Recorded in Austin, with lead BoDeans Kurt Neumann and Sammy Llanas playing everything (except for some horns brought in at the end), Mr. Sad Clown highlights harmonies and exemplifies the band’s ability to write music that is ultimately likable and hummable. No, this one is not a classic for their catalog I didn’t have that expectation, though I would have liked a little of the rock band rawness their live show brings. There is a controlled element to this effort. What they do best live is blend the beauty of their vocal sound with the push of a band that is more greasy than glossy. That’s not this record. What we get hereis a piece of studio work which trades musical looseness for a chance to highlight the sound of two voices who have aged pretty damn well.
Some of those aforementioned horns come in midway through “Stay,” the first cut on the record, and help make a good opener memorable.
There are 15 tracks, and the best combine raggedness with the benefits of more studio patience. “Say Goodbye” grabs like a key cut off one of their early albums. Agospel organ appears early in the song, and the music pumps along behind a chugging bass and some sweet-yet-rough BoDean harmony. Same for “Don’t Fall Down”, which wouldn’t sound out of place on their T-Bone Burnett-produced debut album Love and Hope and Sex and Dreams.
“Headed for the End of the World” could be the best track: It has the urgency and ringing guitar that propels their best songs, like classics “Good Things” or “Runaway”.
Buried near the end of the record, “Feel Lil’ Love” rocks like Cheap Trick. We even get some Smashing Pumpkins (!) influence on “Back Then”.
Throughout the album, there are embellishments found via the freedom of tinkering on their own production: a buried alien keyboard here, glockenspiel-type chiming there, and a variety of guitar styles, including some Duane Eddy twang and a Chuck Berry guitar distortion. Neumann has always been a loud roots-rock guitarist, and that gift pops up in needed spots to lend saw crunch throughout the record
Ballads like “If…” and “Easy Love” take more effort because of their pace, but Sammy’s voice on each has a beautiful yearning. Album closer “Gone X 3” is haunting.
After many years of battling a record company for independence, the band has become downright prolific, with three albums and a couple live releases in less than a decade. When I interviewed Neumann before an Indianapolis appearance last year, he mentioned that more frequent releases was a goal.
There’s nothing wrong with a new BoDeans release. We know they probably aren’t going to make radical departures in sound and tone. We get what we expect, and that’s a good thing. And then we will probably get the opportunity to see them live at The Vogue, where the best songs will findtheir potential, and the rawness and energy that ultimately make the BoDeans viable and memorable will make a return.
BODEANS WEBSITE
BoDeans
New Album Releases – Week of April 5
Spinning the Digital Disc: New Album Releases
Tuesday, April 6:
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings – “I Learned The Hard Way” – Retro-soul, in the tradition of mid to late ’60s and early ’70s Motown, Stax, and the Philly sound.
Jakob Dylan – “Women and Country” – Country and spare roots ballads on love and life in tough times. Neko Case helps out.
Murder By Death – “Good Morning, Magpie” – from NUVO’s Scott Shoger’s review: “The band moves easily between genres and textures, from the mariachi horns of ‘On the Dark Streets Below’ (echoes of ‘Ring of Fire’) to the cello and singing saw duet on ‘Good Morning, Magpie,’ the hellish cabaret of ‘You Don’t Miss Twice’ to the rumbling, metallic drone anchoring ‘White Noise.’” (read full review)
Jeff Healey Band – “Last Call” – Final album from late blind guitarist; jazzy and some swing.
David Byrne & Fatboy Slim – “Here Lies Love” – Odd little pairing of two pretty big names, plus Tori Amos, Steve Earle make appearances.
Peter Wolf – “Midnight Souvenirs” – J. Geils Band frontman with an album that does him proud. R&B and rock done well. Merle Haggard sings a duet.
Bodeans – “Mr. Sad Clown” – Roots harmony rock and roll, recorded in Austin, with Kurt Nuemann and Sammy Llanas on all the instruments for most of the record, though a couple tracks have horns added. No big surprises; sturdy Bodeans music.
April 13:
Natalie Merchant – “Leave Your Sleep”
Trampled By Turtles – “Palomino”
April 20
Shelby Lynne – “Tears, Lies, And Alibis”
Willie Nelson – “Country Music”
Rusty Bladen – “Homegrown Treasures”
April 27
Melissa Etheridge – “Fearless Love”
Mary Chapin Carpenter – “The Ages Of Miracles”
Peter Frampton – “Thank You Mr Churchill”
Santacular Christmas Song Countdown – #16 – Rusty Bladen
You will notice, if you are a longtime reader, I throw in a fair amount of unsubstantiated opinion on my way to passing along facts. In reality, if you have read the blog posts over the past year, you already know – via these little nuggets of insight that roll out of my brain, into my fingers and onto the computer – what I like. And trust me, this has everything to do with the song at #16.
If you listed the six (I needed six – five wasn’t enough) musical sounds/songs/albums/artists that are the influences behind this here Rockforward site, it would read like this:
1. The trio of Mellencamp albums in the mid 80’s – “Uh-Huh”, “Scarecrow” and “The Lonseome Jubilee”. Anyone who is 35+ that likes the music we do should recognize how much these albums – especially “Scarecrow” – influenced tons of Americana and roots-rock bands and fans.
2. Tom Petty. Anything Tom Petty.
3. Those late 80’s bands that came on the heels of Petty and Mellencamp (including Gear Daddies, Uncle Tupelo, BoDeans, Del Fuegos, Georgia Satellites, Jason & The Scorchers, Lone Justice, and regional/Indiana artists like Larry Crane, Duke Tomatoe, The Hammerheads, and Henry Lee Summer. That is some and there are more ) Alt-country before they called it that. Heartland rock at the time.
4. Springsteen – for the majesty of the rock and roll, the brilliance of the lyrics, and the passion of the live show. And for the lineage to bar band rock and R&B (like the outstanding J. Geils Band)
5. Power Pop. I think Cheap Trick is woefully underappreciated. Rick Springfield’s “Working Class Dog ” album should be considered great power pop/rock. The Cars debut album is one of the best records in the rock music era. Matthew Sweet’s “Girlfriend ” record was killer. I saw the Romantics live at a bar in 1989 and they were loud, into the performance, and rocked hard, fast and righteously.
6. The current crop of bands that carry on the sounds: Bottle Rockets, Todd Snider, James McMurtry, Cross Canadian Ragweed, and Will Hoge among many more…
So that’s where I come from. And it leads to #16 on our countdown of 20 Christmas roots-rock songs. Indiana’s Rusty Bladen has been working for the past 20 years in the bars, clubs and parties throughout the state. I’ve known him that long, first meeting him when I was a radio jock down at WORX in Madison, Indiana – I was just out of college and had a Sunday night radio show and eventually did mornings for a couple years. He was just starting his solo career after a few years in cover bands. He now plays mainly solo live shows that are always high energy. His sound hits all of the influences I already cited. His writing is blue collar.
About a year ago, he released “Feels Like Christmas”, a holiday album of 11 classic Christmas songs and one original – the title cut. That’s the one we have here. Mellencamp drummer Dane Clark produced the effort, and made it all sound really good. A great country rock/heartland/Americana record. The record is simply my favorite Christmas album of all time. Overstatement? Nah. Listen to the album.
Here’s the song, with it’s fun, quaint, and homegrown video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2BFQCKHAdE]
VIDEO: BoDeans on WXRT
Destined to forever grace club stages, and rock to 600 people a night throughout the Midwest (while dolts like Adam Lambert do second rate Madonna acts to a momentarily bigger audience….), the BoDeans make an appearance on the legendary WXRT in Chicago. Some excellent video and audio here. And I bet Lambert won’t still have an audience in 20 years later. Viva BoDeans.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF4cGzboIBI]
Concert Review: Bodeans Rock and Roll the Vogue – Again
While there are no guarantees in rock and roll, a BoDeans show at the Vogue is something that rarely fails to inspire an audience with the joy of rock and roll. And there’s always a little bit of muted pain too, because just below the surface of many of Kurt Nuemann’s and Sammy Llanas’ songs are bits of melancholy, rejection and loss.
And because this is a band that may deserve a little more success than the music business has given them.
The two singer/songwriters, who are the BoDeans, pulled into Indianapolis on Friday night, and had, by the end the 16-song, 110-minute show, given the mostly 40-something roots rock fans a reminder of where the buzz started for the band. The songs and music off of the band’s 1986 debut album “Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams” carried the most musical weight and lyrical resonance, and the bands performance helped remind why that album deserved it’s remastering and re-release earlier this year.
Opening with the ethereal “Pretty Ghost” from 2008’s “Still “album, the band proceeded to then knock out two from 1993’s “Go Slow Down”, with the blending of the singer’s voices shining on “Idaho” and then getting the audience bouncing with “Texas Ride Song”, highlighting Bukka Allen’s accordion playing. He was featured prominently on that instrument throughout the evening, giving a uniqueness of sound to add to the harmonies and Kurt’s’s guitar playing, always a integral part of the gig.
After “Everyday”, from their new record, came a surprising early set inclusion of one the band’s regular show closers. “Good Work”, from 1989’s “Home” with it’s Chuck Berry riff and breakneck pace was the first spot for the band to get sweaty and dirty, hear the drums crashing, and crank both the crowd and band energy levels.
Subtly, the sound mix was short of great. While the band would end up trumping what Lucinda Williams had done with her encore three days earlier at the same venue, her house sound mix was superior to the less distinct and at times boomy sound on Friday; simply not as crisp for the BoDeans, though never bad enough to hinder the performance. I moved around to numerous spots in the theatre, searching for a “best” spot. To the right of the soundboard proved to be as good as it got. Within 15 rows of the stage, the volume coupled with band and crowd energy was also a good position, making up for nuances not in the mix.
From LHSD, Sammy introduced “Still the Night” by asking how many had seen them before (big cheer), thanked the audience for being their “little family on the road” and promptly jumped into the song that never fails to get a BoDeans crowd excited. Smartly, they dropped in a lyrical and musical snippet from “Hey Pretty Girl”, from their 1996 “Blend” effort, and was a sweet little teaser for hardcore fans who picked up on it. By the end of the song, the band was again chugging hard, something they did throughout the night – extending the songs, not with noodling, but finding another rock and roll gear.
“She’s a Runaway”, also from the first album, was recast at half speed, as Sammy, who began the song slapping his palm on his acoustic guitar strings, told the audience after playing it that “sometimes Mary needs a new dress”.
Following the sweet harmony showcase of “Stay On”, it was again back to the first record for “Fadaway” and then the sugary melody of “First Time” from their new record – It’s a pretty pop song, memorable in it’s simplicity.
After the slow dance version of “Naked”, they played “Feed the Fire”. The rocker from “Go Slow Down” is usually overshadowed by the same album’s more familiar upbeat burner “Closer to Free”, but on this night provided a podium for the band to drop pieces of classic rock songs onto the end of it. “Gimme Shelter”, “In the Midnight Hour”, “Gloria”, “Light My Fire” and Sly Stone’s “I Want to Take You Higher” found places on the back end. The aforementioned “Closer to Free” closed the set, giving the 600 or so at the Vogue a pairing to keep them wanting more.
Unlike Williams’ trio of encore songs that had fallen a bit flat, the BoDeans used their set coda to do what Sly Stone wanted.
“Misery”, one that sits in it’s groove and burns, kept the connection between band and crowd working, with a spot-on audience effort, shouting back on the call-and-response chorus.
“You Don’t Get Much”, from the excellent “Home” record started with Kurt’s best Edge/U2 channeling (the group had opened for U2 ‘s stadium tour before recording the album) and ended with Kurt and Sammy facing each other at center stage, then heading to stand on the front monitors. They did the same with “Good Things”, shredding the song as they finished, and again six inches from each other’s face before talking, smiling and finally simultaneously jumping up and down to the beat to bring the tune to a crashing finale.
Sam and Kurt and the rest of the band were having obvious fun, sweaty and grinning at the end. It’s what we have come to expect from the BoDeans. They delivered again.
BoDeans Try to Recover Lost Opportunity
There’s a moment, early in every show, when the BoDeans connect with the crowd. It might be during the slow chorus of “You Don’t Get Much.” Or the refrain, “I might never, no never let go – whoa-oh” from “Still the Night.” But sometime during the first few minutes of every BoDeans show I’ve been to, fans will start to sing loudly. And that’s when I know the rest of the night is going to be good.
The BoDeans – the band that made Waukesha, Wis., famous – are songwriters Kurt Neumann and Sammy Llanas. Always known for performing a soul-stirring rock and roll show, they had a fluke hit song (“Closer to Free”) in 1995 before being derailed by a lawsuit in the middle of what would be their only real shot at bigger things. Still trying to make up for lost opportunity, they were back in Indy for a show at the Vogue June 12.
“We have played a lot of shows all these years at the Vogue. And always had a lot of just crazy, crazy packed houses full of people – always had a good time,” Neumann, on the phone from Austin, Texas, says when asked about Indianapolis. “And I think of [drummer] Kenny [Aronoff], because he played a lot of shows with us and he is from there.”
Out from under struggles against management and record companies, Neumann says they have been making an effort to release more music and push forward. The band has become a part of the eclectic Austin music community after spending 30 years in Waukesha. Through the move and all the legal tumult, the band has never stopped performing, but it has been more difficult to find the time and resources to record albums.
“We spent about eight years where management kind of sat and didn’t do much. We went through a big fiasco around 2004,” Nuemann remembers. “We had been dropped by Warner around 1998. My perspective was, ‘Let’s go get another label.’ But the management kind of went on hiatus and we could never get them to work again, though we were going into the studio to make demos because we kept hearing they weren’t good enough.
“It got to a point I finally said to Sam that we were going to have to take things in our own hands. We knew there was going to be big litigation, but we had to go through it to break free and start releasing stuff again.”
The band’s first album, Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams, was recently re-released. The re-mastered version with bonus tracks helps to put the band’s legacy in perspective.
“The record had always had a lot of warmth and not many people heard it on vinyl because they were buying CDs by then. I just wanted to take another shot at it,” Neumann says.
T-Bone Burnett, mostly unknown at the time, produced the album, long before he became one of the top-shelf producers in rock music.
“I think he likes us because of the authenticity of sound. We also seem to have a common sense of humor,” Neumann says. “There are a handful of people out there who go up on stage and sing songs. And it’s not about a bunch of frills or not about image at all. The BoDeans have been kind of an imageless band – by choice really. We just want it to be about the music. We are not necessarily going to bring a lot of attention to him.”
The re-release is paired with a concert video, recorded in 1985 at the legendary First Avenue in Minneapolis just weeks before the band signed to Slash records.
“These people contacted us, and had found a bunch of footage down in the basement of First Avenue from a concert we had done in 1985,” he says. “It was right around that time we were talking to the labels and talking about hooking up with T-Bone.”
While the extended hiatus in the late ’90s prevented some projects from being realized, since 2002, the band has released a live album, two studio albums and a live acoustic record through their Web site. The album, Still, released in 2008, reunited the band with Burnett.
“I think we will be remembered for our singing and harmonies and the sound we created together. It was one of the things that defined us and when you heard it you knew it was us,” Nuemann says. “And the live shows were also important, because of the energy we tried to create. So that would be a great thing to be remembered for too.”