Buffalo Tom
Sleepy Eyed (EastWest)
by Marc Hirsh

originally published in the Public News, September 27, 1995

Buffalo Tom is terrific live. When I saw them perform, the only song I knew was the opening number, and my unfamiliarity with their material never once prevented me from enjoying myself.

Unfortunately, Buffalo Tom is only decent on disc, as evidenced by Sleepy Eyed. Recorded with minimal overdubs, album number five is meant to capture the fury of the band's stage performances.

It fails. Part of the thrill of their concerts is actually seeing the band. Leader/guitarist Bill Janovitz spitting himself into an emotional frenzy, bassist Chris Colbourn standing almost motionless, drummer Tom Maginnis somewhere in the middle, not exactly keeping the beat as much as trying to keep up with Janovitz. A live album probably wouldn't even do this band justice.

Sleepy Eyed's main flaw isn't that it's not good, it's that it's not good enough. It starts off with the false promise of "Tangerine," a glorious amphetamine rush of a song that sets a pace that the band drops once it gets out of the starting gate. Pleasant though they are, the other songs just don't have its power and purpose.

The only other song of exceptional (rather than just moderate) merit is "Sunday Night," a slow burn placed at what would be the end of side one on an LP or cassette. Which is exactly where it should be, except, of course, for the fact that CD listeners are hurled directly into the zippy "Your Stripes" rather than trying to figure out what just happened to them over the silence imposed by the needle hitting the center groove or the cassette clicking to a halt.

It's ironic that removing the two highlights may have resulted in a stronger album. Instead, the mediocre-to-good material is all but drowned out by these two bursts of greatness. Then again, they also suggest that one of these days, Buffalo Tom might finally get it right. Until then, they remain an impeccable live band but only a promising studio one.

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