Norman — Blue Rodeo – “The Things We Left Behind” (TeleSoul Records) 2009
Released late last year in their native Canada and more recently here in the United States, the whip-smart and intelligent alt-country outfit Blue Rodeo has gone and released one of the best albums of their career in the form of a two disc, 16-song album titled “The Things We Left Behind.”
A fan of theirs since 1990s critical fave “Casino,” Blue Rodeo has largely remained popular in the Great White North, not gaining the American audience it so sorely deserves. But every couple of years a new album spawns some renewed interest in the band which features singer-guitarists Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor along with multi-instrumentalist Bob Egan, bassist Bazil Donovan and drummer Glenn Milchem. “The Things We Left Behind” is the album that should remind American roots-rock fans that Blue Rodeo is a musical treasure.
There is a majestic urgency on the opening track, “All The Things That Are Left Behind,” a Neil Young-esque barrage of fuzzy guitar blasts out during a break in this fascinating track.
For those Jayhawks fans out there, “Waiting For The World” sounds as if the Minnesota alt-country darlings suddenly reappeared in Toronto. Beautiful, live-sounding acoustic folk-pop. And those harmonies are delicious.
What of the lyrics on this new Blue Rodeo album? Well, a lot deal with the ups and downs of relationships. Observations on life. Just check out the beautiful “In My Bones,” for instance. It’s a Dan Fogelberg-esque weeper that will make you pause and reflect. Seriously. Cuddy and Keelor tend to not get as specific as they used to. And that’s OK.
The peaceful, easy feeling of the folksy country-pop gem “Arizona Dust” is one I found so appealing — dig that pedal steel and organ solo — I played it over and over.
There’s a 70s-styled country-garage-rock vibe to “Never Look Back.” Next to it, “Sheba” has a Dad-rock confidence that sounds a lot like what Wilco is offering these days.
A pastoral dreaminess encapsulates “Million Miles,” a jangly, harmony-driven epic song that brings to mind Kansas or other prog-rock outfits when they decide to do the acoustic rock thing and then jam out.
“Venus Rising,” the closer on disc two, is a deeper song musically. It slowly builds and before long the guitars and Milchem’s drumming are hypnotically pulling you in.
While there’s nothing on here that’s particularly groundbreaking or matches a powerful political song like, say, 1989s “God And Country,” Blue Rodeo have recorded a dynamite album with “The Things We Left Behind.”
Grade - A
