[.ca] Situation

BUCK 65 - "Situation":
Buck 65 is an enigma rolled up in a blanket of eclectic styles. Hailing from Mount Uniacke, this genre-crossing musician received kudos from The New York Times, Spin magazine and Rolling Stone, to name a few, as the hot property in 2005 with his album "This Right Here is Buck 65" but the bottom fell out when the record label he was on went the way of the Dodo bird. What did Richard Terfry (aka-Buck 65) do? He went to Paris (forgive the pun Jimmy Buffett) and met a girl, made music, recorded and toured. This CD is his latest offering of what has been tagged "alternative rap". To me one of the major things that Buck 65 has in common with K-OS is that you short-change both of them by saying they're Hip Hop artists. They are so much more than that and even though they have roots in that genre, both have transcended the limitations of that music style and have created a genre of music that follows it's own unique and individual path. Case in point? This album is inspired by the cultural happenings in 1957; frisbees, Tang, nuclear testing, China, a serial killer and so much more, all detailed in the CD's second track "1957". The next song "Dang" is dang hot, sounding as if it came from a Quentin Tarantino movie and most people will be familiar with the samples used from The Incredible Bongo Band. Do yourself a favour and check out the awesome video for the song posted on You Tube. There are 16 tracks here, all killer-no filler. "Lipstick" is as slick as it's namesake,"The Outskirts" is pretty much brilliant,"The Beatific", with its Doors-like keyboards, drips "groovy", and "Shutter Buggin" is almost too hot to handle with its super sexy and risqué subject matter. You can't pigeonhole a CD like this; all you can do is hope to provide a decent description by using relevant adjectives; groovy, one of a kind, rebel rousing, etc. Buck 65 may very well be the most creatively unique and innovative musician to ever come from Nova Scotia.

Better than 'Secret House,' not up there with 'Talkin Honky Blues':
A kind-of concept record about 1957 being a fulcrum year that supposedly resonates in our own. The concept: meh. (The insight that the times we live in are not completely unprecedented shouldn't blow away anyone, frankly). The record: variable, but hugely entertaining. 'Dang' is a smash hit waiting to happen. (Too bad the music industry will find a way to screw up a sure thing; it always does). If '1957' sinks due to the unhappy parallel with Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start the Fire,' the songs about Bettie Page-era porn are great fun, although just a smidgen too close to shooting fish in a barrel for an artist of Buck's talent. There's two songs about cops - the prison-rape ditty 'Spread 'Em' and 'Heatwave' - that trade Buck's usual emotional depth for cinematic titillation, not to say kitsch. A clutch of other songs make for pleasant, if shallow, diversions. In fact, much of this material lacks the emotional punch of his best work, with one exception: the incredible 'The Outskirts,' which is achingly sad, and too short. So I'd say that this is a nice snap back into focus after the mumbo-jumbo of 'Secret House Against the World,' but still some distance from the artistic heights of 'Talkin' Honky Blues.' However, if you're new to Buck and for some reason don't want to buy the latter record (a masterpiece), the sheer entertainment value of this record would make it as good a place as any to ease into the work of one of the most exciting artists in contemporary music.

• Intro
• 1957
• Dang
• Lipstick
• Shutter Buggin'
• Spread 'Em
• Ho-Boys
• Way Back When
• Cop Shades
• Beatific
• Mr. Nobody
• Rebel
• Benz.
• Heatwave
• Outskirts
• White Bread