments. The second masterpiece belongs to Keelor, in fact. “Stage Door” is a song about the little things that give someone comfort in times of uncertainty. For Keelor, the list is simple:

“Ain’t no mystery, what I need

Is understanding and your sweet sympathy

A steel string guitar and a little weed

And someone to keep me company

Someone to keep me company.”

This song has a flourish of violin that really adds to the swell of it all, and takes Keelor’s stoner sounds and makes them a bit more orchestral. I liked the effect, and as with Cuddy on “Bulletproof,” the emotional honesty in Keelor’s delivery gives additional gravitas to what is already a pretty emotionally charged song.

The album edges into being too long at 14 songs and 55 minutes, but there is enough quality sprinkled through the experience that it was easy to forgive. Over the years we’ve played this record a lot (it is one of Sheila’s favourites) and it is still fresh and enjoyable. It may have a few more bells and whistles (and trumpets) than usual but at its core it is just another great Blue Rodeo album and well worth your time.

Best tracks: Holding On, Homeward Bound Angel, Bulletproof, Love Never Lies, Stage Door

CD Odyssey Disc 807: Blue Rodeo

A thoroughly enjoyable weekend is winding down. I finished almost all my Christmas shopping on Friday, went to a fun party on Saturday and earlier today my beloved Miami Dolphins won their game. Life is good.

Disc 807 is….Are You Ready

Artist: Blue Rodeo

Year of Release: 2005

What’s up with the Cover? Despite the fact that band name looks like it was painted by the same guy who did the art on the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo, the green on this cover feels restful to my eye. It reminds me of those unused country roads I used to walk down when I lived in a small town, but no longer see now that I’m a city boy. “Are you ready to move back to the country?” asks this album cover. Hell no, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a pretty painting of it.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila introduced me to Blue Rodeo back when we were first dating. “Are You Ready” is just us buying their latest album when it came out, as we are wont to do.

How It Stacks Up:  We have 13 Blue Rodeo albums, which is all of them with the exception of last year’s Christmas album (which is not going to happen). “Are You Ready” is an OK record, but far from my favourite. I’m going to put it 11^th.

Ratings: 3 stars

“Are You Ready” has its moments but it took a little too long to heat up. Half the time I was having a great time, and the other half I found myself thinking fondly of other Blue Rodeo albums I liked better.

The album is a return to Blue Rodeo’s more traditional mix of rock and country after a bit of experimentation with horn flourishes on 2002’s “Palace of Gold.” The songs are the usual mix of Jim Cuddy crooners for the lovelorn and the stoner rock of Greg Keelor. Unfortunately, the opening track “Can’t Help Wondering Why” didn’t inspire, and was so perfectly in the pocket of their sound it felt derivative of earlier efforts. The second (and title) track is a stoner rock song by Keelor, which again just felt like it was mailed in by a bar band doing a Blue Rodeo tribute gig.

By the time I got to the album’s single, “Rena,” (buried three songs in) I was ready to write this album off. Fortunately, while “Rena” isn’t the greatest song Blue Rodeo has ever done it does have a pretty guitar hook and Cuddy’s voice sounds easy and relaxed. I wouldn’t go so far as to say “Rena” is a favourite for me, but it began to redeem my opinion of the album.

I always think I’m more into the Jim Cuddy folksy side of Blue Rodeo, but on every album Greg Keelor wins me over and reminds me he is every bit as important to the band’s success. On “Are You Ready” that Keelor moment is “Phaedra’s Meadow.” This is a haunting song with an echoing production that musically mimics the isolation we all feel in our own thoughts from time to time. It is a song about jealousy that is wrapped up in fey imagery that makes you think the singer is about to be abducted by elves. Nothing so exciting happens – he walks into a meadow to clear his head. This is a song for anyone who has ever wanted to explode with anger, but instead made the far wiser decision of just taking a long walk in the woods and cooling off.

“Phaedra’s Meadow” cooled off my anger at wanting the first half of the record to be better, and I think it was a big part of why I enjoyed Side Two so much more. “Stuck on You” is a pretty song that feels like Keelor is channeling Gordon Lightfoot (this is a good thing) and on “Finger Lakes” Cuddy lands a perfect balance between dutiful resolve and idealistic romance.

After one last overlong and overblown track attempted to make me start disliking the album again (“Tired of Pretending”) the album won me over one more time with one of my all time favourite Blue Rodeo songs: “Don’t Get Angry.”

“Don’t Get Angry” is Cuddy at his mournful best, as he sings a song about a failed love affair. Ostensibly Cuddy’s character is asking his ex to not dwell on what went wrong or why the relationship ended. However, as you listen you realize that the song is really about his own failure to move on, not hers:

"If you see some picture of us

Lying on the bed

Some old memory haunts you

Gets stuck inside your head

Don't get angry about it

And wish we'd never been

Don't get roped into a corner

And try changing everything

Don't get paralyzed with fear

And stand there wondering what to do

Just forget it girl, and I will too"

This isn’t advice, this is a confession. He’s calling her thinking he’s going to give her emotional support, but really it’s just to tell her he’s still a mess.

Cuddy’s vocals on “Don’t Get Angry” are soft and strong in equal measure. He doesn’t reach for big notes like he does on early classics like “Try” but because he sings with such honesty he doesn’t have to.

Two thirds of the way through the song, they start adding harmonica to the song and it is the perfect poignant expression of a guy trying to be cool but about to lose it and start balling. “Don’t Get Angry” is like one of those drunken phone calls to your ex to tell her you miss her, if you were actually able to say everything perfectly.

Despite its poor opening (and lack of proper punctuation) “Are You Ready” had mostly won me over by the time it ended, and reminded me that even a weaker Blue Rodeo album is still pretty damned good.

Best tracks:  Phaedra’s Meadow, Finger Lakes, Don’t Get Angry

CD Odyssey Disc 657: Blue Rodeo

I’ve been sleeping fitfully most of this week, and waking up with a sore back. My dream self must be getting into all manner of adventure.

Last night I slept soundly for the first time all week, but didn’t go to bed until 12:30, so that kind of negated the experience. Strangely, I don’t feel that tired, but we’ll see how long I last into the evening.

Disc 657 is…. Outskirts

Artist: Blue Rodeo

Year of Release: 1987

What’s up with the Cover?  A pretty basic band shot. These days a photo like this is sent around to newspapers to print with their promo story so that the album cover can have something obscure or artsy on it. Back in 1987 people just wanted a picture of the band.

Greg Keelor is the only guy who looks like a rock star, with his sunglasses and rakish lean. Jim Cuddy looks like he’s wearing his high school sweetheart’s jean jacket and it’s too small for him (- she’s supposed to wear your jean jacket, dude). The rest of the guys look like they are suffering various degrees of penury – given where their career ended up from here this would be the last time they had any right to look like that.

How I Came To Know It:  My lovely wife Sheila introduced me to both Blue Rodeo and this album in particular. She had two or three Blue Rodeo albums when I met her, and they were on heavy rotation in our early days. I’m very grateful she got me to listen to this band, which has become one of my own favourites over the years.

How It Stacks Up:  We have thirteen Blue Rodeo albums, and there are a lot of good ones. With all that steep competition, “Outskirts” could only manage to land in eighth spot.

Rating:  3 stars overall, although with one 5 star song

“Outskirts” is the album where Canadian legend Blue Rodeo got their start and like a lot of debut albums at times it showcases the qualities that would make them great, while also being a little rough around the edges in places.

The record establishes their signature sound; roots/folk music with a rockabilly edge. From the beginning, these guys parked their egos at the door, and although co-vocalists and guitarists Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy are the stars, there is lots of room for the other instruments to shine, most notably the amazing Bobby Wiseman on keyboards.

It is therefore fitting that the opening track of their opening album, “Heart Like Mine” begins with an a capella harmony section, and then develops in a way that lets every band member contribute their skills.

I’ve known this album for a long time now and some of the songs have surprisingly grown on me over the years. I used to genuinely dislike “Rose-Coloured Glasses,” finding Keelor’s vocals warbly and affected. Since then I’ve come to appreciate what Keelor brings to a song, and “Rose Coloured Glasses” has become one of my favourites. It is about a woman who always sees the positive, and her miserable boyfriend (Keelor does misery like no other) who can’t seem to leave her.

“She sees the world through rose-coloured glasses

Painted skies and graceful romances

I see a world that’s tired and scared

Of living on the edge too long

Where does she get off telling me

That love could save us all.”

I like the way the lyrics express frustration, but with a tender and appreciative undercurrent.

The album’s ‘wow’ moment, however, belongs to Jim Cuddy and the five-star classic, “Try.” Coming near the end of the record this song sneaks up and hits you like a bag of emotional bricks. From construction, to melody to Cuddy’s voice – which has never been finer – this song is perfect. Unlike “Rose-Coloured Glasses” quoting lyrics from “Try” would be a disservice to Cuddy’s performance. His soaring voice glides in and out of impossible high notes like a seagull riding a summer wind of heart and hurt.

“Outskirts” has some staunchly rockabilly numbers, but they aren’t the album’s best tracks. I am keen for rockabilly right now, with my recent discovery of Irish singer Imelda May, but these songs don’t work for me. “Joker’s Wild” has Keelor a bit too out of control vocally even for him, and the chorus kind of tips itself off a cliff with its own momentum.

“5 Will Get You Six” is strongly reminiscent of early Elvis Costello songs like “Watching the Detectives” but not as good. Also, why would you spell out ‘six’ and then use the numeral ‘5’? It makes no sense!

In what would become a tradition for almost all Blue Rodeo albums, Greg Keelor is given at least two songs where he can meander aimlessly. On “Outskirts” these songs are “Piranha Pool” (6:32) and “Floating” (7:32).

Both of these songs should be half the length. In the case of “Piranha Pool” it would be as easy as removing the jazz odyssey piano from the front and latter third (sorry Bobby). “Floating” is a harder fix; its meandering quality gives you nothing to get hold of. It gives the feeling of floating well enough, but it needs more of a current if it’s going to get you somewhere.

Still, this is a good record and one that despite hearing many times over the years, I’m still glad to put on for a spin. It also set the stage for the classic run of records that would come in the years that followed, and started the legacy of a band that continues to inspire and impress me.

Best tracks:  Heart Like Mine, Rose-Coloured Glasses, Underground, Try

CD Odyssey Disc 600: Blue Rodeo

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?

Best tracks: All The Things That Are Left Behind, Waiting For The World, Never Look Back, One Light Left In Heaven, Don’t Let The Darkness In Your Head, Arizona Dust, Candice, 

CD Odyssey Disc 580: Blue Rodeo

As the sidebar notes, I can introduce newly purchased albums ahead of the random system of the Odyssey, but in practice I rarely do it.  I just like the random experience of not knowing what I’m getting next, and new albums get enough love from me as it is.

The one exception is when I go see a concert associated with a new album – that way I can review bot the album and the concert at the same time.  That’s the case with this next record.

And if you’re wondering, ‘isn’t Logan watching football right now?’ – I am taping the game until I’m done this review.  It is my New Year’s resolution to give my various writing projects a higher priority in my life.  Five days in, it feels great.

Disc 580 is…. In Our Nature

Artist: Blue Rodeo

Year of Release: 2013

What’s up with the Cover? Artistic depiction of steel girder construction spelling out the album title, with a house in front presumably to show how huge the steel girder construction is.  This cover had me wondering who would go to such trouble just to spell out “IN OUR NATURE” in steel girders, and then wait a few years for it to grow over with vines and flowers? They probably should have spent at least some of that time keeping up the house in front, which looks to be in a sad state of repair.

How I Came To Know It:  This was just me buying the new Blue Rodeo album when it came out.  Technically, my friend Chris alerted me to the fact that there was a new album, and arranged for the concert we saw on Saturday as well – thanks, Chris!

How It Stacks Up:  With this new addition, we now have 13 Blue Rodeo albums, which I believe is all of them.  Of the 13, “In Our Nature” comes in at around tenth, just behind “Tremolo” (reviewed way back at Disc 144).

Rating:  3 stars

“In Our Nature” is a return to Blue Rodeo’s atmospheric, rockabilly roots – a fitting decision for a band in the midst of celebrating their 25 years of music.

The album has the same combination of Jim Cuddy’s mournful ballads and Greg Keelor’s atmospheric mood pieces, but the stripped down production of their two previous albums (2007’s “Small Miracles” and 2009’s “The Things We Left Behind”) is replaced with a return to the more layered feeling of their early efforts.

For the most part, it works, I think because that despite the more layered approach the songs on “In Our Nature” are actually fairly simple melodically, and in many ways very traditional bluegrass or ‘old-timey’ music.  Showing your roots is definitely back in the world of alt-country, and I for one am very happy with the trend when it is handled right.

Cuddy and Keelor’s have such individual styles that you can tell who is responsible for a song within the first few notes. It isn’t just the song’s construction, it goes all the way to the production.  Keelor likes a big, echo-filled sound on his work, and Cuddy is more traditional country the way he puts things together.  I like both, but I tend to prefer Cuddy’s approach and on “In Our Nature” Keelor gets the bit in his mouth a bit too much, but not so badly as to harm the overall record.

The album starts out strong, with “New Morning Sun” as Cuddy starts the song off with these tentative and foreboding lines:

“Maybe now we could be lovers

Share all the darkness in our souls”

As the song progresses it really isn’t all that foreboding at all; sharing the darkness in your soul is just part of being with someone.  By the time the chorus hits the song is a full call to celebration, and the melody and rhythm make for a real ear-wormer.

Keelor’s offering on the second track, “Wondering” is his best on the record as well.  It is roomy and comfortable and not too drowned in production.  Michael Boguski’s work on the organ is excellent and makes the song dreamy and thoughtful. 

As I noted earlier, these songs are very much a return to traditional Blue Rodeo fare, and some sounded a bit too much like previous work.  However, since I like those early songs, that wasn’t too much of a draw back for me.  There are places where the vocals are given an odd phrasing and others where the piano takes a solo where I think the song calls for guitar, but mostly the boys get it right.

I was quite pleased with myself to have identified “Made Your Mind Up” as a waltz.  At least I think it has that rise and fall and 1-2-3 action that made me feel like waltzing.  This being Blue Rodeo, this particular dance would be filled with the unpleasant conversation of a collapsing relationship, but that’s part of what makes it a good song.

Overall, “In Our Nature” doesn’t tackle a lot of new ground, but it covers the old ground pretty well, and while it isn’t as consistently strong as some of their albums, it has enough gems strewn throughout to be yet another good record from a band with plenty of them.

Best tracks:   New Morning Sun, Wondering, Over Me, Made Your Mind Up

The Concert – January 4, 2014 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Arena

Sheila and I had seen Blue Rodeo twice before at this venue (for the “Palace of Gold” and “Are You Ready” tours respectively), and if it weren’t for the interest from our friends Chris and Allison we likely would’ve given it a pass this year.  I’m glad we didn’t.

The main reason I stopped going to Blue Rodeo concerts was the same reason I stopped going to Leonard Cohen concerts; the setlist didn’t get changed up enough.  “Five Days in July” is Blue Rodeo’s greatest record, but it is twenty years old and I don’t want to hear three-quarters of the songs off of it every time I go see them.

This time around the band totally addressed this concern, and gave me some of the deeper cuts I’ve been longing for.

The band played two sets, and the first featured all songs off of the new album, which I loved.  A band should be keen to play their new material and an audience willing to go to the trouble of seeing them live should hopefully be filled with people who are interested in hearing it.

Even if “In Our Nature” isn’t my favourite album, I really enjoyed it live, and because the songs were new to the band, there wasn’t much ad-libbing.  It sounded very much like it does on the record, only with a nice organic quality.

The second set was all older stuff, which was also great, and got the crowd rolling down to the front of the stage to dance about (not me though, I’m old and liked my padded seat).

I missed the first song as I had an ill-timed nature call of my own.  I only missed one song, “Diamond Mine” and it is not one of my favourites anyway, so all good.

There were still a few songs off of “Five Days in July” but a more tastefully restrained number.  I loved that they played “Dark Angel” which is a beautiful and sometimes overlooked track.  I’ve been learning “Five Days in May” on guitar so when it started my brain started going “Em, D, Am, C,” but in the end understanding the song’s construction just made me enjoy it more.

There was a bit more off of “Outskirts” than I would have liked, it not being my favourite album (yes, heresy, I know) but the crowd liked that, and at least they stuck with “Heart Like Mine” and “Try” rather than “Joker’s Wild” or “Piranha Pool.”

The band wasn’t as tight as I’ve heard at previous concerts, and I caught a couple of foul notes in the mix, but that just might be my ear being trained more of late. I didn’t mind, because the songs had a nice organic flow to them, and were played with feeling. The keyboard player, Michael Boguski, was a star of the show, and it was nice that the fans appreciated his excellence.

In the past, Blue Rodeo would tend to noodle just a bit too much, but at this show they hit the sweet spot; more than you’d hear on the record, but nothing self-indulgent or aimless.  They had a lead guitar guy as well who could really wail, and gave the show a bit more of a rock edge than it has had in the past.  I liked this and I didn’t.  On the plus side, he was an excellent player.  On the minus side, I enjoy hearing Cuddy and Keelor play, and they took more of a back seat as a result.

In addition to all the big hits, the guys seemed to put a real effort into picking some deep tracks from early records.  The highlight for me was “Disappear” off of “Tremolo” which was a song I specifically mentioned on the walk down – I can only assume Blue Rodeo were walking right behind me and overheard me.

Cuddy and Keelor still have good voices despite not being spring chickens.  Cuddy particularly was still able to nail high falsetto.  He had me thinking of how Johnny Horton would’ve sounded if he could have survived to middle-age.

The audience was pretty well behaved.  Those who wanted to stand and dance did it where it made sense (in front of the stage) and there wasn’t too much talking during the show.  There were a couple of idiots behind us (how is it that concert idiots always seem to be seated behind you, and never in front of you?  Cheaper seats?) but I was mostly able to tune them out with good success.

And of course, the tradition of making the audience sing “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” was upheld.  I’d say we did OK, but shouldn’t quit our collective day jobs.  This, and Steve Earle getting the audience singing “I Ain’t Ever Satisfied” are two of my favourite live traditions – never stop doing this, guys.

Having taken almost a decade off from seeing Blue Rodeo this concert made me glad to be back.

A final note on the opening act, the Devin Cuddy band.  I was not terribly impressed when he opened for Lindi Ortega last November (reviewed here) but with a full band backing him, he was much better.  Fun songs that showed wit and insight, and without Devin having to do the entire mix on a single keyboard, a much better overall sound. 

CD Odyssey Disc 534: Blue Rodeo

The last Blue Rodeo album I reviewed (“Nowhere To Here”) I ranked as their weakest.  Today, it is my pleasure to review not only their best, but one of the best albums in our collection.

Disc 534 is…. Five Days in July

Artist: Blue Rodeo

Year of Release: 1993

What’s up with the Cover?  A lakeside cabin, tragically engulfed in flames – no doubt from playing too many hot tunes on a summer day.  Fortunately, a lone guitar was able to find an air mattress to cruise to safety.

How I Came To Know It:  Sheila played this album for me shortly after we met.  It was a pretty amazing way to be properly introduced to Blue Rodeo.  It is one of her all-time favourite albums, and it is easy to see why.

How It Stacks Up:  We have twelve Blue Rodeo albums.  This is hands down, without argument, the best of the best – gold medal.

Rating:  5 stars

Recently my guitar teacher taught me the first part of “Five Days in May” and I practically tripped over myself with excitement.  “Five Days in May” is one of my favourite songs of all time.  Now, imagine an album full of songs this excellent – you just imagined “Five Days in July.”

I could never figure out why the song is “Five Days in May” but the album is “Five Days in July.”  Frankly, I don’t care.  Just give me more of this record more often.

The opening track, which I can still only play a portion of (and that poorly) is not a complicated song.  It is a pretty basic set of chords, but like most great songs it is elegant in that simplicity, shifting evenly from minor to major chords back and forth like the gentle rocking of the ocean.  The song seems like it will end after four minutes, but it gives you a three minute guitar noodle at the end that strangely makes it…better.

Lyrically, “Five Days in May” is a picture perfect love song, about how sometimes you just find that right someone and everything clicks.  It is loaded with exceptional lyrics, but my favourite stanza is one that succinctly sums up the strange alchemy of finding your split-apart:

“Looking back it’s hard to tell

Why they stood while others fell

Spend your life working it out.

All I know is one cloudy day

They both just ran away

Rain on the windshield heading south

Oh, she loved the lines around his mouth.”

For all the poignant break up songs Cuddy has given us, he owed us a happy ending, and “Five Days in May” pays that debt.

The next song is back to sad, with Greg Keelor taking his turn to tell of the death of a long love affair.  Again brilliantly expressed throughout but best here:

“I never thought this could happen

But somehow the feeling is gone

You got sick of the patterns

And I got lost in this song.”

Keelor is best when he resists his tendency to engage in stoner-noodle, and “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” has just the right touch of restraint.  It also has the brilliance of Kim Deschamps steel guitar making it all the more mournful.  Although rarely mentioned, the rest of Blue Rodeo are brilliant musicians in their own right.

Did I mention that this is just the first two songs?  I could go on like this about every one of them, but both time – and the recognition that the modern internet reader has a limited focus – prevent me.

So let me summarize:  there isn’t a sour note on this record.  The opening harmonica on “Bad Timing,” is great.  The way “Cynthia” manages to successfully blend a date song with a UFO encounter.  Trust me, it doesn’t just manage the blend, it nails it.

Even the atmospheric sounds Keelor sticks into “What Is This Love” are placed perfectly.  Overdone, this kind of production can ruin a record, but tastefully employed they “Five Days in July” a nice balance against its bluegrass and roots rock base.  Also, no one can convincingly sing “What’s Goin’ On?” quite like Keelor.  I swear the guy revels in singing about not knowing what’s going on.

“’Til I Gain Control Again” is so effortlessly heartfelt that for a good fifteen years I thought it was a Blue Rodeo original.  Turns out it is Rodney Crowell classic.  I found out when I heard the great Emmylou Harris sing it on her great 1975 album, “Elite Hotel.”  The Blue Rodeo version here is every bit as good as Emmylou’s, and that is saying something.

Different songs on the album have appealed to me over the years, but recently I look forward to the penultimate track; Keelor’s “Dark Angel.”  It is a subtle and haunting song about meeting your soul mate, but only in your dreams – waking to wonder how you can find her in this reality.

Dreams are powerful and important and as Keelor points out, sometimes you wake up wondering whether the people you met there were in your dream, or you were in there’s.  If you don’t wonder this, then you aren’t giving a pretty significant part of your life enough thought.

“Five Days in July” is an album that gives dreams the consideration they deserve, and the rest of life besides.  This is a thoughtful album that writes track after track with a timeless grace that makes you think all the songs have been around forever, just waiting to be discovered.  Even a classic five star remake like “’Til I Gain Control Again” just fits in as one of many equals.

Musically, it is everything that makes Blue Rodeo great; Cuddy’s evocative vocals, Keelor’s moody thoughtfulness, and a band that is as tight as they come.  It lays down Blue Rodeo’s alchemical mix of rockabilly, bluegrass and folk, each in perfect measure.

We’ve had this album on hundreds of times, and I’m sure I select it almost as much as Sheila at this point.  The last time I listened to it prior to rolling it randomly on Tuesday was…Saturday.  I’ll probably listen to it again this weekend.  I’ll say thanks to Sheila for introducing me to it, although ‘thanks’ seems woefully inadequate.

Best tracks:  all tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 521: Blue Rodeo

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

CD Odyssey Disc 467: Blue Rodeo

I meant to review this last night, but I’ve been starting work at six o’clock in the morning, which makes for a 4:30 a.m. reveille.  By later in the evening I am a bit knackered.

So tonight I managed (against the odds) to get out of work at a reasonable hour, which I didn’t expect.  I probably could’ve gone out and been seasonably social, but after I did some Christmas shopping and got back from a long workout, I decided I better review this record before my pumpkin bursts for another evening, and I miss my chance.

Disc 467 is…Lost Together

Artist: Blue Rodeo

Year of Release: 1992

What’s up with the Cover?  It’s damned hard to tell at first.  I believe it is a bunch of people (who may or may not be the band) looking over the edge of a high building into a parking lot.  Then add a bunch of swirls.  The whole thing is – dare I say it? – lost on me altogether.

How I Came To Know It:  While I knew the hits off the album, it was Sheila who introduced me to Blue Rodeo.  She is a big fan, and over the years she’s turned me into a big fan as well.  She had this album when I met her.

How It Stacks Up:  We have all of Blue Rodeo’s twelve studio albums.  Of these, “Lost Together” is somewhere in the middle.  I’d say 6^th or 7^th best depending on my mood.

Rating:  3 stars but close to 4

Why so angry, Greg Keelor?  That is what this album had me asking from time to time.

“Lost Together” is Blue Rodeo’s fourth album and it should be the band at the height of their talent, sandwiched as it is between the excellence of “Casino” (reviewed back at Disc 368) and the perfection of “Five Days in July” (sadly yet to be reviewed).

At this point Cuddy and Keelor have mastered their sound; a unique blend of rock, folk and alt-country.  If anything, “Lost Together” is a bit heavier on the rock side than many of their albums, and features some great guitar riffs front and centre in the mix.  “Where Are You Now?” practically rocks out like they’re playing the Boston Garden, and “Flying” sounds like R.E.M. in their heavy reverb phase.  These aren’t my two favourite songs, but I appreciated the edge they give to the record as a complete listening experience.

What I didn’t appreciate was Greg Keelor climbing Anger Mountain.  On earlier albums like “Diamond Mine” Keelor’s rage at injustice has a thread of hope woven through it, and on later albums, it mellows a bit with age.  With “Lost Together” it just comes off as deeply frustrated.  I’m as big a fan of protest music as the next guy (actually, probably more than the next guy) but songs like “Fools Like You” and “Willin’ Fool” while musically interesting are just too literal and cranky to reach me on an emotional level.

I will give Keelor full marks for the title track, though, which is a Blue Rodeo classic to this day.  As a song “Lost Together” has everything.  Starting with a gentle folk guitar (with organ tucked in behind for some extra resonance) and then the drums, slowly kicking into gear as Keelor’s unmistakable warble reminds you that this guy knows how to sing about the good feelings as well.  By the time the brilliant Bob Wiseman kicks into his short organ solo (one of the few men that can make an organ solo cool), the song has reached an emotional crescendo, only to slip to back to earth, carried gently down by the able placement of a string section.  Then Keelor takes us home with a surprising powerful vocal finish.  This song is like a mini-symphony and like Keelor himself, strange and beautiful.

Yet it isn’t my favourite on the album.  As is often the case, I gravitate more to Cuddy’s sound, his voice big and high and full of yearning for high ideals that are always just out of our reach, but keep us reaching.  On “Lost Together” he’s got a few good ones.  The first is “Rain Down on Me.” Following immediately after Keelor opens the album with an angry “Fools Like You,” “Rain Down on Me” surrenders to its powerful emotions, but doesn’t presume to know where they should take you.  As Cuddy sings:

“I used to think I knew

What I was fighting for

I don’t think that anymore.”

It is a powerful reminder that it is better to make love than war, even if you’re not sure you’re doing it right.  Also, like many of the tracks, it has a killer guitar lick which I like to think is Keelor pitching in to make a good song better (he is the more rock-style player of the two leads; Cuddy having the more laid back alt-country style).

“Already Gone” and “Last to Know” are Cuddy doing what he does best; describing relationships on the downward slide.  He is the master of capturing in both words and music when relationships just slip through our fingers despite our best intentions.  In “Last to Know” the singer knows his girlfriend is going to let him go, and is just waiting anxiously for it to happen, like a prisoner who doesn’t know the date for his own execution:

“Sitting there across the room

Your smile looks like a threat

I’m living underneath the heel

Of what you might do next.”

He’s been doing these types of songs for twenty-five years now, and you’d think I’d get tired of him dragging me into those same old mournful moments but nope – I still love it.

Fortunately, “Last to Know” is followed by a sweet little Greg Keelor song, “Is it You,” spent of rage, he manages to blend his love of the awkward with a heartfelt honesty:

“There’s a drunk on the sidewalk

Trying to look unconcerned

And the dead eyed motel blondes

Wait in line for their turn

Is it you

Who laughs

When all the other dogs snarl?

Is it you

Just because you listened for a while?”

OK, sure this could just as easily be a cheap moment with groupies after a show, but even if it is you can’t fool me, Greg Keelor.  You got love in your heart, my friend, and just as much as Jim.

This is a good record, with a lot of musical influences working the tension that exists between them very effectively.  I couldn’t quite go 4 stars, but I was sorely tempted.

Best tracks:  Rain Down on Me, Already Gone, Lost Together, Last to Know, Is It You

CD Odyssey Disc 452: Blue Rodeo

After a fun weekend that featured a stirring and successful game of Arkham Horror with our friends Cat and Ross, I am looking forward to a fairly light schedule this week.

But light or heavy, the CD Odyssey will just keep advancing, inexorably toward its eventual conclusion many years hence.

In the meantime, let’s enjoy the journey.

Disc 452 is… The Days In Between

Artist: Blue Rodeo

Year of Release: 2000

What’s up with the Cover?  Nothing says ‘lonely Canadian prairie’ like Blue Rodeo’s music, and this cover captures that vastness very well.  Not sure the Volkswagen beetle is the best car for an icy Canadian road, but if that’s what you’ve got then I say just make sure the heater is working before you head out.

How I Came To Know It:  Sheila is a big Blue Rodeo fan, so she introduced me to their music.  “Days In Between” is just us buying their new albums as they come out.

How It Stacks Up:  We have twelve Blue Rodeo albums, which I think is all of them.  “The Days In Between” is my favourite of their later work, although there are a few good ones.  I’d put it 4^th just behind “Casino” (reviewed back at Disc 368).

Rating:  4 stars

By the year 2000, the idea of an album having two distinct sides was definitely dead, which is too bad, because “The Days In Between” would have been that rarest of gems; the album where side two is better.

Sure the record opens with “Cinema Song,” which is a perfect blend of Jim Cuddy’s high, powerful voice and a weirdly atmospheric guitar from Greg Keelor’s (like McCartney and Lennon these guys are best when they work off each other’s strengths).  Cuddy’s voice is as brilliant as any time in his earlier career, floating gracefully in and out of falsetto with a casual ease that almost makes you forget just how vocally challenging the song is.

I like the rest of what I’m going to refer nostalgically to as ‘Side One’ well enough, but the songs that really appeal don’t appear again until the start of ‘Side Two” at track six’s “Andrea.”

When I first heard this album I was on my previous stint working as a clerk for the provincial government in 2000/01.  There was a woman in our office named Andrea and I used to occasionally sing the part of the song mentioning her name to her when I was feeling like spreading some cheer.

Apart from the name it wasn’t relevant mind you, since the song is one of Keelor’s many drug-inspired ditties; this time about a friend (Andrea) calling him and helping him out of a ‘long dark spiral’ (bad trip) until he sobers up.  Musically, it is a much better song than “Cynthia” which is a similar song off of the more famous “Five Days in July” album.  In “Cynthia” Keelor thinks space ships are flying around up at some back country lake, and imagines being abducted by them.  It sounds like he could’ve used a phone call from Andrea on that night as well.

“Sad Nights” often makes me think of what long distance relationships are like as Cuddy bids a tearful goodbye to his lover at the bus station.  This song takes me all the way back to the late eighties, when I had the same experience every couple of weeks when my girlfriend at the time lived across the water in Vancouver.  I’m immeasurably happier now, but I can’t deny the sadness of those nights, or how this song brings them back.

This is Blue Rodeo at their best, evoking strong emotion in their listeners through their willingness to evoke it in themselves.   It’s how art works, when it is working properly.

It helps that the album has a strong rise and fall, slower bluesy country like “Sad Nights” mixed in with up-tempo rockabilly on the title track that showcase both Keelor and Cuddy’s brilliance on the guitar (these guys are two very under-rated guitar players).  “Sad Nights” has a sort of depressing romanticism about it.  “The Days In Between” is a love song far more fundamentally dysfunctional, yet the band plays it with that desperate energy that comes after a break-up, making it even more awkward.

When that leads into “Always Getting Better,” it seems a natural progression from loss to acceptance to triumph.  Each song stands on its own as a fine piece of songwriting, but strung together it is like a journey through a dark night of the soul that every one of us has taken at some point in our lives.

The album then takes a left turn on the final two tracks with “Rage,” a song dedicated to Canadian punk vocalist Keith Whittaker who had died of cancer a few years before “The Days In Between “was released and “Truscott” named after Stephen Truscott, a man at the centre of a famous case of wrongful conviction in Canadian law which at the time of the album’s release had still not been resolved.  I noted with interest how this is the second album in a row that features a famous murder case being overturned.

While these last two songs might not seem to fit thematically I don’t mind at all.  They’re both great songs, particularly “Rage” where Keelor is at his natural best singing the part of an angry drunk, only to have Cuddy join in at the chorus, picking the song up and making it soar above what could have been self-indulgent.

“The Days in Between” has its lesser songs (mostly on ‘Side One’) but even these aren’t so bad as to call for individual censure.  This is a solid album musically and lyrically, and if anything I just wish they’d play more songs from it when I seem them in concert.

Best tracks:  Cinema Song, Andrea, Sad Nights, The Days In Between, Always Getting Better, Rage.

CD Odyssey Disc 368: Blue Rodeo

From a Bob Dylan album, the dice gods move us forward in time a few decades to a band that was definitely influenced by him.

Disc 368 is...Casino

Artist: Blue Rodeo

Year of Release: 1990

What’s Up With The Cover?: The vast negative space that exists when the circus leaves town.

How I Came To Know It: It has been a year and a half since I last rolled Blue Rodeo, but if you were reading then you'd know this is a band that my wife Sheila introduced me to, for which I am grateful.

How It Stacks Up: We have 11 Blue Rodeo albums, which I think is all of them. "Casino" is one of their best - I'll say it is third, narrowly behind "Diamond Mine" which I reviewed way back at Disc 63.

Rating: 4 stars.

As I alluded to in the teaser, it was fitting that I reviewed a Bob Dylan album right before "Casino," because this record is a natural inheritor to that roots rock sound.

Where Dylan uses harmonica to emotionally punctuate songs, "Casino" relies on the Bob Wiseman, who fills the same role with organ, piano and, yes, harmonica. A lot of people think that Blue Rodeo was never the same after Wiseman left the band in 1993. There is some truth to that, with the glaring exception of "5 Days in July," which is their best record, and first without him.

For all of "5 Days in July"s brilliance, I can't imagine "Casino" being nearly as good without Wiseman who gives the record so much energy with his playing.

OK, enough with the Bob Wiseman waffling and back to the record. As ever, the driving force of these songs is Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy, who write them all and alternate taking lead vocals.

As I've mentioned in the past, Keelor and Cuddy are so different in their styles, with Cuddy more the plaintive crooner, and Keelor the fevered rockabilly hipster (before hipster was a dirty word). Together, they are perfectly complementary.

I've come to appreciate Keelor more and more in recent years, but on "Casino" it is the songs where Cuddy takes the lead that really grab me.

"Til I Am Myself Again" I believe was the hit off of this record, by Blue Rodeo standards (the band has long flown under the radio radar). It is an amazing opening song, and the best on the album, featuring Cuddy's long-time saw, the pain of a broken relationship. If Cuddy had a break up for every great break up song he's written, he would have dated half the girls in their home town of Toronto.

The song also captures (for me) the disconnect of the road, and the slow loss of identity that comes with immersing yourself in your music (and on a tour bus, presumably, as these guys have long kept a hectic tour schedule). My favourite lines are:

"I had a dream that my house was on fire
People laughed while it burned
I tried to run but my legs were numb
I had to wait 'til the feeling returned.

I don't need a doctor to figure it out
I know what's passing me by
When I look in the mirror sometimes I see
Traces of some other guy."

Good stuff, and if you haven't looked in a mirror and seen traces of some other guy, then you haven't looked hard enough (helpful hint: the other guy is still you). There's a reason that vampires don't reflect in the mirror - they couldn't stand to see their own monstrous natures reflected there. Cuddy has no such problem, and "Casino" once again has him pouring his heart out for our entertainment.

Cuddy has a voice that is deeply underappreciated outside of the loyal cadre of Blue Rodeo zealots across Canada (count me as one of those). He can hit high notes with a reverence and power that make introspective expressions of himself into holy hymns in praise of the human spirit. He's like a preacher for your heart.

When he takes it down in tempo, as he does in "Montreal" he proves that whether he's playing high and fast, or slow and low, he rarely misses the heart. When I listen to "Montreal" I just want him to run back to the girl he's left in that great city. Hell, he makes me want to go find her. Like many Cuddy songs, "Montreal" reminds us that there is a whole other chapter of love that exists after the trite romantic comedy ends, which may not be as neatly wrapped up, but makes for a way better story.

Keelor isn't at Cuddy's level vocally, but few are. He has his moments, though, and he sings with a passion and intensity that can't be denied. I think on later records he really comes into his own, and I have grown to love his contributions. On "Casino" he misses at times. The best Keelor-led song is "Last Laugh" which starts out so beautifully, with an understated Keelor singing:

"I should have seen through it but you were so intent
The nervous breakdown of an overworked bed
You couldn't wait to get over the edge."

Good stuff, but the chorus -

"You were drunk on the silver when he took your crown
He took everything from you that wasn't tied down
You said he was an angel with the chains of gold
Too bad they weren't strong enough to hold."

- seems to me a little strained in its imagery. That said, this is a good track, and when it gets going features some amazing guitar work by Keelor, who has long been a master of the instrument.

By contrast, "Two Tongues" is a Keelor song that goes out on a musical limb and falls off. It is supposed to be some political satire (I think) but it is overwrought and just comes off as nasty and misdirected. Keelor takes a lot of chances musically, more than Cuddy, and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't, but Blue Rodeo wouldn't be much without him. Keelor more than recovers with the bouncy rock song, "You're Everywhere" which has shades of Chuck Berry, and at only 2:49 in length, leaves you wanting more even as the record ends.

This is a great record, by a great band that has strangely never achieved greatness in the United States. In Canada though, they have a solid and loyal following of fans. Records like "Casino" remind why I'm proud to be one of them.

Best tracks: Til I Am Myself Again, What Am I Doing Here, Montreal, Last Laugh, After The Rain, You're Everywhere

CD Odyssey Disc 144: Blue Rodeo

This disc is totally gross! And by gross I don't mean like a Nickelback song - in fact I recently realized that burning a Nickelback CD would be an insult to fire. Maybe we can bury them all in the Canadian shield...

But I digress - it is gross because it is the 144th review on the CD Odyssey. Get it - or did I totally gross you out with that joke?

As the crowd buzzes about how I shouldn't quit my day job, I'll settle in and review this album.

Disc 144 is...Tremolo

Artist: Blue Rodeo

Year of Release: 1997

What’s Up With The Cover?: I think it is a close up of a microphone. Maybe it has something to do with Tremolo, whatever that is. Anyway as album covers go - boring, but inoffensive.

How I Came To Know It: Blue Rodeo is a Sheila band - the first band she ever actively tried to get me into. It worked. "Tremolo" is just Sheila buying every Blue Rodeo CD - this one is from around the middle of their career, and would've come out the year we got married, thirteen years ago. Time flies.

How It Stacks Up: We have twelve Blue Rodeo albums now, which is all of them. This is not one of my favourites, although it is still good. I'll say 9th or 10th out of twelve.

Rating: 3 stars.

"Tremolo" came out in 1997, only the second album since their masterpiece, 1993's "Five Days In July", and still living in that mammoth album's shadow.

The record has its moments, but I didn't find any songs that had that wow factor. Part of the problem is my old saw - too long. The album has fourteen songs, already straining at the limits of reasonable. Add to that a number of tracks over five minutes, and two over six, and it is just a little too self-indulgent. The songs themselves are competent, and well played, but many of the long ones really could shave a minute off and be that much better.

The exception to this is "Frog's Lullaby", which comes in at a whopping 7:05. No amount of shaving minutes would make this song passable - it is annoying at any length. One of those Greg Keelor "I am so stoned!" moments that needed to be reeled in before it got started.

It is more than a little ironic that track eleven on "Tremolo" is called "Dragging On"; at this point there are still three more songs to go (including the aforementioned frog song). If they had cut the album off at "Dragging On", it would have a better overall flow, and the lesser tracks would have a better chance to establish themselves in the listener's ear.

On the positive side, Keelor does deliver a winner with "Disappear", which is a great song, and one of Sheila's favourites I am recently advised. I'm not sure what it is about - a failed relationship or a flawed, but successful one. I think it is maybe about Greg's kids getting older, but I don't have an emotional frame of reference to be sure. That's my best guess, anyway.

Jim Cuddy has two excellent tracks of his own, "Falling Down Blue" and "Fallen From Grace" (yes, Jim excels at various types of falling down on this album). Cuddy's voice is adept at capturing loss, while simultaneously providing an undercurrent that encourages you to keep holding on.

Holding on for Blue Rodeo is also worth your time. This album and the one that preceded it ("Nowhere To Here") are lesser efforts to my mind, but they are followed by a couple that really reinvigorated my interest in the band. While "Tremolo" is not my favourite, it keeps the pilot light on and let's face it - average Blue Rodeo is far better than any album by a lot of other Canadian bands with bigger record sales.

Are you listening, Nickelback? If you are - My voice must sound really weird to your talentless ears.

Best tracks: Falling Down Blue, Fallen From Grace, Disappear

CD Odyssey Disc 63: Blue Rodeo

The Odyssey continues with more Canadian folk/rock, but this time it is an artist discovered for me rather than by me.

Disc 63 is...Diamond Mine

Artist: Blue Rodeo

Year of Release: 1988

How I Came To Know It: Blue Rodeo is one of a few bands that Sheila introduced me to. Sheila is a big Blue Rodeo fan, and it hasn't taken much to make me a big fan also. This album is one of their classics.

How It Stacks Up: We have 11 Blue Rodeo albums (and a twelfth on the way at some point). All have their moments, but "Diamond Mine" is one of the best. I'd put this one 2nd best overall.

Rating: 4 stars.

Blue Rodeo is Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor at their best. These guys are so different, yet they are perfect when combined. I think that each keeps the other from straying too far.

Cuddy is a folksy crooner who sings about personal relationships. Keelor is a bluesy rocker who sings about saving the world. This album captures them both at their best.

Keelor has songs lamenting false politicians (God and Country), and decrying war (Love and Understanding) and what I think is a bit of both, with some mineworker issues thrown in (The Fuse).

Cuddy contributes a nice body of divorce/break up songs with "How Long", "Girl of Mine", "Now and Forever" and "House of Dreams".

Both contributions are excellent, but a whole album of Keelor's protests would be preachy, and whole album of Cuddy's sad introspection would be monotone and depressing.

Put them together, and it really really works.

Some of Keelor's better protest lyrics are from one of my favourites, "Love and Understanding":

I live on this rock
Where the grass don't grow
Talk is cheap well I ought to know
And I'm not proud of this world we've made
Still it's a part of you and me
And we're the only ones who can
Make it change.

I love this song, which captures that while Keelor is angry at the world, deep down he dreams of something better. In the chorus he really personalizes how he approaches the problem, rather than preaching "Love and understanding are the best answers I've heard yet."

For his part, Cuddy is the master of the Fading Relationship Song, aptly summed up in the chorus to "How Long"

"How long will it take
'Til you open up your eyes
I've been gone for years
You never even realized

How long
How long"

I do have two small criticisms of this album.

First, the title track (and a hit), "Diamond Mine" is a clear example of Keelor's noodling not being reigned in by Cuddy. It is a goofy, bluesy Surfer sound that never quite comes together, but takes seven plus minutes trying.

Second, for some unknown reason, Blue Rodeo peppered this album with short 30 second or 1 minute tracks of them experimentally noodling. The tracks, called "Blues Piano", "Percussive Piano" and "Swells" are annoying interruptions to the music. Also, they are not listed so the track listings don't make any sense. When you go to upload songs, you'll find the short tracks make everything else not match up. Keep that stuff in the studios, boys.

I'll close by noting that these guys can both really play the guitar. Sheila and I have seen them twice in concert and I can attest first hand these guys wail. Cuddy is a more straightforward folk/rock player, but at a high level. Keelor is kind of harder to quantify - I'll call it a Surfer Guitar that got lost in the Prairies and had to resort to playing in blues clubs to pay bus fare home.

Of course that didn't happen, but if Blue Rodeo wrote a song about it, you'd believe it did, and you'd be glad to hear the story.

If you don't have this album you should get it - it should be the second album of their's you buy. What's the first? Hey - one review at a time.

Best tracks: How Long, Love and Understanding, Girl of Mine, Now and Forever, Fall In Line, Fuse