Blue Rodeo
Album: The Things We Left Behind
Label: Warner
Rating: **** 1/2

It’s too easy to take the songwriting of Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy for granted. Over the past 25 years, they’ve become like a warm and comfortable shoe to fans of Canadian roots rock. Yet, on this new 16-song, double CD, Keelor and Cuddy prove they remain unequalled at what they do. This is an ambitious album without being over-bearing or jarringly experimental like 2002’s Palace of Gold. Keelor pays homage to his taste for ’60s psychedelia on epic production numbers like Million Miles, with its Who-like harmonies, and Venus Rising, the album’s extended guitar closer. And there’s plenty for fans of Cuddy’s gentler balladry on tracks like Arizona Dust. Although Blue Rodeo has lost full-time keyboard player Bob Packwood, The Things We Left Behind does not deteriorate into a jangling guitar album. There are dozens of young bands trying to put their mark on a distinctly new Canadian alt-country sound. Unfortunately, they need look no further than this album to find it.

On the web
http://www.myspace.com/bluerodeomusic

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