FFWD Weekly
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| CD REVIEW JIM CUDDY · The first solo album from the Blue Rodeo vocalist/guitarist features appearances by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett and Weeping Tile's Sarah Harmer. From the clear, spare, first notes of opening track "Second Son," through the acoustic space of guitars and fiddles and nectarous vocals, this Blue Rodeo protégé's first solo album never strays too far from the lovely, lazy, dusty pathway that meanders through the heart of Blue Rodeo country. With that band's bassist, Bazil Donovan, supplying half the rhythm section's contribution, and their keyboardist, James Gray, tinkling along in leisurely sync, the fact that most of these 11 tracks sound like they'd be comfortable reclining on any of Blue Rodeo's last four albums is not surprising. While Cuddy's voice is to be savored like single-malt scotch - where the perfume nearly beats the taste - and his songwriting is as steady and superb as it is with his counterparts, there's one obvious piece of the equation missing. Partner Greg Keelor, and moreover his slit-throat vocal stylings and twisted-knife lyrics, would lend a rougher, more ensnaring texture to this offering, even though his own solo album last year bottomed out. Although this album is a grower that seems more endearing with each listen, Keelor's charms are severely missed, proving that, as is the case with many great bands from the Beatles to the Stones to the Pixies, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. 3/5 |