Blues Traveler - Truth Be Told
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CD Details
Artist: Blues TravelerEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2003-08-05
Music Label: Sanctuary Records
Soundtracks:
- Unable to Get Free
- Eventually (I'll Come Around)
- Sweet and Broken
- My Blessed Pain
- Let Her & Let Go
- Thinnest of Air
- Can't See Why
- Stumble and Fall
- This Ache
- Mount Normal
- The One
- Partner in Crime
Music reviews of Truth Be Told
Music Review: Refreshing, Meaty Blues Traveler
Rating: 4 Stars
As soon as you're hit with the raunchy opening notes of track 1, "Unable To Get Free", it's clear that this album is a healthy return to form after the slight departure of BRIDGE. Songs like "Unable to Get Free", "Eventually I'll Come Around", and "Can't See Why" (which features an outstanding chorus) are as meaty as "Carolina Blues" or even "Sweet Talking Hippie". The album's most similar cousin is probably STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING, but there is less over-production here than on that album. TRUTH BE TOLD thankfully doesn't seem to contain a "forcefully manufactured" attempt at a hit single (like BRIDGE's "Girl Inside My Head" or STRAIGHT ON's "Most Precarious"). As such, many of the songs are stronger and flow more naturally than most of the songs from the band's last several albums.
Digging a little deeper, there seems to be more of a focus on song structure on this album. For the most part, this is a good thing. Many of the songs feature bridges that change the song's direction (most notably "Sweet & Broken" and "Unable To Get Free").
Having said that, overall this album contains many things we've grown to expect from a BT album. A couple of the songs feature some of John Popper's classic "fast talking". Nothing is quite as eloquent as the legendary final verse in "Hook" mind you, but parts of "Thinnest of Air" are reminiscent the vocals in "Reach Me", and "This Ache" feels a little like a heavier (and better) version of "Felicia". And of course, many songs (especially "Can't See Why" and "This Ache") contain some killer harmonica solos.
Overall, this is a very refreshing album and I highly recommend it. I struggle to find any glaring negatives on it, but one problem is its length. The whole album clocks in at only 47:38. And the aforementioned focus on song structure means that there is not a lot of free form jamming (all of the songs are short, ranging from 3:14 to 4:59). However, it is clear that many of the songs (like "Partner In Crime") lend themselves to potential extended live jams. These songs should be very exciting to see live.
Description of Truth Be Told
All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.For every moment of transcendent groove, the jam-band ethos seems to have generated an eon of aimless instrumental indulgence. It's a mindset that bedeviled even icons like the Grateful Dead when they endeavored to construct something as elegantly--and elusively--simple as a song. Blues Traveler has hardly been immune from the foibles of excess, which makes this focused, song-oriented album an instant career high point. It's no mean feat to be both disciplined and adventurous but, with the able assistance of veteran producer Don Gehman, that's just the trick John Popper and company have turned here. For his part, mouth harp virtuoso Popper makes more like the Stax horns than Satriani, often content to punctuate his band's ever potent rhythms with flourishes as earthy as they are saturnine. But the real news here is the band's rededication to songcraft, an ethos that yields gems from the Little Feat dynamic of "Eventually" and jazz/R&B touches of "My Blessed Pain" and "Thinnest of Air" to the muscular pop hooks of "Let Her & Let Go" and rewarding funk-meets-classicism of "This Ache." It's a tack that's challenged Popper to warm new dimensions of vocal expressiveness as well, and the band to focus its powerhouse abilities into a gritty wallop. --Jerry McCulley
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