Telesoul Records
2007
Small Miracles
About This Album
Two decades down the line, Canadian country/folk-rockers Blue Rodeo don't offer many twists on the band's 11th studio set. Perhaps this rootsy outing is trying to get back to the group's roots after a few albums that experimented, generally successfully, with a bigger production, including horns and a moderate Brit Invasion approach. Some of those touches appear here, particularly on the "Day in the Life" styled psychedelic middle of Greg Keelor's nearly seven-minute "Black Ribbon." But generally this is a guitar based -- both strummed and pedal steel -- straightforward approach that plays to the band's established strengths. Jim Cuddy's upbeat pop/rocker "C'mon" is the album's first single, and his mid-tempo country/folk tunes such as the flowing "Mystic River" are standard issue, but the songs are largely played in what can only be called traditional Blue Rodeo style. There have always been aspects of Buffalo Springfield in the band's sound with Keelor's more moody side taking the Neil Young part as Cuddy's pop stylings incorporate both Stephen Stills' and Richie Furay's nonchalant melodicism. Those elements occasionally seem even more pronounced on this release, especially on Keelor's twangy "Blue House" and Cuddy's lovely "3 Hours Away.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,4,5 and 10)

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