Customer Reviews

This Right Here Is

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are not familiar with Canadian rapper, DJ, producer Buck 65 then "This Right Here is Buck 65" would be a nice introduction to his work. This album is really just a remix album of previous works with a few tracks hailing from singles or his website from last year (the BAM exclusive tracks).

Being a big fan of Buck 65's work, I was a bit disappointed that the material was not "new" (hence the rating of 3). The first track, "Bandits," was taken from his "Sore" CD Single. "Wicked and Weird," "Roses and Bluejays," and "Craftsmanship" are straight from his previous album "Talkin' Honkey Blues" (A MUST HAVE). And, the rest of the songs are merely remixes.

Now I must say that the remixes are solid, especially since he uses his band that performed on "Talkin' Honkey Blues." The remixes consist of "B. Sc." and "Centaur" from his album "Vertex" (arguably his best album), "Cries a Girl" and "Phil" were from the "Square" LP, "Talkin' Fishin' Blues" (a BAM exclusive track that was titled "Fishin' Hole"), "463" from "Talkin' Honkey Blues," and "Pants On Fire" from his Anticon release "Man Overboard."

The tracks "Out of Focus" and the hidden track after "Craftsmanship" entitled "The Abandoned Cars of Inverness County" were available from his website and BAM Magazine if you purchased "Talkin' Honkey Blues." These are two very good tracks that display Buck 65's talent. I only wish that he had a least remixed those as well.

Overall, this album is a nice, worthy effort. However, it may disappoint those who were seeking new material from one of the most talented performers today.

Imagine one quarter Johnny Cash, one quarter Sage Francis, and the rest pure originality, and you got Buck 65. I have never heard anything like this before. The lyrics are not that articulate, but Buck is an excellent storyteller who is capable of invoking emotions like a psychiatrist. This album is sort of a greatest hits collection, although he re-records every song for this album. There are also a few originals. Definitely worth it.

This is one of the most distinct records I have heard recently. It's literate and smart. It's much more like the Streets than Eminem. It's indie hiphop mixed with blues and country mixed in. It has toughness about it. Buck 65 sounds like Tom Waits. He shares that storytelling quality that Tom Waits had back on Swordfishtrombone. "Cries A Girl" starts out with some hard beats and a flute, and begins with the lyrics "I was raised on a dirt road, ghost town, stray dog, hole nine, a gold mine, hose downÉ" It sounds like a narrative and poverty and hard life. In other words, this has little to do with today's hiphop scene. Buck 65 has a talent for original rhymes and word combinations. This is an important record. People will take notice.

Some things just don't seem like a good idea on paper. Family businesses, office romance and country hip-hop. But like Rage Against the Machine showed rock and hip-hop (along with politics) could be done well if the music came first. Buck 65 gives us a taste of what Johnny Cash might have sounded like is he were 20-something today and brought up with Public Enemy and Mos Def alongside Earl Scruggs and Ralph Stanley.

His gravel throated delivery of small-town tales, family secrets, pride in a good day of work and love lost alongside sly humor make me think he's the Kris Kristofferson of the Canadian hip-hop world. Along with his Irish counterpart Everlast, Buck 65 is the real deal, and Bubba Sparxx, Kid Rock and Big & Rich can now go back to busing tables.

This latest opus really builds on the folksy, rustic vibe present on Talkin Honky Blues (in fact, Buck is a headliner at this year's Calgary Folk Festival)and really pushes hip-hop's envelope to say the least. Old songs, b-sides and a couple new tracks are reinvented on This Right Here Is. For the most part, these songs are successful, and in my opinion, there is not a single weak track to be found. "Cries a girl" and "Phil" are given a better treatment here than on Square, and I was quite surprised that I liked Graematter's production values better than DJ Signify on the former track.

I disagree with the reviewer who says that "Phil" is out of place. This song is quite beautiful, and the C&W flavour really spices it up. Ditto for "Out of Focus". "Centaur" is a very humourous song, though matching beats to Buck's outlandish rhymes is no small feat. Gone is the original sinister bass- laden accompaniment on Vertex, in favour of a mild acoustic approach. "Talkin Fishin' Blues" is a Woody Guthrie remake of sorts, and is one of the catchiest hip-hop songs I've ever heard (pun intended).

This is not an official LP from Buck 65, but it showcases the experimental wizardry of this iconoclast, and even further abstract directions he is willing to explore. It will be interesting to see if this vibe is furthered on his next full length, Secret House Against The World.

Over the courseof seven years Obscure albums Richard Terfry a,k,a Buck 65has rapped sharp intelligent records ,best song is Cries like a girlwith slide guitars and hip hop beat about small towns decayabout Diamonds in a girls eyes,And Wicked World bouncy school style of bango music,Buck borrows from dub [Bandits ]metal[463]and country [Roses @ Bluejays ,to find his wimpy characters,and wellcome to the World of Buck.

This CD is really a great anedote to the "gangsta," misogynistic rap being fed to the listening public these days. From the opening notes of "Bandit," I knew I'd like this collection. Just titles like "Wicked and Weird" and "Roses and Bluejays" convey so much of the unique and quirky spirit of this Canadian DJ. Which brings up the point regarding the irony of this artist: he clearly channels an American Southern, "huntin'" and "fishin'," post-Reconstruction persona, but he is actually Canadian. Yet, he captures the flavor so wonderfully. Not to be heavy handed, but perhaps this reminds us that someone on the outside (even if so near as Canada) can truly evaluate the condition of the United States better than many homegrown artists can.

And the perfect ingredient included on this album to help bolster the original tracks' charming down-home flavor is the terrific remake of Woody Guthrie's "Talking Fishing Blues."

But my favorite track is most certainly "Centaur." I admit this may because one of my close friends is a centaur. He rarely wanders far from his forest home, and being half horse/half human is tremendously hard on him (difficult to buy clothes, find employment, rob homes, etc.). But Jesus Christ in all of his cross-bearing glory will pull my stall-confined friend through this dark life.

The only low points of the CD are "Phil" and "463"; they don't seem to strive for the same rustic artistry found on the other tracks, thus my giving this otherwise delightful collection only four stars.

But "Craftsmenship" leverages its status as the last track to remind listeners, just when the CD is ending, that, indeed, Buck 65 (aka Richard Terfry) is truly a craftsman of this wanting genre.

Buck 65's breakthrough album. Yes, this is a collection of all his best work from the past few years. The vision and unique country/electronic/rap style is still here but he went and changed all of his original music around. An album of remixed work is what this is, and to be totally honest I like every original version better. If you hear this and like it, I urge you to work backwards and seek out Vertex, Man Overboard, Language Arts and all the original releases. I know they are hard to find, (I actually found all of them at the Rhymesayer's Fifth Element store in Minneapolis) but the original versions of "Pants on Fire" "463" and "The Centaur" are more than worth the search.

This album is one of the gratest of him.just because his voice and sick flow matches on beat perfekt..keep doing....

It looks like the majority of these tracks are from his old CDs...but that doesn't make it a bad thing. It's nice to see artists like Buck 65 starting to get their voices heard by a wider audience. I would recommend this CD for someone that has never heard any of his older stuff, but once you get a taste, there are much exotic and flavorful Buck CDs just asking to be licked. But anyways, I give this CD 5 stars, for two reasons...
1) This is a high quality compact disc that will provide much entertainment to the listener.
2) Buck 65 is awesome, and I want to give him a hug.