Customer Reviews

Far Side of the World

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(48)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

"I was in two minds...should I buy this or not??After,at best, the disappointing and un Buffett like performance on *Beachhouse on the Moon*,I was concerned that Jimmy had lost the edge and was settling into middle-aged conformity.I should not have worried..he has returned to a more familiar,if somewhat subdued and reflective form.

We are not chugging down rums and floating away on those Carribean breezes,and there is not a cheeseburger in sight!!! Instead this CD owes more to Mark Twain and his epic,*Following the Equator* than to string bikinis and fins to the left fins to the right.I personally like the feel of this one,it is part African Travel-logue,part philosophy,part history..and totally Buffett.

From the opening *Blue Guitar* with its African beats.into the moody and reflective *Mademoiselle* and *Autour Du Rocher*,we are treated to JB returning to what he does best,lead the listener on his personal take on his memories and that troupador lifestyle.*Autour Du Rocher*,is one of the stronger tracks on this and shows Jimmy can still sing them,even if they are not written by him everytime.The songs are laden with French phrases and have that personal feel, that was so much lacking in *Beachhouse on the Moon*

This is not simply a *Turn up and buy if you are a parrotthead* catalogue of songs.They are to be savoured and enjoyed,owing a lot to the satisfaction of living that was conveyed on *A1A* and *Coconut Telegraph*..that relaxed satisfaction of watching the sun go down over the ocean with a beer or red wine in hand!!.Jimmy uses several styles that transport you to Africa,and the Far Side of the World, but never really takes you too far from keeping that one particular harbour, if not in view,certainly in the back of your mind.

Jimmy continues to use the songs of others to convey his own view on things.Of those *All the Ways I Want You* is delightful.This catalogue will grow on you after each listen.Even the initially unremarkable *Last Man Standing* and *What If The Hokey Pokey Is All It Really Is About* convey that Buffett view on the world and put a smile on your face.*Altered Boy* is Jimmy having a dig at those who can never really figure out what he is about,I keep thinking of Mike Nesmith and *Rio*.In fact I also kept thinking *Tin Cup Chalice* and *The Weather Is Here Wish You Were Beautiful*..I was just so happy to have Jimmy back in form.

Like *Beachhouse*,*USS ZYdecoldsmobile* gives that down home New Orleans kick,Like *I Play For Gumbo*.The strength of this whole resurgence is encaptulated in the last three songs.*Someday I Will*,JB philosophy,*Far Side Of The World*,JB in travel logue mode and displaying that Buffett trademark story lyric that has done him well for 32 previous albums,and the sensitive and heartfelt closing **Tonight I Just Need My Guitar* as the sun sinks below the Florida coast,the palm trees on Bora Bora, the buildings in Zanzibar...or over your own back fence.

As the tones of this CD faded and the lights are put out,the world is a better place knowing that JB is back in something like his best form..and Mark Twain lights another cigar and prepares to write another despatch..and his journey continues.

4.5 stars,the best thing from Jimmy for quite a few CDs.Buy it,if you love a story and life!!!...

This is one of the most interesting albums I have listened to in years. There are songs on here to suit many different tastes. Yet while Jimmy experiments (mostly successfully) with different sounds, they all have a common denominator in that they are uniquely his style. He has an uncanny ability to lend his own signature sound to a bunch of totally different styles and come up with a cohesive album.

I thoroughly enjoyed about 9 out of 12 songs on this album, was content with one (hokey pokey), and was only really disappointed by two (Autour de Rocher and Altered Boy). The lyrics for these songs are good, but the music is either too experimental for JB (Autour) or a bit too odd for my taste (Altered Boy).

The rest of the album was a delight for me as a lover of good music, and particularly Buffett music. There are several great up-tempo songs which leave you either tapping your feet or driving a bit too fast if you are in you car listening to this CD. There are great Buffettesque tunes such as "Savannah", "Someday I Will", "Mademoiselle" and "Blue Guitar" which instantly transport you to another place, even though that place may not necessarily be Margaritaville. Perhaps the finest work on the album is the title track, "Far Side of the World", which is one of Jimmy's best songs in years, and would stand up to any "greatest hits" list. Jimmy closes the album with "Tonight I Just Need My Guitar", which is a beautiful acoustic guitar song that harks back to his earlier days. It rounds out the album perfectly in that even though he experiments with all these styles and sounds, ultimately it all comes back to Jimmy being himself.

One glaring omission on this album was the absence of Fingers Taylor. There are several parts which would have sounded great as harp, but are mixed in with accordion. Fingers would have made this "A" album an "A+", and possibly the best work put out by JB and crew.

I highly recommend this album to old and new JB fans, as well as anyone looking for a very diverse sounding, pleasant, fun album. This one gets better and better with each listen.

It's been quite a long time since Buffett has cranked out a CD with as much flavor and consistently enjoyable sound as Far Side of the World, but it was well worth the wait. All too often you see critics pointing to his earliest work (i.e., the stuff he wrote back when Ford was President) and attempting to make a rigid, unworkable comparison between a songwriter barely out of his twenties to a guy with three kids lookin' at sixty. But in this album, Buffett has actually managed to throw in those untamed lyrics that made him a beach bum icon right along with the relaxed anecdotes and introspection that can only come from years of living the life (or something approaching that) which he writes about.

Songs like "Last Man Standing" and "Zydecoldsmobile" have something about them that's vaguely reminiscent of his work in the late 70s early 80s, while "Tonight I Just Need my Guitar" and "Altered Boy" seem to achieve that new groove Buffett has been laboriously attempting to create since Barometer Soup.

All and all, I think this album is fantastic--arguably his best work since Off to See the Lizard. Far Side of the World should undoubtedly be seen as one of the peaks in Buffett's repertoire, the finished product of many years of attempting to create a "new sound" that, while undeniably different, is no less palatable to long-time Parrotheads and aspiring beach bums than A1A or Coconut Telegraph. Enjoy!

Far Side of the World - Jimmy Buffett
(Mailboat Records, 2002)

The debate amongst Parrotheads is nothing new: what exactly represents the best of Jimmy Buffett? To recent converts and weekend fans, it's the classic (admittedly cheesy) singalongs like Margaritaville, Cheeseburger in Paradise, and Fins. Diehard fans will happily join in the choruses of those songs, but insist that the true nature of Jimmy Buffett can be found in the early material when he played the role of an introspective singer/songwriter with a wild side.

On "Far Side Of The World," Buffett's first studio release in two years, there's enough of both types of songs to fuel the debate AT LEAST until the next album comes out.

For those longing for the more jubilant, satirical and tongue-in-cheek Buffett associated with songs like "Volcano" and "Why Don't We Get Drunk", "Far Side" offers up several songs. Amongst them, the bordering-on-cheesy existential anthem "What If The Hokey Pokey Is What It's All About?" and the defiantly bluesy "Last Man Standing" which both reflects on having survived the heyday of rock and roll while not ready to quit yet. The breezy "Altered Boy" combines classically witty Buffett lyrics with a light, tropical melody and instrumentation, while the "USS Zydecoldsmobile" is a rousing zydeco romp from the first squealing guitar note.

Reflective Buffett fans longing for more substantial material will find it in the tasteful cover of Bruce Cockburn's "All The Ways I Want You" and the ode to Savanna, Georgia "Savannah Fare You Well." Standing out amongst the other is the beautifully arranged and poetically stunning "Mademoiselle (Voulez-Vous Danser)." Rhythmic acoustic guitars, light drums and a classical guitar accompany a gently-singing Buffett.

Jimmy has always been a good songwriter, and on the three introspective songs that he wrote or co-wrote we find the best of this album. In "Someday I Will" Jimmy reflects on all of his childhood dreams that have come true while providing listeners with the inspiration to dare to dream their own dreams. "Far Side of the World" is lyrically pleasing, and beautifully takes us on an adventure with Jimmy through the lesser-visited regions of the world.

Somewhat disappointing is "Blue Guitar", a good song hindered by uneven production that seems uncharacteristic of Russ Titelman. The opening carries a ton of potential, but quickly evaporates into a cookie-cutter idea of what a Buffett arrangement should be. The strength of the melody still carries the tune, but it could have been so much more.

Equally disappointing is "Autour Du Rocher" in which Buffett tells the tale of his hotel in the Caribbean that burned down in the late 80s. Guess we just feel that such a wild place should have warranted a wilder song.

But any disappointment we might feel is more than made up for in the final track on the album "Tonight I Just Need My Guitar." Co-written with Mac MacAnally, in this song Buffett reminds himself of the very reason he writes music in the first place - simply because he loves it.

"Don't need to feel important or famous / No limos or my little Nash car / One lucky man / With my feet in the sand / Tonight I just need my guitar."

To us, that represents the best of Jimmy Buffett.

Wandering through several different musical styles on his 33rd album, Jimmy Buffett has weaved his own special kind of magic into every track on "Far Side of The World." Buffett states that after making music for the past 30 years, "I know what works!" He backs up what he says: Far Side of the World will appeal to both Parrot Heads and the general record buying public alike. On this album Buffett bravely steps out into previously uncharted musical territory with a wonderfully mix of offerings from around the world: African-tribal, European, a hip-hop, R&B groove, new-age/country, Polynesian and Cajun all deftly produced by Russ Titelman.

Buffett's vocals are strong, his band is tight and his production team has given this album just the right touch. After years of collecting stories from his travels around the world, Buffett's boat is in and delivers the goods. Here's hoping he keeps it coming!

Finally, Jimmy Buffett has a new producer. That alone makes this album the best since Barometer Soup. All previous efforts had suffered from a stagnant sound and this one sounds fresh. Imagine - some hip-hip jazz on a Buffett record!

Also, it seems that Jimmy's let the personalities of the Coral Reefer Band shine through on this one. That also adds a freshness to the album that is a big plus. In addition, Jimmy only wrote a handful of the songs and the rest were either written for him or are cover tunes (2 of these). And only 2 or 3 of the songs are written by Jimmy about how great his life is being rich and owning a lot of toys (I'm really getting tired of these songs, most prevalent on Banana Wind).

The songs remind me most of the Floridays album, I think. Mostly low-key, folky ballads. One Texas swing song, one hip-hop (Auto De Rocher, with a great trumpet line), one zydeco with a wailing slide guitar solo by guest Sonny Landreth. Good horn line work from the Reefer horn section. Autour De Rocher sounds great as a new style, but the melody Jimmy sings has been heard on about 3 previous songs of his and it sounds tired to me.

So only a handful of complaints as to what is a very fresh and nice Jimmy Buffett album. I'm sure a lot of people will blast it for not being tropical enough, but that's OK by me. It works.

Buffett's new CD hearkens back to some of his classic songs that every true Parrothead knows and loves, because many of the songs are stories taken from his own life's experiences. Unlike his last CD, which was good but had a few "stand-alone" songs that could have been sung by a variety of musicians, this CD could only be created by Jimmy. With the exception of a few songs that are well-done cover versions of other material, Buffett again takes us with him to places he's been, while at times making us look at our own lives as he reflects on his. His song, "Someday I Will" is a wistful song about making choices in life, whereas "Last Man Standing" is an upbeat song that only Jimmy could weave. All in all, a big A+ for his 33rd album!! Keep 'em comin'!!!

I purchased this CD expecting typical Jimmy styles (which I love) and found this new, exciting stuff. Soulful, artistic and powerful. From the lively USS Zydecoldsmobile through the mellow thoughtful Tonight I Just Need My Guitar - you just can't go wrong.

I've been a Buffett fan for about 30 years now and frankly haven't purchased much of his music since the early days with the exception of Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads"-- itself a compilation of earlier releases.

This one, however, stand on its own. With the exception of "hokey Pokey" (which makes a much better bumper sticker than song) and UUS Zydecoldsmobile (which is fairly obnoxious) I love this collection of JB music.

The best track on the CD is "Autour De Rocher" but, I'll admit, it took a while to grow on me. Finally the infectuous beat and the great story won me over. Now it's my favotite track.

"Blue Guitar", "Savannah", "Mademoiselle Voulez-Vous Danser", "Someday I Will" and "Tonight I Just Need My Guitar" round out the other best bets on this ballad-laden collection of JB music.

It's not just beer, pirates and margaritas anymore, but it is JB at his best.

Reading many of the negative reviews, it reminds me of an incident at one of his shows a couple of years ago. Jimmy downshifted for a slower song and the guy commented to his friend: "I have been a fan forever but I hate a lot of his new stuff." The song? Woman Goin' Crazy on Caroline Street.

Jimmy Buffett has always been first and foremost a storyteller. I don't know why so many people want him to keep telling the same story over and over.

This is a solid recording of Jimmy's stories of following la vie dansante. Not his best but a very worthy addition.