Blue Rodeo
A sextet of late-30ish Ontarians, Blue Rodeo has made a string of consistently first-rate country-rock albums. But although they're a big draw in Canada, they have earned little stateside but utterly undeserved apathy. Singer-songwriters Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy are gifted melodists; in addition, Keelor plays blazing, increasingly jazz-influenced lead guitar. Nowhere to Here unrolls leisurely, even luxuriantly, between the poles of Cuddy's acoustic ballads and Keelor's more freewheeling rock jams, ending on a note of mystery with the hushed, eight-minute-plus "Flaming Bed." Climaxing a rock album with a long, slow meditation, quiet as a pond at dusk, takes courage, and these fellows' stubborn conviction lifts them far above the rock of today's rock groups. (Discovery)
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