Buffalo Tom - Songs Lost in the Dark

There are bands who will never become famous, whose name will flicker for a moment across the pages of rock history without ever taking up much space, noticed by few and remembered fondly - and with regret - by even fewer, once they've been "lost in the dark". This is the story of one such band.

Buffalo Tom came together in the late '80s, when three young men from Boston and its surrounding area, all enrolled at the University of Massachusetts, started playing together (Bill Janowitz on guitar and vocals, Chris Colbourn on bass, Tom Maginnis on drums), drawing in obvious fashion on the alternative rock of the era - particularly the fusion of melody and noise found in Husker Du, the nervy sound of the Pixies and the wild guitars of Dinosaur Jr. And it was thanks precisely to the involvement of the latter's leader, J Mascis, acting as mentor and producer, that the Boston trio arrived at their debut album in 1989.

Buffalo Tom, cut for Beggars Banquet (as would be all the albums that followed), inevitably pays the price of Janowitz and co.'s youth, still lacking in personality, and, unsurprisingly, feels heavily shaped by Mascis's production - so much so that, at times, the band comes across as little more than Dinosaur Jr imitators. There's no shortage of fine songs, but not all the material lives up to expectations, and some tracks are thoroughly anonymous and forgettable. And yet, despite its flaws, you can sense there's something good at work in the Boston trio's music: in particular, several points on the album reveal a marked leaning toward melody and melancholy ballads that clearly has the potential to evolve in very interesting directions.

The album opens strongly with the splendid "Sunflower Suit", an intense guitar-driven charge that fuses melody and noise in the tradition of Husker Du's "Warehouse Songs & Stories". Bill Janowitz's voice rises, with aching emphasis, to try to top the band's towering wall of sound, and immediately stakes out what will become Buffalo Tom's defining and winning trait: the ability to write songs that are deeply felt and deeply moving, able to strike a chord with any sensitive listener. By the time the album's second track, "The Plank", comes around, the Dinosaur Jr influence is almost too obvious: the vocals remain emphatic and passionate, but the distorted guitar and the languor in Janowitz's voice point directly back to the Amherst band's music.

J Mascis picks up the lead guitar on the next song, the remarkable "Impossible", one of the album's gems, a kind of breakneck melodic power-pop in which Bill Janowitz's voice blends perfectly with the electric guitar solo played by the producer. An early glimpse of what Buffalo Tom would become once freed from the loving but somewhat overbearing guidance of the Dinosaur Jr leader can be found in the album's fifth track, the intense "The Bus", marked by a sound that's still forceful and guitar-driven but a touch more traditional, leaning toward classic American rock, and by melancholy, aching lyrics that would become the trademark of the Boston band's best songs (“Walked home in the rain today/ Took the subway train today/ Went to my room, listened to Billie Holiday/ …/ I don’t care if you don’t understand/ I will be there anyway/ Just found out what to be today/ See it through”). Also worth noting is the album's tenth track, "Reason Why", which we'll come back to later.

All told, Buffalo Tom is an interesting record that's still decidedly unresolved, with some fine songs that hint at the Boston band's potential but that remain too tied to Janowitz and co.'s influences, and still unsure of which direction to take.

The band's second album, Birdbrain, came out in 1990 and marks a decisive step forward from the uncertainties of the debut. Co-produced by the band alongside the usual J Mascis and newcomer Sean Slade, the record once again betrays the Bostonians' love for their guiding lights Husker Du and Dinosaur Jr, but seasons the dish with a more personal, more traditional sound, veering decisively toward a more classic brand of rock, with echoes - more or less distant - of Neil Young and the late-adolescent spleen of the nascent grunge movement. Bill Janowitz's guitar and his intense, emphatic voice still tower imperiously over the hammering rhythm section of Maginnis and Colbourn, sketching out melodies that are epic, furious and heart-wrenching. It's hard to single out one "signature" song from the record: it ranges from the nervy guitar and infectious riff of "Birdbrain" to the intense crescendo of "Skeleton Key", from the "morbid" melody of the splendid "Caress" to the breakneck, almost-hardcore "Guy Who Is Me", from the solemn ballad "Enemy" to the sunny, engaging "Crawl", from the still-driving but more traditional rock of "Fortune Teller" to the slow "Baby" (with Chris Colbourn on lead vocals), from the stunning guitar charge of "Directive" to the "open" melody of the lovely "Bleeding Heart".

As a bonus, at least on the CD edition, you'll also find two truly unmissable gems: a beautiful, relaxed, dreamy acoustic cover of "Heaven" by the Psychedelic Furs, and the aforementioned "Reason Why", which first appeared on the debut album and is reissued here in a remarkable unplugged version that, freed from the electric trappings that had weighed it down excessively, proves surprisingly elegant and melodically rich, standing out as one of the finest songs the Boston trio ever recorded.

Birdbrain is a flawless record that comes close to masterpiece status, completing the artistic maturation of Bill Janowitz's band and steering Buffalo Tom toward a perhaps more traditional brand of rock that is nonetheless never dull.

Buffalo Tom's mature work arrived with their third album, dated 1992, unanimously hailed by critics as their masterpiece and titled Let Me Come Over. The album, sporting what is probably one of the least appealing covers in rock history, was co-produced by the band with Paul Kolderie and returning producer Sean Slade, and completes the band's break from the cumbersome models of their early days. The sound remains guitar-driven and furious but is decidedly more melodic, "cleaner" and rooted in more traditional American rock rather than the underground. Once again, the Boston outfit proves adept at writing intense, epic, aching songs, alternating guitar-driven charges with classic, heart-on-sleeve ballads.

The record opens with the melodic, sun-drenched "Staples", which immediately underscores Janowitz's band's "new direction". The album's masterpiece (and probably the finest song Buffalo Tom ever wrote) comes with the second track, titled "Taillights Fade", a sumptuous, moving electric ballad that recounts, in heartfelt tones, an unstoppable existential drift: “I’m lost in the dark/ And I feel like a dinosaur/ Broken face and broken hands/ I’m a broken man/ I’ve hit the wall/ I’m about to fall/ But I’m closing in on it/ I feel so weak/ On a losing streak/ Watch my taillights fade to black/ I read a thing about this girl/ She was a hermit in her world/ Her story was much like mine/ She could be my valentine/ And although we’ve never met/ I won’t forget her yet/ She cut herself off from her past/ Now she’s alone at last”. Barely enough time to catch your breath through the decompression chamber of the pleasant, lively "Mountains Of Your Head", just over three minutes long, before arriving at the album's second gem, the fourth track titled "Mineral", a ballad marked by a lovely melody and a thrilling crescendo.

The album's tracklist carries on without a single dip, moving through more electric, driving tracks like "Darl", "Velvet Roof", "Stymied", "Saving Grace", guitar-driven ballads loaded with pathos like "Larry", "Porchlight", "Frozen Lake", and tracks more closely tied to roots and country-rock (and perhaps less interesting) like "I'm Not There".

Let Me Come Over is a gem that would have every right to earn due and deserved success, but it pays the price of being suspended in a kind of limbo: too "alternative" for the mainstream audience, and too traditional for the alternative one. The inevitable result is that only a few ever took notice of this record, and Buffalo Tom would never achieve the success they deserved (though perhaps it was never something they truly sought or wanted).

Only a year separates Let Me Come Over from its follow-up, Big Red Letter Day. The new record, co-produced by the band alongside the Robb Brothers, came out in 1993 and marked a further, decisive move away from the underground beginnings and the Husker Du and Dinosaur Jr influence that had been so pronounced on the first two albums. By now Buffalo Tom were an American alternative rock band, but a decidedly traditional one with solid radio appeal. Bill Janowitz's guitar is still front and centre, as is his passionate, at times stirring voice, but the melodies are softer and the album comes across as pleasant yet perhaps a bit too one-note, lacking the intense emotional peaks that had defined its predecessor.

The songs are all solid but none of them really sticks in the memory. "Sodajerk" is the album's lead track, a fairly conventional song that at moments seems to nod to Rem. "I'm Allowed" is a terrific ballad in the vein of the previous record's songs, with intense, heart-wrenching lyrics: “Waited for an answer/ But I waited for twenty five years/ They stopped my bleeding/ But could never stop all those tears”. The rest of the album is pleasant, workmanlike stuff.

The impression is that with Big Red Letter Day Buffalo Tom became too "normalized," ending up losing their distinctiveness and sounding like just another run-of-the-mill mainstream American rock band.

At this point even the band members realize a jolt is needed, a healthy return to their roots, to the high volumes of their early days, to the passion poured into walls of angry guitars and a more rock-solid rhythm section. For the new album, released in 1995 and titled Sleepy Eyed, they brought in a sacred monster of alternative rock, John Agnello, to produce, helping the band bring back the raw, "dirty" sound of their first records, without of course giving up the melodic sensibility that has always been the Boston trio's trademark.

The record opens straight away with the guitar ferocity of "Tangerine" and the benevolent smile of Bob Mould of Husker Du, who once again peeks through in the notes played by Bill Janowitz's band. The song is one of the best Buffalo Tom ever wrote and deserves a place on any ideal anthology of the group. The collection's second track, "Summer," is a stirring, sweeping ballad that manages to beautifully fuse the raw sound of Birdbrain with the moving pathos of Let Me Come Over. The third track, "Kitchen Door" (sung by Chris Colbourn, as are "Clobbered" and "Twenty Points"), is softer and more immediate, while the volume goes back up with the engaging "Rules," "It's You" and "Your Stripes." "Sunday Night" is yet another moving ballad written by Janowitz and co. (“Sunday night and now I know/ How the night can pass slow/ All kinds of ugly outside that’s right/ And I’m all alone tonight”).

Sleepy Eyed, in short, decidedly raises the band's stock compared to the elegant but dull Big Red Letter Day, bringing Buffalo Tom back to the crackling guitar sound of their origins. In this sense, we could say that, aside from a couple of more melodic and conventional moments, Sleepy Eyed is the ideal continuation of Birdbrain rather than of Let Me Come Over, as well as one of the Boston band's best albums.

In 1997 Bill Janowitz released a solo record titled Lonesome Billy, made by the singer-guitarist in collaboration with Joey Burns and John Convertino, members of Giant Sand and Calexico. Away from Buffalo Tom, Bill Janowitz unexpectedly headed toward more traditional folk and country. Lonesome Billy would be followed by further Janowitz solo works in 2001 (Up Here) and 2004 (Fireworks On TV, made with Crown Victoria).

Buffalo Tom returned in 1998 with Smitten, a record co-produced by the band with David Bianco and literally ignored by both audiences and critics. By this point Janowitz's band seemed to interest no one at all, and even the modest, relative success of Let Me Come Over felt like a distant memory.

After the high volumes and crackling atmospheres of Sleepy Eyed, with Smitten Buffalo Tom's pendulum seems to swing back toward a "cleaner," more traditional rock sound, melodic and catchy, pleasant but not especially original. The best tracks on the record come at the start: the album opens with the lovely "Rachel," sung by Chris Colbourn, which seems to draw inspiration from Tom Petty's rock, with echoes of the more conventional side of Rem. "Postcard" and "Knot On It" are also excellent, and thanks to Bill Janowitz's emphatic, intense voice they briefly seem to conjure up the golden years. Chris Colbourn is back on vocals for the catchy "The Bible," while "Scottish Window" is an elegant, pleasant ballad with an open, relaxed melody. "White Paint Morning" is pure guitar-driven power-pop, and "Wiser" is yet another fine ballad from the Boston group.

Unfortunately, despite containing a few excellent songs, Smitten never really takes off, and the impression it leaves is of a tired record that exists for its own sake, adding nothing new or significant to the band's story. It's a record that feels somehow "out of time," a "classic" American rock album released in an era when audiences and critics were looking in an entirely different direction, toward the stripped-down, experimental sounds of lo-fi and post-rock. Having started out as Dinosaur Jr clones, Buffalo Tom had, by now, become dinosaurs themselves in everyone's eyes. Even Janowitz and co. sensed the paradox of the situation and decided to take a long, perhaps definitive, break to reflect, during which, as a kind of seal on the band's story, two collections of singles and rarities were released.

Buffalo Tom returned with new material only nine years later, in 2007, with a new record titled Three Easy Pieces, produced by the band and released on a new label, the independent New West Records. By now the days of Birdbrain and Let Me Come Over were light years away, and thankfully so were those of the flat Smitten. Buffalo Tom had become a band forgotten by audiences and snubbed by critics, their stirring songs seeming now "lost in the dark," much like the protagonist of their masterpiece song, the splendid "Taillights fade." The train of success had long since passed, Buffalo Tom had hopped on for a moment but got off again at the very first stop: now Bill Janowitz and co. were three former kids with a knack for writing beautiful songs, free to play together whatever they liked, without any pressure at all.

Three Easy Pieces adds nothing new or unforgettable to Buffalo Tom's story: it's simply a thoroughly honest American alternative-rock record, well played and sung with the subdued but never extinguished passion of someone who, having crossed the fateful threshold into middle age, chooses not to look back and wallow in bitter reckonings, but instead looks forward, picks up their instruments, and does what they do best: play. The songs are all solid, as fresh and exciting as those of a debut band, yet with the relaxed maturity of someone with plenty of road dust on their shoes. The opening "Bad Phone Call" and "Lost Downtown" are excellent ballads, the title track and "Bottom Of The Rain" are more energetic, angrier numbers, "Renovating" and "Good Girl" are thoroughly enjoyable guitar-pop, and "Gravity" is even folk-rock (an old love of Bill Janowitz's and the subject of his solo efforts).

Three Easy Pieces, in short, is a decent album, but, once again, hardly anyone notices.

Clearly the 2007 reunion wasn't an isolated case, since Janowitz and co. returned in 2011 with an album, simply titled Skins, produced by the band (with mixing help from old friend Paul Kolderie) and released on Scrawny Records.

The new record essentially confirms the good form shown on Three Easy Pieces, further sharpening the melodies and song construction and giving the genuine impression that this isn't just a rehash of a somewhat predictable formula, but a fresh starting point and relaunch for a band with no intention whatsoever of becoming a bunch of "dinosaurs." With the new album Buffalo Tom aren't trying to offer anything outside their established wheelhouse, but the songs are surprisingly beautiful, polished and intense.

The Boston band, with admirable consistency (or, from the point of view of any detractors, an inability to reinvent themselves), rattles off a series of excellent songs, concise and direct, of traditional-minded American rock, which can only prove thoroughly enjoyable for anyone who grew up with the songs of Birdbrain and Let Me Come Over in their heart and in their ears.

Skins is a varied album, alternating lighter, more relaxed tracks - such as the pleasant, if perhaps slightly frivolous, guitar-pop of "She's Not Your Thing" and "The Kids Just Sleep", the lovely acoustic duet between Bill Janowitz and Tanya Donnelly on "Don't Forget Me", the airy, lively ballads "Here I Come", "Guilty Girls" and the splendid "Out Of The Dark", the "classic" melody of "Miss Barren Brooks", the languid atmospheres of "Paper Knife" and the country-rock of "The Hawks And The Sparrows" - with episodes that are far more crackling and guitar-driven, which wouldn't look out of place among the most scorching moments of Sleepy Eyed, and which impetuously rekindle a fire that seemed long extinguished by the passing years but which, evidently, had only been smoldering beneath the ashes of time.

"Rock n' roll will never die", as someone like Neil Young, who knows the subject well, might sing. And electric ballads like "Arise, Watch", "Down" (decidedly the masterpiece of the collection), "Lost Weekend" and "The Big Light" do nothing but reaffirm Buffalo Tom's ability to strike at the heart with thrilling, passion-filled guitar charges, so unmistakable that a fan of the band could recognize them without hesitation from the very first notes.

Ultimately, "Skins" is a really fine record which, while not reaching the heights of their masterpieces, stands as a new starting point for three musicians who, on the fateful threshold of twenty-five years of activity, show no intention whatsoever of giving up their own deeply personal, minimal mission of writing rock ballads for those few who, not caring about fads and trends, still have the heart and passion to "feel" them on their own skin and in their own soul.

A simple story, that of Buffalo Tom: a story which, fortunately, doesn't seem to be about to end just yet, and which has so far handed down to posterity eight albums of intense, passionate rock, along with a handful of beautiful, aching songs that deserved a better fate than "getting lost in the darkness, like taillights fading in the night".

At the end of April 2017, on the stage of Hot Stove Cool Music, an annual charity concert held in Boston, Buffalo Tom joined Eddie Vedder for a jam session featuring a heartfelt two-voice rendition of the by-now classic "Taillights Fade". The video of the event, available on YouTube, is a telling (and in some ways moving) testament to how the Massachusetts band's journey hasn't been in vain, earning along the way the respect and esteem even of successful peers like the frontman of Pearl Jam.

We imagine that such recognition helped spur Bill Janowitz and co. to carry on with their minimal mission of setting the lights and shadows of the American Dream to music, and, a full seven years after the excellent Skins, in early March 2018 Buffalo Tom released their ninth album, once again on the Scrawny label and with mixing help from old friend John Agnello. To record it, with an increasingly anemic record market flattened by streaming, the Boston band was forced to rely on fan support (publicly thanked in the album's liner notes) through a fundraiser on the Pledgemusic platform. The line-up is the same as ever, unchanged and unchangeable over the course of a now thirty-year career, although Bill Janowitz, Chris Colbourn and Tom Maginnis, pictured in a photo inside the new record, betray in their wrinkles the unmistakable arrival of middle age.

Luckily, the marks on their skin don't afflict the passion in their voices or the gleaming clang of guitar-bass-drums from this seasoned trio: Quiet And Peace, predictably, once again attempts no revolutions, but skillfully reels off a handful of good traditional American rock songs, oscillating (nomen omen) between the quiet of airy, sunlit atmospheres and the (relative) noise of angrier, crackling passages, leaving the task of closing the record (bonus tracks aside) to a splendid cover of Simon & Garfunkel's classic "Only Living Boy in New York". A pleasant, enjoyable work, but despite the usual energy generously poured in by the band, perhaps this time the spark is missing, the sacred fire that lit up their previous records, with the result that the songs follow one another a little too similarly (still, "All Be Gone" and the splendid "Freckles" stand out). Taken as a whole, Quiet And Peace doesn't go much beyond a decent pass.

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