After being tossed around between record labels, Blessid Union Of Souls finally settled down with Push/V2 Records to release their third album, Walking Off The Buzz. The whole album has a rather smooth flavor, easy on the ears, pleasant enough for a Sunday afternoon. If you are already a fan, I must warn you: this album does sound slightly different than their previous ones. I see it as an improvement because they come out sounding a little more genuine. It feels like they let their hair down as they spit out some swaggering, creditable rock and roll.
The first single, “Hey Leonardo (She Likes Me For Me)”, is an upbeat ditty about being in love with a girl that just about every guy out there would like to call his own. A fairy-tale romance of a song that anyone with a smidgen of passion in their heart will enjoy. “Standing At The Edge Of The Earth” is the song that is most reminiscent of the old Blessid Union that some of you may be looking for. It is one of the slower songs on the album, a ballad of love and longing for a woman long gone. When you get to the title track, “Walking Off The Buzz”, you find that this album is not about waking up with a monster hangover and an empty bottle of regret like you may have thought it was. Really, I’m kidding you, because this song too is drenched with regret for a lost love. If you have never tossed someone aside and then realized what a fool you were, you are fortunate. But if you have, you will recognize the pain that is apparent in this song. They also slid in a cover of The Beatles’ “Revolution” and they played it well, which was a nice surprise. It is a hidden bonus track at the end of the album.
These guys have only gotten better since their first disc. If you are a Blessid Union fan, I think that you will enjoy the slight change of pace in their music, and if you are a fan of the Goo Goo Dolls, then you should definitely pick up this disc. The only reason I did not give them a higher rating is because this kind of broken-hearted rock ballad has been played to death, but I guess as long as there is sexual tension, pretty girls, heartbroken guys, or a combination of the three, this music will endure. And I am pretty sure there will always be people out there ready to listen.
+ kevin cousins
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