New Music: Buffalo Tom - Three Easy Pieces

Well, despite my back-catalog still being in cold storage, I still have my wallet, so I can purchase new music. Buffalo Tom is a band that I loved in college. Their triumvirate of releases during those years of my life (Let Me Come Over, Big Red Letter Day & Sleepy Eyed) weren't the best rock albums released during the 90's, but they were almost better, because they were reliable. You never threw one on and someone said, "dude, I don't want to hear that record again". There was a song for every (college-era) emotional state: Drunk & happy? Treehouse, Velvet Roof. Drunk & sad? Taillights Fade, Sunday Night. Anyway, after spending the 90's as the perennial "next big thing" that never sold more than a few records, they gave it one last splash with Smitten, and didn't make it. It's not that the record was bad, it just wasn't up to the level of their previous releases and let's face it, if you release three great albums and the public ain't buying, well, get settled in, you're not going to be playing any arenas anytime soon. So, now, nearly ten years after their last release, they've come out with Three Easy Pieces, and despite my best efforts to will it into being everything I wanted it to be (see also: The Stone Roses - Second Coming), I've settled into liking it for what it is. A good rock album by a band that no longer feels the need to rock quite as hard and populate their songs with quite as many hooks as they used to. And that's OK. Really, it is, it's a fine album, but that's like saying, "She's a fine girl", you'll take her our for a date to be nice, but you're thinking about someone else at the same time. Well, at least it means they'll (hopefully) tour, their shows always blew the doors off.



So, long story short, if you don't have any BT records, pick up the three above (don't worry about the Greatest Hits, it's good, but not better than any of those three individually). If you're already a fan, you could do a lot worse than picking up the new album.

Here's some (as my friend Joel would say) "choice cuts" from the new release:

Buffalo Tom - You'll Never Catch Him

Buffalo Tom - Good Girl

Have a good one, keep rooting for the Cubbies!