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I know you've all been waiting
Here's my album review as if you care and for what it's worth..............jack squat!

Nobody From Nowhere
Judging from the online samples I did not think I'd like this song. Turns out I was wrong.
I love the background vocals and the guitar solo. Just a good jammin' song.
I'm not sure it should have been the first song but what do I know? It sounds good.

Wings
I really like this song, the music, meaning and all. Sort of in the spirit of "School Boy Heart" to me, not musically but more the message. It's all about using you imagination.

Big Top
I love this upbeat & FINtastic song for us parrotheads. "Here We Are" was a letdown for me. It lacked feeling and seemed like it was done on the fly, not to mention the line: "we just love us some Daaaaave Maaaathews"
I like that he used a idea/line from his book A Salty Piece Of Land: "Leap and the net will appear". I also like how it ends with the intro of Cheeseburger in Paradise. Jimmy knocks it out of the park on this one.

Beautiful Swimmers
I'd heard the old demo and did not like it. Now that it's finished it's great. You can picture it in your head, least I can. A little steel guitar in there as well. "Lean on it Doyle"!
I think some steel pans could have taken it to another level.

Turn Up The Heat & Chill The Rose
The one that a lot of parrotheads seem to hate is the one I love. It's so different, from the reggae beat to the rapped vocals ,the effects on the vocals, the subject matter, how great the singers sound in the chorus, the steel drums, the keyboards, the bridge.
All that and it still has an island feel. I'm pretty open minded when it comes to music and I'm glad Jimmy tried something a little different. I used to be into rap so this song is right up my alley....he he....he said "up my alley"

Summerzcool
I never thought this song was great. It's kinda simple sounding but it's got a good beat and it's about hitting the beach with a beer (cha ching!) so it's good for me.

Rhumba Man
I like how this song just flows, not too fast not too slow. It's also soulful sounding, especially the chorus. Makes ya wanna boogie!

We Learned To Be Cool From You
Good mellow song. Someone on here mentioned that it's reminded them of their parents and I think of that now while listening to it. I think I learned to be cool from my mom........um.....I am cool right?
It's a fitting tribute to a few of the people that helped shape Jimmy.

Surfing In A Hurricane
I love this song. It rocks! The lyrics and the way he's telling the story is great. The drums really hit hard, the surf guitar is bitchin'. I like the effect on the bridge vocals and the high pitched keyboard (organ?) throughout the song. I can picture it all in my head.
I went fishing tonight at the beach and I must have cranked this song about fives times during the trip. My 9 year old son loves it too. I had to explain what cojones are though and what Jimmy meant by them being in his throat

Life Short Call Now
You can tell this is a Bruce Cockburn song. The vibe of it reminds of "Pacing the Cage".
I like the horn in it too.

Buffet Hotel
This has a Wheel Inside the Wheel feel to me. A kinda worldly sound. A good long jam session.
I'm not crazy about this song or it being the title song. Maybe it will grow on me in time but for now it's probably my least favorite.

A Lot To Drink About
This is just "good" to me. I'm not crazy about the subject matter but it reminds of "early Key West Jimmy". Ya know, that old "This Hotel Room/Pencil Thin Mustache" feel. Imagine this same song melody but with a different subject. I think they could have maybe added some background audience noise much like in "Slow Boat To China" to give it a barroom feel.


In closing, overrall I like this album. After many listens I had to come back to edit my review.
While it's not as good as the last two, it's good enough.
My first couple of listens were with my headphones on, a couple of beers, my mind open and without being negative right out the box.
Really it's better than the samples led me to believe and I'm one that thought the samples sounded promising. This album could have used more steel pans on a couple of more songs imo.
I think the sound is mixed really good from the congas to keyboard/organ, horns, vocals, heck I think I even heard some cowbell in Turn Up The Heat.

I give it 7 out of 10 Landsharks!

I've got to go pick it up today.........snow be damned!

Thanks for getting me amped up enough to brave it!

I certainly wish I could share your enthusiasm. I hope this one will grow on me, but so far I'm not digging it much. I'm sure I just need to lower my expectations at this point. Jimmy's stuff (with the exception of Beach House) since Fruitcakes has almost been a religion for me but this one leaves me a bit cold. While I love over half of "Take The Weather", I was a bit disappointed with that one when it came out as well.

It just seems like a lot of this album is kinda lifeless and as though Jimmy's just going through the motions. With the exception of Rhumba Man (which sounds great on the album), the live versions of the songs on Buffet Hotel were better than these studio versions IMO. Big Top sounds like he's trying a bit too hard to create a new Parrothead anthem and it's lacking the fun of previous anthems like Fruitcakes or Volcano. "Chill The Rose" sounds like a cast off from one of his 80s albums which, to me, is Jimmy's "dark period." A Lot To Drink About has almost gone in some kind of odd, jug band direction – not nearly as effective as I was expecting or as good as it is live with just acoustic guitars.

But so-so Buffett is still better than 99% of everything else out there!!

I finally braved the cold......
love, love, love "Beautiful Swimmers".....
love "Life Short Call Now", but knew I would because it's a Cockburn song.
"Surfing" makes me smile......
"Rhumba Man" makes my butt wiggle....
"Big Top" yeah, I like
"A Lot to Drink About"....gimicky and will be dated, but I still get a kick out of it.....

Need to listen through a few more times for the rest to grow on me, but they will.....
Overall, I'm not disappointed.....I'm smiling!

Got the $3.99 download from Amazon on Monday afternoon, it's been in rotation in the car and at work since then.

Overall, a pleasant enough album. On par with Far Side and Weather, better than Beach House, not as good as License; obviously not as good as the classics. Wasn't able to make it to any shows this year (was planning on Orlando - oops! ), so the road-tested songs are new to me. Some deeper thoughts on some of the tracks...

1. Nobody From Nowhere - The song that really stood out the most for me. To my ear, the vocals would be right at home on some earlier stuff, like the funky slightly southern rhythms as well. For me, strongest track he's put out in a long long time - it'll end up on some of my Buffett playlists on the iPod. Probably not a surprise this is Kimbrough's work.

2. Turn Up the Heat... - Seen this described elsewhere on the board as a disaster. I'm in total agreement - the words "train wreck" come to mind as well, or maybe "embarassment". The 'rapping' is Godawful, as are the lyrics. "Metatarsils"? Really? The man who gave us Pirate Looks at 40 gives us this? Ugh. And I thought Party at the End of the World was bad.

3. Big Top - OK I guess, but much like "We're Still Here", the self-referencing lyrics give me pause. We've got it, we know how a Buffett show works. Why sing about it?

4. Surfing in a Hurricane - From the title, I wasn't expecting to like this, but the surf guitar and organ won me over. Nice retro 60's feel.

5. Buffet Hotel - Liked it the first time I heard this song......when it was called "Far Side of the World"......

6. A Lot to Drink About - Like the music, like the lyrics for the most part - except the line about welcoming the millionaires to the other side. Really? "The other side"? Can he really sing that with a straight face?

Again, nice enough. Other than one song noted above, pretty standard modern-day Buffett. Seems to be another case of an older, established artist stating that he's trying to recapture the feel of his earlier work (the line about "red wine vocals" comes to mind), and then putting out material that's about the same. Not on par with his classic stuff, but I wouldn't expect it to be - and that's OK. I'll end up buying the CD for the packaging. It'll be around pretty constantly for awhile, then find it's place on the shelf, making occasional appearances on the iPod or in the truck stereo. It that doesn't make me a "true" parrothead, guess I'll just have to live with that. And that's OK too.

I simply use a 5 Star rating system...
* * * * * =Classic
* * * * =Excellent
* * * =Good
* * =Fair
* =Poor
(No stars)=Bomb

1. Nobody From Nowhere * * *
2. Wings * * * *
3. Big Top * 1/2
4. Beautiful Swimmers * * * *
5. Turn Up The Heat And Chill The Rose' *
6. Summerzcool * * *
7. Rhumba Man * * *
8. We Learned To Be Cool From You * * 1/2
9. Surfing In A Hurricane * * * *
10. Life Short Call Now * *
11. Buffet Hotel * 1/2
12. A Lot To Drink About * * *

This comes out to average 2.7083333 Stars = Fair to Good
No Five Star Songs on this record
The Best Song - Wings
The Worst Song - Turn Up The Heat

Interesting how different we all perceive it.....Wings is probably my least favorite with Rhumba Man my favorite....so far, but I'll listen to it several (hundred) more times and change my mind several (hundred) times!

So far I'm really liking "Nobody From Nowhere"; "Big Top", "Summerzcool" and "Surfing in a Hurricane" are pretty good, most everything else is meh with "Beautiful Swimmer" and "Chill the Rose" coming is as blech.

its early to tell but its average to me. i don't really hate any song on it but i dont think there really is any notable "classic" on it either. i think the direction for the album was a little to straight forward for my taste,espeically from what i expect from a jimmy buffett album. i know other people have said this before but i do miss the more tropical island flavored songs.i also agree with one of the previous posts about the self-referencing lyrics. it just doesnt work.

I'm sure this one will grow on me like all the others and I will have my favorites either for the lyrics, the music, or the personal stories that attach to them. However, one thing that I find disappointing is when I'm listening to a new album and all of a sudden I get a flash back to another song (like USS Zydecoldsmobile or however it's spelled) when another song is playing. (sorry, that's the reference that just came to me as I am currently previewing the album and "Buffet Hotel" is playing and seems to have the same riffs as USS etc....)



However, I do like that he did studio cuts of the stuff we have heard live. "A lot to drink about" is MUCH better (imo) on the album than the live cuts. Almost has a carnival feel to it. So far, my favorites are Rhumba Man (loved that during the concerts and like it even more on the album.) So far no ballad or slower song has stuck to me like others (Breathe In Breathe Out Move On; Oysters and Pearls, etc.)

If tomorrow someone said, pack one bag and bring only your 3 most cherished albums, would this go with me? Nope. But, it was worth the price IMO.....

I enjoy the upbeat songs a lot more than Wings, We Learned to be Cool..., and Beautiful Swimmers but they are growing on me. I love Rhumba Man, and I like Turn up the heat....especially since I have listened a few times and realized it is a cork popping out of a bottle at the end (or at least sounds like it to me), I also enjoy Nobody from Nowhere a lot, just a catchy tune.
And I also love Surfin' in a Hurricane..........I am definately one that likes the goofy songs

Someone needed to proof the lyrics in the pamphlet. Just in "A lot to drink about" I count 9 typos/ punctuation errors, or maybe they were imbibing on a "high speed drinkin' song."

firemedic wrote:Someone needed to proof the lyrics in the pamphlet. Just in "A lot to drink about" I count 9 typos/ punctuation errors, or maybe they were imbibing on a "high speed drinkin' song."

as a person who spends a lot of time writing for a living and maybe not a lot of time proofing (or relying on others to proof for me) I agree that having an objective party look over what you write is crucial to your overall success. I haven't looked that closely to see the errors. Those are things left for mid-winter blues...

Here's my in depth and detailed review . . . .

I like it!

Here is my extremely biased and subjective review.

1. Nobody from Nowhere. I love this song, and it was a great way to open the album. I really like the reeferette action on this song, and i love the guitar jam at the end.
2. Wings. This is a song that had to grow on me, but it is growing on me the more I listen to this album.
3. Big Top> I love it. It is another anthem for parrotheads or at least for me, and it is upbeat.
4. Beautiful Swimmers. Now when I first heard this song I did not like it, but now that I heard the story behind the song and have listened to it a few more times It's growing on me.
5. Turn up the heat and chill the rose. Oh, this song is cool. It's a fun song. I applaud Jimmy for daring to be different and trying new things. MC Buffett wraps.
6. Summerzcoole. Okay it is a great concert party song. It has the beach, beer, sex, and good times. Is it my favorite song? No, but I have fun with it.
7. Rhumba man. I love, love, love this song. It makes me chair dance when I am listening to this album at work. Luckily I work at home, so no one can see me act silly, except for Ms Sammie, and she won't sell me out.
8. We learned to be cool from you. This is one of my favorite songs on the album. It makes me think of all the people who shaped me in my life, in particular my mom, and I learned to be cool from her. I usually hit the repeat button a couple of times on this song.
9. Surfing in a hurricane. I love this song. I love the surf guitars. It just rocks. I'm used to hearing it live, so the studio version was something to get use to, but it did not take me long to get use to it.
10. Life short Call Now. Another one of my favorites.
11. Buffet Hotel. This is another song that did not grab me right away, but last night after I got off work I listened to this album without any distractions. When this song came on I cranked it up, and I love it. Sunny Landreth's guitar really adds something to this song.
12. A lot to drink about. I'm use to hearing this song live, and I wish that he would have put the Live in Key West version on the album, but since I can't do anything about it, I'll take it. It sums up areas of life in America right now, and it gives troubles a sense of humor. Without someone putting a sense of humor to all of the crap that has been going on life could be down right depressing on a regular basis.

I love this album. I applaud Jimmy for putting out an album with new tunes that are all good. There is not a bad track on this album for me. I applaud Jimmy for daring to be different when he could easily rest on his lorals and not have done another album. I'm looking forward to 2010 when he tours behind this album, and I hope he dares to be a little different on this tour.

Solid record... I have only listened to it twice, but I like it.
Looking forward to hearing some of the songs (other than the ones he played live already) in 2010 on tour.

* * * * * Classic JB
* * * * Excellent
* * * Good
* * Almost OK
* Horrible
(No stars) Shouldn't've been written or recorded

1. Nobody From Nowhere ***
2. Wings ***
3. Big Top *
4. Beautiful Swimmers *****
5. Turn Up The Heat And Chill The Rose'
6. Summerzcool *****
7. Rhumba Man ***
8. We Learned To Be Cool From You *****
9. Surfing In A Hurricane **
10. Life Short Call Now *****
11. Buffet Hotel **
12. A Lot To Drink About ***

Feeling too lazy on this rain-soaked Sunday morn in SoCal to write this all out... so

I really do concur with 'Season's appraisal just above with these exceptions:
Take one star from Wings and tack it onto Nobody From Nowhere, which, I think, is a GREAT opener for this concept album.
and add 2 more stars to Buffet Hotel... just for the great theme and for pure guitar bliss.

A pretty OK album that has got me a little more energized as I look forward to a better 2010 from Jimmy

I like it!
Especially Nobody from Nowhere, Summerzcool, Hurricane, alot to drink about

Overall I like the album but am disappointed on the production end of it. All the songs seem to be at different volumes, and "Nobody", the best song, is very quiet compared to the rest. It does seem like some of this was done in a big hurry, like the typos in "drink about". If you rip the CD to windows media, it even comes up as "A A lot to drink about". Is that an AA reference?

I like him working with Kimbrough but wish he would stop putting Sonny in his albums. Every single song that Landreth plays on seems to run together for me. The notes say he only played on "Buffet Hotel", but I swear that's him on "Big Top".

Also, I'm getting annoyed with every album having to reference "Fins". How many times can you mention it on one album?

Other than that minor stuff, I do like it and am glad I bought it. I've been playing the first 2 songs over and over. Those are my 2 favorites right now.