You ever get change back from a five?

Buck 65 may be the amount of change that you got indeed. You get change if you are looking for something solid and easily labeled. It is really hipper and more pure country than Uncle Kracker or Kid Rock. It is more electronic drumbeat than Kenny Chesney though, there is really a lot of crissing and crossing here. Imagine if you had a DJ mixing the music of the Band with hip drum loops and lyrics from Nashville – it is a combining of traditions and making them his own.

This is a collection of songs from Buck’s early days on Halifax records. He is actually named Richard Terfry, and his career spans back into the nineties. His voice sounds like somebody put marbles in a blender, bringing to mind Reggae spin master Hammermouth or even (strangely enough) Tom Waits. The intensity is there if not the content. He is from Nova Scotia, leaving one to wonder how deeply imbedded are his hip-hop roots, (was he listening to Slick Rick and Sugarhill while eating a squid burger?) And so we are presented with the delightful dilemma that is his music.

This is for the “I'll Show You Mine If You'll Show Me Yours” write off held annually by Matta75, I was paired with Auda_Outcast, who turned me on to Buck 65.


The Tunes Themselves

1 – Bandits A poppy sounding little tune with some Duane Eddy twangy guitars, it has a Rawhide vibe to it that is particularly amusing. The music isn’t secondary to the rap, which is as it should be. And the lyrics are from outer space, and right up your street – they are choppy and hard, “wrath of addicts” for example is one of the tone images given us. A dark song to be certain.

2 – B. SC. Bachelor of Science is a nice play on words; a man alone with his toys and machines. What does the Bachelor of Science use to get off? Why DVDs, suction-like accoutrements and other assorted whimsy. This is a very lonely guy, and it is a pretty funny take on life.

3 – Cries a Girl A little faster rap, Nashville skyline pedal steel guitar makes this one seem even more melancholy than it actually is. The music serves to guide us to the sad place where the girl is crying out. She might be suffering at the hands of a male relative, probably is, and somehow that is a serious sticking point in Buck’s world. He makes sure we all take the time to feel bad about it, and he should.

4 – Wicked and Weird And here we have another in the series of curious songs and raps. The description of our hero in this tune reminded me an awful lot of Uncle Buck, the golf clubs in his trunk and the car barely held together with bailing wire. This could just as easily have been a country song as hip-hop, oh yeah, it was. And did he mention “lips like mud flaps”? Yeah he did, in one of the more humorous and overtly sexual moments on this album.

5 – Centaur Well a penis song made the cut, or is in the cut. This one is all about having the biggest cock on the block. He is the Centaur “for crissake.” The porno industry wants him, and so do women. It is an oddly calm track with acoustic guitar laying down the lines and no overt beats of any kind.

6 – Roses and Bluejays The sweet, sleepy life of his dad who is suffering from depression after losing the wife. The track is dark and a little creepy, but nothing overt. The lyrics though are all about barely being able to get out of bed, and are drenched in the sweet and sickly imagery of Buck 65. There are roses and bluejays waiting for those of us who can’t focus because of the pain.

7 – Out of Focus A tale of a sick man, a disturbed man. The one, who can’t focus anymore, can’t focus. The track has strange organ sounds and eerie licks traveling along underneath the sad and jangle rhymes.

8 – Talking Fishing Blues It is as though a rapper got amped up on something tasty and then watched Mayberry RFD and then wrote a rap about it. “You get a line, I’ll get a pole”, never felt so strange. This is one crazy country fried rap album.

9 – 463 The pains of childhood with a heavy bass beat and more of that twangy guitar. This really is white-trash country rap, and it is not too bad. He keeps the rhymes going and coming. This one really is about the pain of what it all means.

I find it interesting that document 463 is a government pamphlet on terrorism, yeah it is.

10 – Pants on Fire Wow, this one rambles on a bit, and covers a lot of movements in life, of note are sex, drugs and disappointment. This sounded more like a normal rap than a lot of what is on here. Sometimes we all get overwhelmed by our lusts, and here is a song all about it.

11 - Phil Here is a song about the consistency, pain and panic of love. He talks and rhymes about knowing that it is a hard game and a long time. This is a moody track, with a strong bass line and real drums. Not sure who Phil is though, maybe Dr. Phil? HA!!!

12 - Craftsmanship This one is all about work, work and pain. Do you ever stop, do you ever stop trying to perfect what you do? It is an allegory to the work of rapping, to making music, to song writing. It is an endless and sometimes thankless task.

And In The End

This is an excellent compilation, with no lack of boom and thrust. The music is remarkable in that it is very hard to place. Although Buck definitely credit to those who have gone on before, it is interesting that he has come from where he has.

He will be on tour in England during June of 2005, catch him there if you can.

And for a listing of the writers in this write off, check out Matta75 home page.
http://www.epinions.com/user-matta75

pyfr & MattA75
daumco & dbcint
redsox75 & JennJoy
sixerman & vanwarp
cletta1201 & tdswift89
speeddemon531 & grandpa_riot
divad23 & mike_holmes
pduval69 & themafiagod
roheblius & bob_tomato
auda_outcast & deaser26
MattBjorke & whisperscream
brendan2 & crypticcradle
pacmany2j & drfaustus
MattA75 & plorentz
flamepillar & jiggyjay
shilmafone & paulyoungotti
lambchops & MattA75


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving