1. You Can’t Stop Thinking About Me
2. Amber Awaits
3. After What
4. Money Back Guarantee
5. Can’t Win True Love
6. Nail
7. Leaning In
8. She And I
9. Rubberneck
10. Nefertiti
11. What Could Possibly Go Wrong
12. That Which Doesn’t Kill You
13. She Isn’t Mine
14. The Children Of The Night
Total time: 56.4 minutes |
¡Bastardos!
Blues Traveler
Bar-None
If a band is lucky, at some point it will find itself on a label willing to give it total creative control. And if it’s smart, it will use that opportunity to make a record to please itself, and not worry about what radio or fans want.
That’s what happened for Blues Traveler, but wait – there’s more. With “¡Bastardos!” they’ve hit their stride as a quintet, having added a keyboardist when they replaced their original bass player two studio albums ago. Not to mention ex-Wilco multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett produced the CD and plays guitar and percussion.
The songs and performances continue to be tight, with frontman John Popper cutting back not only on the exaggerated vocals, but also on his over-the-top harmonica workouts.
Chan Kinchla is in fine form on guitar, especially on “You Can’t Stop Thinking About Me,” “Nefertiti” and “She Isn’t Mine,” a slow country rocker with Jerry Garcia-like pedal steel sounds. And drummer Brendan Hill and new bassist Tad Kinchla, Chan’s brother, are really meshing as a rhythm section.
But it’s the contributions of Ben Wilson, formerly of Big Dave and the Ultrasonics, that really jump out of the disc’s grooves. Whether conjuring up mellotron sounds (“After What” and the Beatlesque “Leaning In”), emulating an accordion (“Money Back Guarantee”) or laying out a keyboard smorgasbord of electric piano, piano, organ and synthesizer (“Nail”), his skill and weapons of choice never cease to amaze.
external links
artist’s link
amazon.com
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