Customer Reviews

Bastardos

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This album took me a little while to warm up to. I can remember when TRUTH BE TOLD came out, I was immediately taken in by the opening, raunchy notes of "Unable To Get Free". BASTARDOS will probably not jump down your throat the way TRUTH might have, but as soon as you accept it as not falling into the mold of the last several albums, this album is one of the most adventurous in the band's catalog.

There's definitely a different feel to BASTARDOS. Its 14 songs are the most on a Blues Traveler album since the outstanding SAVE HIS SOUL, and stylistically it runs all over the place. The band taps into influences that have never been heard on a BT album before now. Two of the songs ("Nail" and "That Which Doesn't Kill You") have an unmistakable Steely Dan flavor. "Nefertiti" (one of the album's best songs) sounds a little bit like "The Ballad Of Jenny Ledge" from early 90s Toy Matinee. And "She And I" sounds very much like early-to-mid career Chicago. The rest of the songs all delve into different musical directions, and if not for John Popper's voice and harp, it would be very difficult to pin down any of these songs as having a definitive "Blues Traveler" sound. Again, very adventurous.

Popper again handles all of the lyrical duties; and as has been the case for the last several albums, Chan Kinchla's musical contributions ("What Could Possibly Go Wrong", "That Which Doesn't Kill You", and especially the opening track, "You Can't Stop Thinking About Me") are musically among the most gutsy on the album. But this time, the other band members contribute a number of real diamonds in the rough. Ben Wilson's "Nail" and "Nefertiti" are both outstanding, and the slightly off-balance rhythm of Tad Kinchla's "Rubberneck" makes it one of the most interesting tracks on the album.

Finally, "Amber Awaits", while it is not quite the best track on the album, is very good, and certainly the most radio-friendly -- and therefore it's probably the best choice for the opening single. It's not going to vault BT back into the Billboard Top 40, but that's probably the last thing anyone reading this review cares about.

But alas, despite all the adventurousness of this album, there are definitely a couple of problems with it. Most notably, the mix is very poor. Popper's vocals, especially on the first few songs, is washed out way behind the music, almost to the point of distraction. Also, Popper's musical contributions, ("Can't Win True Love", "Leaning In", and "She Isn't Mine") are fairly weak, and the afterthought harp solo on "She Isn't Mine" feels completely phoned in.

Overall, I give the album a soft 4 stars; more like 3 and a half. I really like all the directions that the album goes in, but I would have preferrred a couple more meaty tracks like "Carolina Blues", "Unable To Get Free", or "Stand"

If you've never listened to Blues Traveler before, start now with 'Bastardos!'. If you've given them a chance before and didn't like them, give them another shot with 'Bastardos!'. This album is one of the strongest to be released this year, and quite possibly Blues Traveler's best. And Blues Traveler is one of the few bands in the jam band community that have released some very solid efforts ('Blues Traveler', 'Four' and 'Truth Be Told' to just name a few), but this one, in my opinion, tops them all. Even 2003's 'Truth Be Told' was a healthy establishment of the "new" Blues Traveler (while 2001's 'Bridge' was exactly that; a transition from the old to the new - bridging the gap between what was and what will be), but 'Bastardos!', in my opinion, still tops it. John Popper usually, as many other artists do, writes a lot about lost and unrequited love, but the first song alone, "You Can't Stop Thinking About Me", shows how his songwriting style is changing. "Amber Awaits" features the most interesting guitar riff and bass line I've heard in a long time. The perfect and rather fitting segue of "Money Back Guarantee" and "Can't Win True Love", are both packed with incredible emotion and raw power. "Leaning In" showcases Popper's amazing vocal abilities and delivery. "She And I", probably the album's epiccenter, prominantly features a 3-piece horn section - something completely new for the band. This track also showcases newbie Traveler, keyboardist Ben Wilson, with a truly mezmerizing solo. "Rubberneck" offers up a completely original (and hilarious) song subject; something that needs to be heard to be believed. The album ends gracefully with "The Children Of The Night", one of the band's most heavily produced songs. This album may be lacking the classic "hard driven, angry" Blues Traveler song, such as "Crash Burn", "Defense and Desire" or "You're Burning Me", but the entire band (as they all had a big part in writing for the album) have a lot to say that nothing is lacking at all.

What are you looking for? Misery? Check. Regret? Check. Revenge? Check. Soul? Check. Sacrimental beer? Yeah, check.

This album may not be the traditional, strewn-in-misery blues that we have all come to know and love (or despise, depending on how you look at it), but Blues Traveler's BASTARDOS! manages to capture the spirit and energy that makes blues music what it is. Combining expert musicianship with powerful vocals and superior songwriting, BASTARDOS! is an album blending rock, country, and blues into a sound that can only be described as awesome. Maybe not the absolute best record ever made...but who really gives a hoot? This album is FUN, and that's what I like in my music. Really, who knew heartache could be so entertaining?

During the return of old time rock and roll during the mid 90's, Blues Traveler made their mark with the breakout album Four. They then followed up with the sadly overlooked Straight on Till Morning. Sadly after that, the band when in a tailspin that was so bad, it landed them their very own Behind the Music. But things have gone better lately which brings us to the latest Blues Traveler album, ¡Bastardos!

The album starts off with You Can't Thinking About Me, a more artsy type a song than the band is known for. The song stars with some guitars would sound more at home on a Radiohead album along with some voice distortion, but by the time the chorus comes around, it back to more of the traditional bluesy nature of the band. After that is the more playful Amber Awaits which is bouncy much like the earlier Felicia and features the trademark harmonica.

In addition to You Can't Stop Thinking About Me, expands musically throughout the whole album such as the synthesizer heavy Rubberneck, Nefertiti and also Can't Win True Love which is also built around a different type of beat. Nail on the other hand is heavy on the bass while John Popper sings in a different cadence. Money Back Guarantee for the first time to my knowledge feature some female backing vocals while She and I utilizes a horn section. But at the heart of the album is a blues influence, harmonica driven songs, and great storytelling such as After What and She Isn't Mine, that that brought the band fame in the first place.

This album rocks the party that rocks the box. At first, I thought it all sucked except for , "Amber Waits", but I was dead wrong. The degree of difficulty in listening turned itself around, and now I love this little Bastardo to death.. Bravo Blues Traveler and Jay Bennett for reaching for the stars. I get really captivated by the cool changes and fluctuating grooves. the songs sometimes get super busy and congested only to release and fall back in excellent fashion. The guy on keyboard is essential to their new sound in this style. wow. Trk. 8 has some very tight horns playing that would seem out of place until it all blows you away by the end with a riveting keyboard solo. I get a little weird about this kind of stuff, but I would love to reorder the tracks and start with the party/spiritual number, "the children of the night" as number one. What great imagery this song has for those of us who've thrived through the night into the morning letting our freak flags fly. Stay thirsty BT

This very well could be the oddest album in the Blue's Traveler discography. Jay Bennett (RIP ,brother) produced the album Bastardos and to my ears, made a Blue's Traveler version of Summerteeth. Perhaps i'm being too kind as i think Summerteeth is one of the amazing albums of our lifetime....BUT you can tell hear Jay Bennetts influence all over this album. Definitely the most "pop sounding" album by Blues Traveler, if you are interested i'd recommend going to their site as you can listen to their albums in their entirity and thusly get a feel for it.

A way different vibe for them, sometimes it works wonderfully and other times not quite as well as i would've hoped. Still, with a band as talented as BT and a producer who was as talented as JB, it has some fine highs!

I became a Blues Traveler fan when Four was released. I quickly bought all their previous studio releases and have bought all subsequent studio releases. I also have the Run-Around EP and the live "Live From The Fall" album.

For me the four best Blues Traveler studio albums are:
- Travelers and Thieves
- Four
- Bridge
- Bastardos

I am only giving this a 3 because I reserve a 5 for superb albums, very few albums achieve that distinction. This album could possbibly be a 4 and I am wavering between a rating of 3 or 4. So I will go for a 3.5 rating for this album.

Regards,
Ralph

Truth Be Told was an excellent album. Powerfull and mostly new. Bastardos has the same qualitys. From the very first track you can sense that Blues Traveler (now) is going to new directions every album and song. And thats whats so incredible about this long time band. They keep recreating themselves every second the play together. We might miss mister Bob Sheehan but we sure love what Blues Traveler have done without him. Maybe long time fans are not to happy with this new albums (TBT and Bastardos) but the can't say Blues Traveler is not as good as before. I believe that is not better, I believe its just simple evolution. And a great one. This 70's rock influenced album is a solid record that must be considered one of the best album this year. I haven't listen another like this one to be honest. Songs like "You can't stop thinking abou me" or "can't win true love" shows the evolution of a band that has not forgotten their old influences, they just add new ones. (Thanks to Tad Kinchla and Ben Wilson). They are playing excellent live shows and I believe this album shows that the band is going to better places. But they sure can deliver us better albums, but this a great attemp to say "Hey, we are still alive and better than ever".

First off, let me start by saying that I love...LOVE...LOOOOOOOOVE Blues Traveler. I have all of their official releases, and literally over 100 additional CDs of live shows (they allow taping). I am one of those guys who, even if the live show recording doesn't soung very good, I will crank it up, and strain to listen to BT, because I love their music. With that said, this is the worst album I have ever heard of theirs. There are a few decent songs, but even most of those are ruined by horrible effects...they sound like kids who just learned how to use studio effects, but don't know how to do it well yet, so they just turned them on at random.

Missing from this album is EVERYTHING that makes a Blues Traveler album great. The songs are not well written, and sound like they were just thrown together. Popper's lyrics, usually brilliant, are pretty mundane. The vocals, usually amazingly powerful and expressive, are often distorted due to bad effects, and never really show off what Popper can do. Chan (the guitarist) is almost non-existant, and songs like Rubberneck just sound empty without him.

I'm glad that the band had a good time recording this album, but I sincerely hope that this was just a dud, and not the start of a horrible trend. This album is the most disappointing thing I have ever heard from a band I love so much.

Like most reviewers on this page I am a tremendous fan of BT. Their first 2 CD's have never left my regular rotation since they came out over 15 years ago. But that doesn't give them a free pass to a good review.
This work is simply awful! And it pains me to say that. But what is more painful is to hear other reviewers say that Bastardos may be BT's best work yet.
Are you serious? Or are you just trying to get your review more attention by blatant hyperbole?
To say that 'Bastardos' is one of BT's best works is tantamount to saying that 'Yesterday and Today' was The Beatles best work. Just as one could assume that person never heard of 'The White Album' or 'Sgt. Peppers' one would conclude that anyone reviewing 'Bastardos' as BT's finest work is oblivious to the significance of their self titled debut and 'Travelers and Thieves'.
If you like this album that's fine (I, for one, think it is unlistenable - and I've tried several times!) but do not brush aside the truly genius songwriting, thought provoking lyrics and infectious grooves of their early releases by shouting 'Bastardos' praises.
Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should this be your first BT purchase! If you like radio pop stuff then start with 'Four'. If you prefer under the radar brilliance a little too deep for mainstream then grab 'Travelers and Thieves' or their first release. Then spread out from there.
Fact: If these tunes here are what BT went to the industry execs with trying to land a recording deal, they would have been shown the door immediately, and we would not be having this conversation.
Popper: You are a lyricist to be compared to Dylan and Nelson... what the hell has happened here?
Sadly, this album isn't fiction.