Customer Reviews

Homegrown

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Listen to this CD on a clear crisp autumn night on your back porch,kickback and have a few homebrews, every song on this album should give you goosebumps and make you wish you had a girlfriend with two first names just like Myrna Lee.

"Homegrown" is a worthy follow-up to Blue Mountain's debut disc, "Dog Days". This Mississippi based band continues to outshine all the other so-called alt. country or roots rock acts simply on the strength of their songwriting and the ability to transport the listener into their "ever so real" world. This act continues to evolve and this effort is definately not "Generic America".

A few years ago, I picked up this CD as one of an armful going for a few dollars a piece at a store going out of business... I'd never hear of Blue Mountain before. It might have been the album cover that caught my eye, and for a few bucks... what the heck.

I was captivated from the very first notes... Strange, rich, punky mountain-folk tunes with a real attitude. Gritty, soulful, willfully uncooperative, unrepentant, untamed and downright obnoxious (if you don't think "obnoxious" can be a compliment, this album might not be for you) ... the essence of being American.

I sought out more and found their album "Roots" ... also awesome, a fresh playing of many classic folk tunes, whereas "Homegrown" is all original material I think.

It's got solid rock hits. It's more punky and natural than Dog Days. But yes... there are some filler songs. They're good though, for filler songs. "Generic America" is really great. Ya'll rock out. K?

For anyone who was shocked out of their seat by "Dog Days", may find this worthy follow-up effort a notch below BM's debut. Although a great record on its own, BM fails to recapture the magic it found in 1995. The song writing and playing is still strong, although some of the lines sound a bit canned and corny. "Bloody 98" and "Myrna Lee" are as good as anything they've ever done, but it tough for us to get all the inside jokes in lyrics like "Seven years and still a gas" from "Babe". Regardless, this is a worthy effort that keeps BM fans hoping for still more.

PS-Their live show rocks!

Blue Mountain's classic debut album, "Dog Days" remains one of the best alternative country albums ever released. Unfortunately, the follow up album "Homegrown," doesn't hold up to the high standard the band had set for itself. Things start off quite strong, particularly on the mid-tempo rockers "Myrna Lee" and "Pretty Please" that are tracks 2 and 3. After that, however, the proceedings get much more hit or miss. "Last Words of Midnight Clyde" is a burner and "It Ain't Easy to Love a Liar" lives up to its title, but "Generic America" is a failed political statement and some of the songs late in the proceedings sound like filler material.

Before their unfortunate breakup, Blue Mountain at their best were a force to be reckoned with. On "Homegrown," however, they are at their best only intermittantly.