BoDeans Resolutions
Released: June 22, 2004 Origination Year: 2004 Time: N/A Tracks: 14 Produced by: BoDeans Style: Studio Format: CD Enhancement: None Website: www.bodeans.com

Take one part Canada's greatest band (that-nobody-in-the-states-ever-heard-of), Blue Rodeo, one part Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (in their pop mode), and one part my beloved Delevantes' 'Postcards from Along the Way', stir briskly, and you approximate the sound of one of the most under-appreciated roots-rock bands ever, The BoDeans.

 

Recording since 1986, the guys (main-men, songwriters, singers, guitarists Sam Llanas and Kurt Neumann, et al) put out a couple of fine albums in Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams ('86) and Outside Looking In ('87), then some pretty good albums on through 1993's pivotal Go Slow Down, which contained the immediate classic/big hit Closer To Free.  From there on, they again released a string of pretty good discs (including the improbably named live 2-disc set Joe Dirt Car) and a nice best of compilation, Slash and Burn.

 

The BoDeans now find themselves, for the first time, on a new label, Rounder's Zoe imprint.  (All previously mentioned discs were on Slash/Warner.)  The band now seems infused with a fresh shot of go-juice:  reinspired, reinvigorated, and embued with a newly rediscovered love for the music.  Expected to hit the streets in June, The BoDeans' 'Resolution' CD is a stone classic!  It's the best album of their career and one of the best roots-rock albums out there!  Resolution will alternately:  make you smile, tap your feet, put a lump in your throat, and a thanks in your prayers to the gods of great roots'n'rock'n'roll.  The BoDeans have finally hit the motherlode with one of the best albums of the year.  This is the one that loyal fans always knew the band had in them!

 

If the album has a theme, I suppose it's the fact that "these are the days", so make the most of 'em.  These are the days we will look back on as the "those were the days" days, if you will.  (Track 3's excellent "'(We Can) Live'..."baby, yeah, right here, right now...")  That's a pretty darn good sentiment to promote, I think.  The lyrics throughout are very well done, very humanistic (in psycho-babble).  It seems this disc fairly flowed from The 'Deans' muse without work or stress or strain.  Standouts include, well, every damn track on the disc! 

 

Some highlights:  'If it Makes You' and 'Marriane' (cuts 1 and 2).  That roots-rock, beer joint, good ol' boys sound of The BoDeans in two-part harmony is like a warm "welcome home".   It's not too polished, and sounds just scruffy enough to fit the songs.  (What is it about chicks named Marrianne - or Mary Anne - that makes songwriters want to write songs about 'em?  Leonard Cohen, Marshall Crenshaw, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Pete Townshend, and now The BoDeans...?  I know the one Marrianne in my life was way sweet and songwritable worthy!  Go figure.)  Beginning with Track 5, 'Nobody Loves Me', and onward, there's a nice, slinky, over-driven lead/fill guitar used with wah-wah pedal to great effect.  Very nice!  (As is the oft-present Hammond B3, that, if you've read any of my previous stuff, you know I more than love.)  The bass, throughout, is punchy and low, without being boomy.  Track 8, 'Said "HELLO" ', really grabs your attention on the keyword "HELLO".  These guys sound like they're really havin' fun again...sometimes more fun than should be allowed, but let 'em swing and groove and enjoy - it's infectious!  'All Better Days' (track 12) is the "lump in the throat" tune here, and boy, is it a winner.  Do you have any days past with old friends or lovers worth remembering fondly, with a "sha la la la la"...?  It's perfectly touching, without being morose or twee.  (Gets my vote for the new 'Auld Lang Syne' at New Year's Eve!  Whaddaya say!?  Let's retire that old warhorse.  Should work pretty good at funerals and wakes, too.) 

I can't say enough about how much I like this new BoDeans' CD.  I truly hope that this is the one that makes them a household name...and as popular as they deserve to be.  Zoe has a rocket in the pocket here, and I sure hope they light this sucker off and let the world know about it..."Hey Zoe!!  Promote the heck outta The BoDeans' 'Resolution'!!  You got a real winner here!!"  Be the first on your block to have this one and turn your friends on to it!!  If you want the actual best of The BoDeans, buy Go Slow Down and this one!!  Way recommended!!

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