{"id":40821,"date":"2008-04-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/still\/"},"modified":"2008-04-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-04-07T00:00:00","slug":"still","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/still\/","title":{"rendered":"Still"},"content":{"rendered":"

The word that comes to mind when the BoDeans — a.k.a. musical partners Sammy Llanas and Kurt Neumann — come up, is dependable.<\/p>\n

There are qualities you know you\u2019re going to find on any BoDeans disc \u2013 sturdy guitar hooks, supple harmonies, penetrating lyrics — and then there are the extras.\u00a0 Yes, Neumann and Llanas travel in the well-worn footsteps of Americana<\/place><\/city> roots-rockers from Dylan to Springsteen to Mellencamp, but their partnership offers so much more dimension than that description might imply.\u00a0 You can see how each \u2013 for they are both accomplished singer-songwriters in their own right — might have considered going solo at some point, and you can see exactly why they\u2019ve always come back to the BoDeans.\u00a0 Llanas adds something special to every Neumann tune, and Neumann returns the favor on every Llanas track.\u00a0 Neumann is more the barroom rocker and Llanas more the introspective crooner, but they clearly share a deep respect for each other\u2019s strengths as writers and players, and their partnership produces work more potent and textured than either is likely to create alone.<\/p>\n

Still <\/i>is the BoDeans\u2019 first foray into the brave new frontier of d-i-y.\u00a0 After a decade and six albums with Slash\/Reprise, the boys went quiet for several years around the turn of the century, before resurfacing on Zoe Records with 2004\u2019s magnificent Resolution<\/i>.\u00a0 To a large extent Still<\/i> picks up right where Resolution<\/i> left off, a series of statements of faith — mostly personal rather than spiritual — and resilience, set to beautifully crafted heartland rock.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

That said, \u201cPretty Ghost\u201c is an odd choice for an opener, a moody cut dominated my Llanas\u2019s appropriately spooky lead vocals and an echoey, distorted riff. \u00a0When second track \u201cRound Here Somewhere\u201d kicks in, though, you\u2019re back on familiar ground, Neumann belting out a thoughtful, upbeat rock tune with Llanas\u2019 harmony vocals lighting up the fringes.<\/p>\n

\u201cLucille\u201d works up a good sweat exercising a dirty blues riff and giving it some thrash between verses, and \u201cThe First Time\u201d launches the boys into orbit with a piece of true BoDeans magic, sinewy guitar lines backing sinuous harmony vocals and creating a kind of rock and roll choir.\u00a0 The lyric has the same timeless feel as any Springsteen or Mellencamp classic; they\u2019re speaking in plain yet poetic language about iconic experiences in anyone\u2019s lives, making the universal personal and vice versa.\u00a0 \u201cThis could be the only moment we got \/ Let\u2019s not waste a lifetime waiting\u201d they sing at the fulcrum of the superb breakdown-and-build in \u201cWaste A Lifetime,\u201d again tapping into primal emotions and situations anyone can recognize.<\/p>\n

There is nothing flashy about the BoDeans, and that\u2019s surely part of the reason their one commercial success — when their song \u201cCloser To Free\u201d was chosen as the theme song to the 1990s TV hit Party Of Five<\/i> — turned out to be such a fluke.\u00a0 T-Bone Burnett — who produced the album (Go Slow Down<\/i>) from which \u201cCloser To Free\u201d was plucked, as well as the band\u2019s critically acclaimed debut — is back in the producer\u2019s chair for Still<\/i>, and the trio sounds as comfortable and confident as ever together.<\/p>\n

Still<\/i> is probably as perfect a title for this album as you could ask for; these guys clearly don\u2019t believe in change for change\u2019s sake, and choose instead to load this album with more of the same things that have always made the BoDeans such a dependably good listen.\u00a0 They still harmonize with the best of them, still craft memorable hooks, still know when to rock out and when to reach for your heart.\u00a0 Their resilience is as central to their music as to their own story.\u00a0 Long may they run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":29277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5778],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-40821","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bodeans","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40821"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40821"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}