Joanne:

The part I bolded is soooo wrong on so many levels...I don't know why reveiwers write in such personal attacks.    I wonder if this guy would dare say the same thing about Neil Young, Leonard Cohen etc.. 

BLUE RODEO Small Miracles (Warner)
A Blue Rodeo record is essentially a two-for-one deal. The tug-of-war between Jim Cuddy's and Greg Keelor's interests is just as evident on Small Miracles as its ever been, effectively dividing the disc into two distinct halves. As is usually the case, it's Cuddy's vocal tracks that stand out. While he wanders into the occasional ballad, the songwriter is more than content to stick to the self-reflective pop he's been leaning on for years, drifting from the beach party fun of "Mystic River" to the undeniably attention-catching "C'mon." While fans will likely find something to love in Keelor's meandering tunes as well, his vocal turns are the LP's most disappointing. Truth be told, the last time I heard someone say they really liked a Keelor song was my mom after she had a few. That said, Small Miracles is certainly no misstep by this band's standards and will make a welcome addition to their catalogue. Blue Rodeo still know how to put a song together. Scott Bryson

Cut n pasted from this site...

http://www.chartattack.com/DAMN/2007/10/0112.cfm

 

hahaha that's awesome...

oh man I'm gonna get myself kicked of this site one of these days...

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"This is too much for anyone to bear, but we will persevere." - Vortegaunt

"For what I've done... I start again, and whatever pain may come, today this ends. I'm forgiving what... I've... Done..!" -Linkin Park

It's happening.....I woke up to This Town  on the radio this morning.

W&T

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Just a little of that Human Touch - Bruce Springsteen

"This Town" was on the radio here too, yesterday afternoon. Heard it when I was out shopping at Michael's. Not sure what station it was, though.

And on Saturdays, the Ottawa Citizen lists the ten most popular albums bought at various music stores, which they change up from week to week. This week, Small Miracles was #2 at CD Warehouse, topped only by the new Springsteen album. Not bad at all!

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"Believe me, all our days here are unsure
Believe in me, I don't want to anymore
And in the dark, picture me in your mind
And I'll lay with you
You don't have to be scared at night"

- Kathleen Edwards, 'Scared at Night'

This is a draft of the review that I wrote for Amazon (U.S.) that is linked to the product description of the U.S. version of "Small Miracles" which was released here in the States on TeleSoul Records, about one month after it was released in Canada. Don't worry, TeleSoul is Blue Rodeo's exclusive distributor in the US, so more of the profits I assume go directly to the band than if the album were released and distributed on a "major" label. Only store that is carrying it down here in the metro New York area is Barnes and Noble. Read on:

Blue Rodeo Sharpens Their Knives, and Aims for the Heart on Small Miracles

With 10 albums (11 if you count their Greatest Hits) to their name, Canada’s Blue Rodeo mines mostly familiar territory on "Small Miracles" (TeleSoul Records, total time 57:17) and the result is their most pleasantly cohesive record since 2000's ‘The Days in Between". Not that "Small Miracles" has the sustained and furious rock intensity of "The Days in Between", but it does capture the essence of the more moody pop tunes that made "The Days in Between" the first alt.county rock masterpiece of the 21^st Century. An overstatement? No, not if you consider that "Days" was released the first week of January 2000 and went on to legendary status in Canada and in alt.country circles. Much time has elapsed since then and Blue Rodeo has gone through some personnel changes. Present on the new record is former Freakwater and Wilco pedal steel guitarist wizard, Bob Egan, and the jack of all styles keyboardist, Bob Packwood.

Blue Rodeo is a band that is so accomplished and beloved in Canada that they have nothing more to prove...oh, except that after 22 years they are still virtually unknown in the United States! It’s America’s loss because "Small Miracles" is a refreshingly good pop rock record that you really don’t hear too often these days what with so many newer bands vying for whatever niche market they feel they have to cater to. That one hears Beatles, Flying Burrito Brothers and Gordon Lightfoot influences on "Small Miracles" is nice, but what adds to the eclectic musical melange are the interesting little pop zingers like Odessa-era Bee Gees harmonies and melodies ("This Town") and the easy loping tempo of early 70's Canadian popsters Edward Bear ("Mystic River"). Cuddy and Keelor still handle all the vocals, with Cuddy’s smooth soulful tenor trading off against Keelor’s more rough hewn and introspective baritone. Highlights on "Small Miracles" include the rollicking country rocker, "Blue House", Cuddy’s heartbreaking ballad, "3 Hours Away", and the full out rock anthem, "C’mon". These are most readily identifiable as Blue Rodeo songs.

Where "Small Miracles" gets really interesting is with the more experimental songs, like Greg Keelor’s weird yet fluid samba jazz lounge tune, "Together". "Black Ribbon" is a standout psychedelic country rocker with some Magical Mystery Tour distorted strings and a classic rock chorus thrown in for good measure. "Black Ribbon" is easily best song on "Small Miracles" as Keelor continues a song writing resurgence that was very evident on his 2006 solo album, "Aphrodite Rose". Small Miracles is the sum of its’ parts, well crafted pop and rock songs that taken as a whole create a dreamy and romantic mood that will warm you and your sweetie on those ‘cold December nights’.

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"Now I'm a union man,Amazed at what I am
I say what I think, That the company stinks
Yes I'm a union man." Part Of The Union
by Ford/Hudson, (The Strawbs) c. 1972

Wow that's an excellent review Peter. Well done my friend!  I totally agree with you about "Black Ribbon" being the standout song from "Small Miracles".  I also liked your take on "The Days in Between".  It's funny because I wasn't that crazy about TDIB when it first came out... but since then, I have become a bigger fan of the album.  It brings back great memories of when I was living in Sherbrooke, Québec.  Thanks for posting your review Peter!

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"I'm just a soul whose intentions are good...
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood."

 

         Great Review Peter (as Always) 

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HUH?

I enjoyed that, Peter. Very cool.

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Darlin', I'm beside myself
And I don't think that you
Know which one of me
That you are talking to...~ Serena Ryder

Thanks folks! Well it was interesting because I've been posting reviews over at Amazon (US) for about 2 years now...usually of albums that I really like, and since the official U.S. release of "Small Miracles" on October 30th, no one had posted a review of the album...HUH? So I figured I'd break the ice. It is selling fairly well though (it's the 2,825th top seller at Amazon as of 9:45 am this morning...not bad considering that there are over 900,000 cds currently selling on Amazon...man that's alot of music) which should make the Blue Rodeo guys quite happy!

Actually I have an Amazon.ca account, so I guess I can post another review of Small Miracles there too...LOL! Last time I checked 3 reviews had been posted at Amazon.ca...all pretty favourable. In this age of iTunes and streaming internet radio and dowloads galore, I think that reviews posted to the big commercial music sales online sites are almost as good as getting the songs from the record played by a dee jay on the radio...ah, the old days...

My brother suggested I compile my reviews in a portfolio and send them to a magazine to see if someone will actually pay me cash money for reviewing records...hmmm...what's the address of Paste, Blender and No Depression

 

 

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"Now I'm a union man,Amazed at what I am
I say what I think, That the company stinks
Yes I'm a union man." Part Of The Union
by Ford/Hudson, (The Strawbs) c. 1972

I think your brother has a good idea, Peter!

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Darlin', I'm beside myself
And I don't think that you
Know which one of me
That you are talking to...~ Serena Ryder

Well done, Peter!  Hopefully, your review will get other people interested in getting to know Blue Rodeo's work.

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Don't waste the time, the time that isn't lost (Jim Cuddy)

And here's a review from Kentucky:

http://www.kentucky.com/music/story/238639.html

Critic's pick

By Walter Tunis

CONTRIBUTING MUSIC CRITIC

Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer

Blue Rodeo - Small Miracles

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - Follow the Lights

In recent years, Helm, the lone survivor of the vocal troika behind the enlightened Americana music of The Band, has battled throat cancer. When surgery and radiation treatments temporarily silenced the rustic and ultra-dignified singing voice that ignited The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Helm soldiered on, playing drums and mandolin as mightily as ever. So it's little wonder that with his body healed and his voice restored, Helm sings with born-again fervor on Dirt Farmer.

Sure, Dirt Farmer stacks the deck handily in Helm's favor. It boasts sterling traditional folk, blues and country treats, chestnuts by J.B. Lenoir and A.P. Carter, and gems by newer masters of the form -- Ollabelle's Byron Isaacs and Steve Earle. There's also a lovely retelling of Buddy and Julie Miller's Wide River to Cross, which reflects Helm's journey from darkness to grace ("there's a sorrow in the wind blowing down the road I've been; I hear it cry while shadows steal the sun").

But Dirt Farmer strikes gold when daughter/ co-producer Amy Helm (also of Ollabelle) sings with dad on Lenoir's Feelin' Good. Here, the blues beat the retreat and transform into a lean, jubilant affirmation. What a total delight of an album.

Like The Band, Blue Rodeo hails from Canada (although Helm is an Arkansas holdout, thank you very much). Guitarists-vocalists-frontmen Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor -- along with co-founding bassist Bazil Donovan and a revolving-door lineup of bandmates -- have long designed songs rich in literate country character. Their ballads regularly bear a rootsy despondency that Nashville would kill for, while the lyrics, especially in the songs Cuddy dominates, bear a chill that originates far north of Tennessee. Rockier stuff, especially tunes on which Keelor sings lead, border on psychedelia.

For two decades, Blue Rodeo has forged such disparate sounds into one killer album after another. But south of the Canadian border, no one seems to get the picture.

Small Miracles is simply more of the glorious same. It's stuffed with quiet epics that bear a late autumnal glow. Keelor's barroom sage, singing on It Makes Me Wonder, more than recalls the Rolling Stones staple Wild Horses. Cuddy summons a sweet country waltz on the album's title tune, and the entire Rodeo crew cuts a groove that sounds like a delirious mix of The Beatles, Blues Image and Gram Parsons on So Far Away.

View renegade Adams' seven-song EP disc Follow the Lights as an appetizer or a nightcap for the Americana feast Helm and Blue Rodeo serve up.

The title tune is typical of the wintry country setting Adams seems at home with -- especially onstage -- these days. But things get real dark real fast here. His cover of Alice in Chains' Down in a Hole departs from the boozy country calm that adorns Blue Hotel and makes a mad dash for the gutter with a self-loathing still-life that recalls Time Fades Away-era Neil Young.

On second thought, let's make Follow the Lights the evening's appetizer. Saving it for last is just asking for some unsettled sleep.

 

"Their ballads regularly bear a rootsy despondency that Nashville would kill for, while the lyrics, especially in the songs Cuddy dominates, bear a chill that originates far north of Tennessee. Rockier stuff, especially tunes on which Keelor sings lead, border on psychedelia."

Thanks for posting Mr. Tunis's review DonnaR! Very insightful assessment of how great Blue Rodeo's songwriting is, when compared to much of what eminates from Nashville's 'music row', as BR's material is so much more "meaty" and substantial and rootsy.

I've been listening to alot of the so-called Americana/roots/alt.country records that are touted by No Depression, Paste, Rolling Stone, etc. and while they are an improvement over the radio fodder of most mainstream country, alot of the songs just seem to be stuck in various ruts. Americana song writers throw in a love gone wrong song, a love gone wrong but guy & gal get back together older but wiser song, a 'serious' song usually about death or drugs and/or both, and always a political song which on the alt.country side of the fence usually means that tilts towards the left...and they don't forget to include the cover of an obscure country song from 40-50 years ago that nobody ever heard of even when it was released. Again, not that the formula/pattern I've listed is necessarily bad...as the subjects are timeless themes, but after listening to about 200 albums chock full of such well meaning tunes every year, it gets a bit boring.

So...when it gets boring, or when I find I'm turning up the volume of the tv louder than the music I'm playing in the background,  I have to get out any Blue Rodeo record and any Beatles album and play 'em back to back just to refresh my mind as to how invigorating and engaging great songs can be.

Lately, I've been making repeated listenings to many of the albums by artists on the Yep Roc Records label or as I more affectionately refer to them as the Sadies' stable mates. A real find for me this week was an album released last year and that got somewhat overlooked but it's a real gem nonetheless, namely "Bloom, Red & the Ordinary Girl" by Tres Chicas. No they aren't the Latin version of the Dixie Chicks, but rather it's Caitlin Cary & her pals doing extremely well crafted country-folk songs, and as they say here on the Island...their harmonies are to die for...!

 

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"Now I'm a union man,Amazed at what I am
I say what I think, That the company stinks
Yes I'm a union man." Part Of The Union
by Ford/Hudson, (The Strawbs) c. 1972

Great review, Peter!  I saw that you'd posted it on Amazon.  I thought it was interesting to see some of the Amazon "rankings" of Small Miracles:
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,349 in Music
#50 in   Music > Country > Alt-Country & Americana
#85 in   Music > International > North America

And here's the weekly Americana Music Assoc. "spin" chart:
http://americanaradio.org/AMA/displaychart_beforetracks.asp?mode=lw&dtkey=

Good to see the album getting some well-deserved rotation down here. Here are a couple of my favorite streaming sites which have it on their playlists:

http://www.wnku.org/page_wnku.asp?page_wnku.asp

http://www.wdvx.com/webcast.htm

WNKU has played BR all along, but we've been trying to get WDVX on board for awhile. They've finally seen the light! (a "small miracle" )?

 

A bit time delayed, but I read a fairly decent and generally favourable review of "Small Miracles" in the January-February 2008 issue of No Depression magazine. Rick Cornell wrote the review. Unfortunately, I can't link you to it, because the No Depression web site does not provide links to any of the stories in their current issue, hoping I guess that folks will buy the print magazine at their newsstands, or through subscription.

I will transpose it and post it here this weekend. As I said, it's pretty good, although Mr. Cornell takes an unusual and interesting view of the song cycle on the album and especially focusing on the lyrics in the chorus of "C'mon":  "Times like that are now gone forever".

 

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"Now I'm a union man,Amazed at what I am
I say what I think, That the company stinks
Yes I'm a union man." Part Of The Union
by Ford/Hudson, (The Strawbs) c. 1972

Peter -

Although Rick Cornell is a fan of the band and has written some great articles about BR for No Depression - he made a few strange and contradictory comments in his review of SM. I will let you type out the article for all to see...

What bothered me the most is Rick's assumption that this just might be the end of the road for Mr. Cuddy and Mr. Keeler. Yes, Mr. Cornell stated that THIS MIGHT BE THE END OF THE ROAD FOR BR!!! I don't have the review in front of me right now (damn job!) but he first makes that specific statement - then praises SM practically on a song by song basis. However, at the end of the review, he contradicts himself and states that SM does not represent the end of the road for BR - but doesn't further comment on his statement regarding the band... confusing to me and not like anything else I've read by Rick. 

Additionally, I was disappointed to not see Small Miracles listed by either critics or readers of No Depression in the top 100 albums of the year.

And as far as your comments about Americana music, Peter, Drop me a line and I'll give you many many names of artists that don't fit into your generalization of recorded work in the genre. A genre that is truly varied and interesting and the place where today's great songwriters reside.

Happy New Year and Peace, dammit!

 

MD 

 

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I don’t know how many pancakes you can eat where there’s a chunk of flour that hasn’t dissolved into the batter before it kind of takes away your spirit...

Neil Hamburger - America's Funnyman