Grant Lee Buffalo - Mighty Joe Moon
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- 4 days ago
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Written By: Moti Kupfer
Album review - Grant Lee Buffalo - Mighty Joe Moon
Release date - 20.9.1994
Record company - Slash - Reprise
Genre - Alternative rock, Alternative country, Folk rock
"Guitar hero" is a nickname usually given to virtuosos among them, those whose guitar sound brings with it a musical stamp, and sometimes even world fame, the furthest from the "guitar hero" I'm talking about today, Grant Lee Phillips.
Phillips is a member of the alternative country/rock band "Grant Lee Buffalo" whose second album "Mighty Joe Moon" was released on 20.09.1994.
Grant Lee Phillips was born into a family of religious preachers in Stockton, California.
He was influenced as a child by the band "Kiss", and David Bowie, and by the blues that his grandmother loved to listen to, so the music Phillips plays is a combination of rock and blues. At the age of 13 he was a member of the band "Bloody Holly" in which he was the sole songwriter.
After attending and dropping out of UCLA, Phillips met drummer Joey Peters in Los Angeles, and together they formed the psychedelic rock band "Shiva Burlesque".
The band released two albums, and during one of their shows, Paul Kimble saw them and liked what he saw. When "Shiva Burlesque" broke up, it was Kimble's turn to join the band in place of bassist James Brenner, and the trio began performing without a permanent name.
During 1991, the band's name was established as "Grant Lee Buffalo", a name that combines Grant Lee Phillips' name with a combination of historical American items such as Buffalo Bill and magician Harry Houdini.
"Grant Lee Buffalo" performed weekly in West Hollywood at the Cafe Largo as they slowly began to gain fans, while at the same time sending samples of their songs to the label Singles Only ("Hüsker Dü"), who released the song "Fuzzy" in 1992, which later became the band's huge hit.
Meanwhile, "Grant Lee Buffalo" increased their fan base nicely, to the point that a representative from the record company "Slash" who came to sign them to a contract with the company had to wait in line for 45 minutes.
The debut album, released in 1993, was called "Fuzzy" after their famous hit, a hit that prompted the band "Pearl Jam" to take them as an opening act for their tour.
In early 1994, the band began working on their second album "Mighty Joe Moon" but on January 17, 1994, Los Angeles experienced a major earthquake, the results were severe, Paul Kimball's house was destroyed, and the same fate befell Grant Lee's trailer.
With no choice, the band stayed in a tent at Peters' house, and every morning they would wake up to the sounds of birds. Grant Lee was inspired by the sounds of birds, and wrote the song "Mockingbirds" about it, which was also the band's first single from the second album, a song that did relatively well when it reached the Top 20 of the American Modern Rock Chart.
"Grant Lee Buffalo" released "Mighty Joe Moon" in an interim period between the dominant grunge that still set the tone in the US, and the rap/rock bands that came right after the end of the grunge era, so this album kind of "fell between the chairs", and did not receive the recognition it deserved.
"Grant Lee Buffalo" play melodic rock/folk on the album on the one hand, and noisy rock full of feedback on the other, this fascinating contrast is read throughout the album, and sometimes even in the same song (for example in the opening song "Lone Star Song").
Grant Lee Phillips' voice manages to sometimes sound powerful like the lead singer of a heavy rock band, and then lower the tone all at once and sound like songwriters such as Gordon Lightfoot and James Taylor.
It is a well-known rule that sad songs are usually slow, and happy or angry songs are rhythmic, "Grant Lee Buffalo" is one of the few bands that plays songs with anger and high internal combustion at a slow pace.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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