What's the beef with Bastardos! ?!?!?

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What's the beef with Bastardos! ?!?!?

(6 posts) (6 voices)

Started 1 year ago by Traveling Cranberry
Latest reply from OlBlueSuedes56

Traveling Cranberry
Member

What is the problem with this album?

The mixes are busy, yes.... but the songs are great and it's very well performed.

I could go on an on and on. But I'll wait until I get some feedback. I want to get to the bottom of this.

Is it because it is a bit different then their previous work?
It's a bit sound scapey, sure but that's cool.

I like that they mixed it up a bit. They can't just put out Blues Traveler, Travelers and Thieves , Save His Soul and four again!

They are already out and they are great but don't if BT just put out more of the same stuff, I'd get bored. I feel like Bastardos was pretty out there for them, and it got a lot of crap from fans and they are sort of going away from that direction.
Or maybe not.

I need to listen to Bastardos and NHS again. I just feel like we should let them evolve. Let them do what they want, play the music they love.

They gave us enough of what we want, let them explore other musical possibilities. I hate bringing up Radiohead( but I am taking a course on their music in college). Radiohead are never really content with their sound. I realize Radiohead and Blues Traveler are playing to different audiences, but I feel like Traveler should feel freer to explore things a bit more...

Just my .02

What do I know, though? Just another cocky college kid who thinks he knows everything ;)

Posted 1 year ago #
Popper Freak
Member

for me, Bastardos was a good album and is still a good album BUT everything on this album sounds a bit the same, for one point that is good, and for the other point its bad. I love the Black Cats work here. Gotta hear it now ;) over&out :)

Posted 1 year ago #
greenone

I actually think the opposite...it's really all over the place, which kind of hurts it from the standpoint of cohesiveness. I have no doubts about Jay Bennett's genius as a producer, but the "sound scapey" feel you get from it completely doesn't work for me. It just seemed there were a lot of studio bloops and bleeps in there just for the sake of bloops and bleeps. And this from a band that has plenty of them to begin with!

It's a very up and down album, in my opinion. The first four songs are pretty strong, the next three are very uneven (Can't Win and Nail have some really odd/bad vocal choices, and Leaning In they couldn't even bring themselves to play live). She And I is fantastic - if you're going to do something different-sounding, don't half-ass it, and they go whole-ass into a different sound here. They sound downright giddy to be playing it, and I can see how the song is polarizing, but I think it really works. Rubberneck is clever (almost too clever, but doesn't quite go over the top) and Nefertiti is intriguing, but the next two songs are probably the weakest efforts they've committed to record. Musically odd, lyrically scattershot and automatic skips whenever I play the album. She Isn't Mine - fantastic. Absolutely, hauntingly beautiful. Up there with the best. And Children of the Night borders on kitsch lyrically but is saved by the music.

I don't expect every song to be a keeper, but I also don't expect to have more than one song where I cringe and hit the skip button. The batting average on this album just isn't pretty. The songs that are strong are really strong, but there were just some really bad misfires that I can't get over...

Posted 1 year ago #
FordPrefect82
Member

I kind of see both points of view, but I wouldn't go so far as to call any of the songs on the album cringe-inducing.

The first time I listened to Bastardos I honestly had no idea what to make of it. It was all over the place and weird as hell, but it very quickly grew on me as I recognized the strength of a lot of the material and a whole-assed willingness to experiment, even if some of the experimentation fell a little flat. I agree 100% about "She and I" and "She isn't mine." I also think Nefertiti is one of the finest songs they've ever recorded, although it seems that I'm in the minority.

I think the deepest flaws in the album lie in Jay Bennett's production. He had WAY too much of a hands-on approach. Some of the most derided tracks on the album ("Leaning in" and "You can't stop thinking about me") are problematic for the same reason I've always found all of Wilco's music to be problematic; they were highly derivative pieces made all the more disappointing when the band making them has the capability to be stunningly original. Blues Traveler has shown their originality of style FAR more than Wilco has. Don't get me wrong, Wilco is an amazingly talented group (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is an absolute masterpiece), but far too much of their material is derivative in either style or substance (trying too hard to be the "Southern Rock Beatles") when I know damn well that they're capable of forging their own voice, but for some reason choose not too.

Tragically, this Wilco mentality bled over onto Bastardos and elements of the album suffered because of it.

On the other hand, "Truth Be Told" was, stylistically speaking, their most experimental/out of left field album they had produced up to that point, and also the most heavily "produced-sounding." TBT, however, worked really well because:

1.) The album had a cohesive style that threaded through the album without any of the songs sounding the same.
2.) The album didn't have that "Wilco derivative" problem that was abundant on Bastardos.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, TBT is probably tied with T&T for my favorite BT album. NHS was utterly solid, but didn't have a lot of "standout" moments, but was still a stronger album than Bastardos. For one thing, at no point did it not sound like Blues Traveler.

Anyhoo, I'm rambling.

Posted 1 year ago #
Maddan
Member

I'm a fan of Bastardos. I'm a fan because the album still surprises me whenever I hear it, it has some fantastic tracks such as Money Back, Can't Win or She And I (Ben's solo is one of the best BT studio moments ever in my book). So except for those terrible two tracks #11 and #12 (see greenone's post), this is a fab album that really stood the test of time - I even dig that "sound scapey feel" that Dave mentioned - I think it works and I am really happy to have Bastardos. I consider it to be a very experimental, yet truly soulful BT album.

Posted 1 year ago #
OlBlueSuedes56
Member

I like Bastardos too and I have a much different opinion of some of the songs good and bad than others. I think it has a lot of attitude and in your face type stuff. It is an album that grows on you the more you listen. It is different and a little off the wall but I think it works. I don't agree that 11 and 12 are terrible tracks. I agree that What Could Possily Go Wrong is by far the most off the wall thing they have done. It is disjointed with no melody but I think that is kind of the point. It makes me think about the troubled kids that I work with for a living. The reckless and disjointed mindset that leads to bad decisions in their lives is pretty accurately portrayed in this song whether that was the intent or not. I don't see That Which Doesn't Kill You as a polarizing song either way. Money Back Guarantee, After What, She and I and a few others are very strong.

It is a mood album but it works for me.

Posted 1 year ago #

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What's the beef with Bastardos! ?!?!?

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