Published on Feb 1, 1999
Sometimes, I wonder if I am paying close enough attention to the
people I live with. You would think that if I had a roommate who
was so obsessed with Claire Danes that she bought
Romeo And Juliet, I would have not so completely missed
Buffalo Tom. After all, they provided THE tracks in “My So Called
Life” which were responsible for aiding Angela’s mad, passionate
falling in love with Jordan Catalano… and I missed it!
Of course, I bet that you haven’t heard of them either, so I am
here to correct that error.
See, luckily for me, I didn’t miss this album.
Smitten, the band’s sixth release, serves up so many
radio-ready tunes that I felt compelled to staple my foot to the
floor in order to stop the tapping that inevitably accompanied my
first listen. The first and second tracks, “Rachael” and “Postcard”
grabbed me so quickly that I had to rewind and listen to them again
just to make sure that I really didn’t already know them.
In fact, the disc’s first single is “Rachael.” Check out the
lyrics on this baby:
“Rachael Thelmy is not very sure / A little girl inside her
uniform / But aren’t you really just a penny whore? / Rachael tell
me what I’m waiting for…”
I really honestly hope that Rachael’s mom doesn’t hear this
song. Finding out through a band that your daughter’s really just a
“penny whore” has to be a little traumatic.
The band’s sound could be described as being anything from
guitar-driven pop to alternative folksy country-esque. The
difficulty in categorizing them stems from the fact that their
sound is constantly changing; this album marks the first use of a
string section (“Scottish Windows”) and also marks Chris Colbourn’s
lead vocal debut. (Usually songs are headed by Bill Janovitz, who
put out a solo album in 1997 separate from Buffalo Tom.)
The second single, “Wiser,” somewhat reminds me of a 70’s folk
tune. The very mellow intro makes one almost miss the first
lines:
“The autumn leaves / Me here without a tooth / You’ve given me
the shaft/ My friend’s car’s breaking down/ And I’ve got no ride
home”
It isn’t often that you hear about a woman giving a guy “the
shaft,” especially on such an initially peaceful song. Then, the
song dives into an extremely out of place car metaphor:
“And you stall out / With no one to give you a jump / Just hook
your cables to me / And then you’ll see / That I can start you
up”
The lyrics seemed extremely misplaced within the song, but the
amazing thing about it is that it is hard to figure out what they
are saying because it blends so well into the instrumentation. I am
not sure that this is a great idea for a second single, though;
“Postcard,” which sounds incredibly Wallflowers-esque, would have
had them up the charts so quickly that they would swoon from the
dizzying heights.
The only disappointments on this album are “Knot In It”, an
anti-war song with seems messily delivered and somewhat runs
together, and “White Paint Morning”, which would be okay if it
weren’t for the exceedingly irritating “ba ba ba bas” that make up
the chorus.
Overall, this album really flows. I have had a hard time taking
it out of my stereo since I got it.