Big Red Letter Day

Buffalo Tom | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 21, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Beggars UK - Ada
• ASIN: B0000018AT
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,260 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Jerked My Fountain", September 5, 2001

By 

Geoff Wolinetz (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big Red Letter Day (Audio CD)

I was first introduced to Buffalo Tom through "My So-Called Life." Dutifully tuning into ABC on a cold Wednesday night in late 1994, I saw a band that I had heard of but never heard. I was riveted by the guitar and drum of "Sodajerk" and "Late At Night" and their infectious melodies. I bought the album the next day and it has been in constant rotation for the last 7 years.

Buffalo Tom, panned as Dinosaur Jr. Junior early on, really came into their own with this album. It features their only minor MTV and alt-radio hit "Sodajerk" but it also features some other very underrated songs, including "I'm Allowed" (a driving guitar song in good juxtaposition with "Sodajerk"), "Torch Singer" (a catchy little number containing the title of the album in its lyrics) and "Late At Night" (a great bar rock song).

I've tried for 7 years to see Buffalo Tom in concert and I've never quite been able to catch up with them. It just may not be meant to be, but I'll tell you this: I'm not gonna give up. If they are half as good live as they are on this album, it'll be the best concert of my life.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grrreat Tunes!!!!!!!!, August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Big Red Letter Day (Audio CD)

One of my fave alterna-rock/pop bands!! This CD is filled with awesome melodies. My favorite song on this album is "late at night" -- MY SO-CALLED LIFE fans will remember it as the song played when Jordan walks across that crowded hallway and, in front of everybody, takes Angela's hand for the first time :)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An overlooked gem, January 25, 2002

By 

Kenton Larsen (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Big Red Letter Day (Audio CD)

The kiss of death for Buffalo Tom might have been getting stuck with the "alternative" label. Because to call them "alternative" was to deny them the mass audience they so richly deserved.

Buffalo Tom, not a guy but a Boston-based trio, skillfully transformed traditional song styles into idiosyncratic rockers and electric ballads, in the same way that REM transformed "New Southern Rock" into something much more. Forget the comparisons to Dinosaur Jr.: this band, and Big Red Letter Day, are successful on their own terms.

Produced by the Robb Brothers, responsible for producing hitmakers like Neil Diamond, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, the Bay City Rollers and fellow-Bostonians the Lemonheads, the CD is probably Buffalo Tom's most accessible, featuring deceptively simple melodies, dynamic guitars, and some of the band's best lyrics.

The CD opens with the confident "Sodajerk", which features the Water Sisters (Rolling Stones) and the immortal opening lines: "Watch an eyeball/take a free fall/At the mention of a name/In its socket/Like a rocket/It rises just the same."

Other standouts include "My Responsibility" (and the great lyrics, "I don't like that joke, and I don't want to smell like smoke"), "Torch Singer" and the rocking "Tree House" and "Dry Land".

Overlooked in its day, Big Red Letter Day is an easy gem that's well deserving of your hard-earned dollars.