CD Review: Blues Traveler "North Hollywood Shootout" (Verve Forecast)
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After twenty years and twelve albums -- eight studio, four live -- the
poppy blues-rock jam-band best remembered for their long-lived radio
single "Run-Around" sought to bring the spontaneity of their stage
playing into the recording studio. Forsaking their usual pre-
production regimen of scripted arrangements, their latest songs were
fleshed out as a group in the studio, hoping to capture the
inspirational moments of the creative process, rather than a practiced
reproduction. Whether they were successful is hard to say, as the
telepathic musical connections born of years on the road has resulted
in an album that's still highly detailed, tight and surprisingly
smooth.
The band turns the guitars and drums up for a few tracks, but much of
this album is rendered in a more subdued style, verging on adult
contemporary pop. John Popper's distinctive vocals still provide
plenty of emotional power, but it's the melodies of the mid-tempo
numbers, and the catchy touches of keyboard and synthesizer that
linger. The opening ode to American troops, inspired by Popper's USO
visits, starts with a burbling synthesizer and gliding acoustic
guitars before warming to a more emphatic chorus. A similar climb is
found on "Borrowed Time," opening as a soulful piano ballad before
forceful bass notes ratchet up the emotion. The shuffle of "You, Me
and Everything" harkens back to "Run-Around," but with a synthesizer
figure that evokes the lyrics' open road, and the light funk overtones
continue with the wah-wah guitar of "Love Does," and the picturesque
"Orange in the Sun."
The band adds a touch of Stax-styled horns and piano on "What
Remains," and attacks the blues on "The Beacons" and "How You Remember
It." The album closes with the lengthy freeform rant "Free Willis,
Ruminations From Behind Uncle Bob's Machine Shop," proving that Bruce
Willis (the guest ranter) isn't Tom Waits. Still, "Return of Bruno"
fans everywhere will rejoice. Blues Traveler fans on the other hand,
those who've kept the band going for twenty years through album and
ticket sales, may hope this album's move to the middle (and dearth of
harmonica) is more of a diversion, like 2005's broadly experimental
"Bastardos!," than a wholly new direction. That said, Popper's renewed
focus on melody is a winning direction. [(c)2008 redtunictroll at
hotmail dot com]