The Richard Buckner 90s trilogy

In case you are still active here I wanted to mention a young and extremely talented pedal steel player in SoCal. His name is David Berzansky and he played with The Hacienda Brothers during there short time. After Chris Gaffney's unexpected and untimely death the band apparently spread like the wind and I don't know what "DB" is doing these days. I don't think he's 30 YO but he's really something. I'm a guitarist who plays bottle neck so I'm not a pedal steel player but I think I can recognize a good player and he certainly is one. The Hacienda Brothers were produced by Dan Penn. Yes, that Dan Penn. they played a kind of country soul influenced by the Bakersfield/Tuscon influence with Memphis R&B.

 

Yea, I've been listening to Our Blood a lot lately, and it really is such a great record, much moreso than I originally thought. Audio film noir, each song part of a bigger picture, maybe some gauzy crime drama hinted at in the song titles, always hard to tell but as always he creates images that continue to haunt you when the music has been long gone, dark lyrics, dark music, beautifully sung and performed and arranged. Easily fits in with his best work, I love it even more now than 5 years ago, just took a few years for me to catch up. Such a huge talent, and such a big part of my musical journey through modern times ...

With nowhere to go to
someone should've told you
I guess I'm the one they warned you about
within, without...




And I heartily agree, it would be great to see both of the major label releases on vinyl for the first time, I'd be near the front of that line, two of my big favorites of the 90s.

 

In response to vinyl version of Bloomed, I second the sound quality. I hesitantly picked up The Hill thinking it would lose its beauty with the side flip half way, but I really, really like it. The sound is great. Resonate cello & nice soundstage (especially percussion depth).

 

Such a good record, just love getting lost in it, another one of those vinyl issues that wasn't around long, this one from 2011 on Merge in the US, but the digital sounds OK too ...

 

Just saw that Merge has issued Impasse on March 31, first time on vinyl, great album by a great artist, just ordered my copy ... someday we may see vinyl for Devotion + Doubt and Since ... someday ... but I'll take what I can get, love all these RB vinyl reissues ...

Richard Buckner - Impasse (Reissue)

Release highlights:

• Pressed on vinyl for the first time to commemorate the album's 15th anniversary
• LP includes full download of the album plus 4 rare bonus tracks
• LP features full-color heavyweight inner sleeve with printed lyrics
• Audio newly remastered by Jon Marshall Smith
• First 150 pre-orders will receive a signed poster!
• Free shipping on all U.S. orders!

* * *

To commemorate the 15th anniversary of its release, Richard Buckner’s 2002 album Impasse has been reissued on CD and LP—its first-ever appearance on vinyl. Newly remastered by Jon Marshall Smith, the reissue also includes a download of four rare bonus tracks.

During the gestation of Impasse, Richard Buckner was stuck. But, with perseverance, what began as one of his most troubled recording attempts ended as one of his best and most pivotal—a capstone for his wayfaring early period before he planted roots with Merge. The words are entrancingly cryptic, as if their simplicity conceals unfathomable depths. The music is sparse, almost whispered at times, like a secret. The title gives everything away, though.

Impasse was conceived as a faceted whole. Its lyrics are like scattered snapshots and torn-up letters. The song titles form a poem that structures a story of heartache and dreamt redemption cloistered at the music’s core. Impressions, pledges, and slivered vantages swirl in Buckner’s voice and, while his frustrations at the time of Impasse were only part of the twist, its transmission is so open-ended that the aura of quiet desperation and hard-won grace is yours to use as you please.

“You don’t really know what you’re writing at the time,” Buckner says. “Writing seems to be kind of prophetic and it makes much more sense looking back on it. But I think mystery is good. If you ever think you know what you’re doing, then you’re probably in bad shape.”

LP includes a coupon for a full download.

 

Just received a copy of the Deja Disc of Bloomed off of a cd swap site. Sounds wonderful!

 

Shame there's only two Richard Buckner threads on the forum, and the other one is closed. I think he's a major talent, listening to Bloomed and Impasse today on the table, wish Merge could get the rights to issue his two major label albums Devotion + Doubt and Since on vinyl, two of my favorite albums ever. But no matter, D+D is a great sounding CD anyway, and I'm overjoyed we got anything on vinyl. Especially love Our Blood from the later years, 2011, outstanding record, and the first one that got a vinyl release.