Buffalo Tom
Let Me Come Over

THE REVIEW

I have been barricaded at home for a couple of days. It's been raining here for a week now; the disastrous weather conditions, with many mountain roads closed due to landslides and avalanches, force me to give up my usual walks "lost" in the majesty of the places where I live. It's too dangerous to venture into the snow made very heavy by the copious rain. Thus, I have time to try to relax, succeeding with my music; and I've dusted off a good part of Buffalo Tom's discography, focusing my attention on their work I prefer.

This is the album Let Me Come Over, the band's third, released in 1992. Personally, it's one of the many masterpieces I carry within me from those remarkable and unforgettable years.

When they formed in the late eighties, Boston, their city, seemed to be the capital of "alternative" American music: Pixies, Dinosaur Jr., Throwing Muses had already made significant strides in discography. Three young college friends met and initiated Buffalo Tom, immediately drawing inspiration from their already well-known compatriots and the less raucous Husker Du. Their early raw and amateur recordings circulated around Boston and ended up in the trusted hands of J. Mascis, who immediately fell in love with the noisy trio and supported them in the production phase of the still unpolished self-titled debut and also in the second album Birdbrain, which already represented a definite step forward.

Amid endless promotional tours, we reach March of 1992 and the release of Let Me Come Over. A perfect work, meticulously cared for, with tailor-made production. Bill Janovitz is the beacon, the band's reference point; leading his companions to the peak of form, introducing in many tracks that Folk component that would become a highly prized signature for subsequent records.

The deserved success will remain a distant mirage, an unattainable goal for our band; and it's a pity because Buffalo Tom had the enormous merit of writing some of the most beautiful songs of the nineties. Certainly, the terrible image on the cover did not help the band. This is, in my opinion, the only major flaw of the collection of songs present.

A collection that opens in a sumptuous way with the angry "Staples": beautifully charged guitars, noisy, on the edge of Noise from the much distortion deployed. A callback to previous works, to the unforgettable beginnings. Immediately follows what might be the best track ever recorded by the band; in fact, as far as I am concerned, I remove the term 'might' because "Taillights Fade" is my undisputed peak. A song of embarrassing simplicity; a classic electric ballad that closely resembles Neil Young. It is Bill's strained voice that becomes the protagonist, screaming the title several times towards the end...a marvel, I'll say no more.

The album is a continuous alternation of more frantic moments looking back to the past, as in the dynamic, engaging, compelling "Mountains of Your Head" and "Velvet Roof," which give way to reflective pauses, to acoustic-folkish textures that are well highlighted in "Mineral" (another episode worthy of immortality) and the long, well over five minutes, "Larry." It all ends, closed by yet another standout track: "Crutch," which opens in a somber, delicate, calm manner and continues amid sudden electric bursts and lighter, softer, enveloping textures. A ten out of ten!!!

It's a pity for the very little feedback, the mediocre sales...Here in Italy, we listened to them in four or a little more, even less on Debaser...a recent listen of mine unfortunately proves it.

Ad Maiora.