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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
From his Jack Daniels soaked debut recorded in 1994 to his latest LP "Our Blood" the great Richard Buckner has travelled a highly personal and determined journey. He produces songs deeper than the ocean and was ploughing the Americana furrow well before it was fashionable to do so. For those who have never seen or heard of the great man check out his great country orientated cover of Joy Divisions anthem "Love will tear us apart" on the web, bend copyright laws if needed to get a copy of his epic song "A chance counsel" off "Dents and Shells" and forgo for this week that extra bottle of red wine in order to get 2006s brilliant album "Meadow".
Buckner hails from California and has grown from a frayed alt country balladeer to a much more expansive artist who has a glittering fan club made up of major musicians but bugger all album sales. And so it goes says Kurt Vonnegut although it doesn't have to be such. Over some eight albums Buckner such as contemporaries like Jason Molina, Mark Eitzel and Mark Kozelek have been making music so far off the beaten track that the train no longer stops there. Who cares? The music is always to the highest standards and yet the world is a cruel place. On "Our Blood" we see a continuation of the themes in "Meadow" with a much more electrified approach and songs full of haunting melodies, latent hurt and dark emotions. None fit this bill more precisely than "Traitor" with its simple strummed guitar lines and pounding percussion over which Buckner warns " O, watch that temper now./Is it worth it, wasted?/How far will you get? Equally foreboding is "Witness" a bittersweet lament where the strummed electronic guitar chords dominate in a song, which sounds like the Cure transported to Lubbock Texas, minus a drummer. The mood lightens briefly for the beautiful acoustic "Escape" a classic forlorn Buckner alternative country ballad echoing his earlier music. It darkens again on the prose poem "Confession" although the vocal adds considerable warmth and shows what a great singer Buckner has become. With "Thief" Buckner fully embraces electronica and it is an austere beauty with almost a chapel like ambience. Finally "Hindsight" is as powerful as anything Buckner has penned but is completely devoid of a sunny disposition.
This album overall is not a match for its predecessor, indeed in the five year gap leading to the production of "Our Blood" Buckner has faced a range of mini disasters including losing the recordings of this album when his laptop was purloined, and yet unheralded, under-appreciated but certainly not unloved he remains one of American music's great hidden talents.
Buckner hails from California and has grown from a frayed alt country balladeer to a much more expansive artist who has a glittering fan club made up of major musicians but bugger all album sales. And so it goes says Kurt Vonnegut although it doesn't have to be such. Over some eight albums Buckner such as contemporaries like Jason Molina, Mark Eitzel and Mark Kozelek have been making music so far off the beaten track that the train no longer stops there. Who cares? The music is always to the highest standards and yet the world is a cruel place. On "Our Blood" we see a continuation of the themes in "Meadow" with a much more electrified approach and songs full of haunting melodies, latent hurt and dark emotions. None fit this bill more precisely than "Traitor" with its simple strummed guitar lines and pounding percussion over which Buckner warns " O, watch that temper now./Is it worth it, wasted?/How far will you get? Equally foreboding is "Witness" a bittersweet lament where the strummed electronic guitar chords dominate in a song, which sounds like the Cure transported to Lubbock Texas, minus a drummer. The mood lightens briefly for the beautiful acoustic "Escape" a classic forlorn Buckner alternative country ballad echoing his earlier music. It darkens again on the prose poem "Confession" although the vocal adds considerable warmth and shows what a great singer Buckner has become. With "Thief" Buckner fully embraces electronica and it is an austere beauty with almost a chapel like ambience. Finally "Hindsight" is as powerful as anything Buckner has penned but is completely devoid of a sunny disposition.
This album overall is not a match for its predecessor, indeed in the five year gap leading to the production of "Our Blood" Buckner has faced a range of mini disasters including losing the recordings of this album when his laptop was purloined, and yet unheralded, under-appreciated but certainly not unloved he remains one of American music's great hidden talents.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Having suffered greatly since the release of 'Meadow' due to the theft of music he was writing, and a movie soundtrack that fell through, Buckner's come-back album epitomises not only the sorrow of the last few years, but also an incredible strength to prevail.
'Our Blood' brings forth refreshing new elements to his song-writing, whilst returning to some similar themes from his earlier days; it's more gritty, and the electrified roughness and distortion tears through a new frontier in Alternative-country music - reminiscent perhaps of some of Vic Chesnutt's later work, such as 'North Star Deserter'.
Starting on an optimistic tone, the album scales Buckner's difficulties before tumbling into darker themes, determined to send shivers down your spine, if not shatter it entirely, with his aged yet delicately gruff voice, and his newer electronically layered prose.
A truly incredible re-emergence from one of the greatest living American singer-songwriters.
'Our Blood' brings forth refreshing new elements to his song-writing, whilst returning to some similar themes from his earlier days; it's more gritty, and the electrified roughness and distortion tears through a new frontier in Alternative-country music - reminiscent perhaps of some of Vic Chesnutt's later work, such as 'North Star Deserter'.
Starting on an optimistic tone, the album scales Buckner's difficulties before tumbling into darker themes, determined to send shivers down your spine, if not shatter it entirely, with his aged yet delicately gruff voice, and his newer electronically layered prose.
A truly incredible re-emergence from one of the greatest living American singer-songwriters.
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