(Indie / Alternative) Peter Buck - Peter Buck (R.E.M.) - 2012, MP3, 320 kbps

Peter Buck – Peter Buck (2012)
Filed Under: alternative rock by exy — Leave a comment
November 2, 2012
Not quite a year after R.E.M. split, guitarist Peter Buck, a great sideman who had intimated that he’d never become a frontman, is unexpectedly first out of the gate with a self-titled solo debut. It’s a curious thing: a vinyl-only release on Portland’s Mississippi Records, which specializes in old blues and folk reissues. Limited to 2,000 copies, the album is sold exclusively through independent record stores and online retailers, although there are rumors of a digital release sometime in the future. Since it was announced earlier this year, we’ve had months to wonder what a Peter Buck solo album would sound like, but we’ve had 30 years to wonder what his singing voice sounds like: Seemingly content to stand off to the side while Michael Stipe and Mike Mills vocalize, Buck…
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…has let his guitar do the talking, and it’s always had a large vocabulary and perfect elocution.
But how does he sound when he steps up to the mic? Low and gravelly and slightly narcotized, like he’s calling in ransom demands. While nowhere near as agile or as commanding as his guitar, his voice proves unpredictable, as the growl grows trippy on “Travel Without Arriving” and as he barks out a string of expletives on the nightmare-exotica number “It’s Alright”. His final words on that song– “I tell you what, if that ain’t music, nothin’ is”– form a strangely effective punchline, not to mention the closest thing this record has to a Big Statement. Anything can be musical, even Buck’s odd, slightly unwieldy voice.
In fact, that instrument is perfect for the loose, lively, low-key vibe of this record. Peter Buck is Peter Buck testing the solo waters. That impression stems no doubt from his approach: Laid up in bed earlier in the year with a severe back injury, Buck found himself unable to play guitar, so he tried his hand at writing lyrics to pass the time. Vertical once more, he invited a bunch of friends into the studio to flesh out his songs, most notably Minus 5 frontman Scott McCaughey and Steve Wynn. They update some old blues tunes, even sampling Sonny Boy Williamson’s infamously profane intro to “Little Village” for “L.V.M.F.” A few wouldn’t be out of place on a Minus 5 record, and others indulge some truly weird-ass studio hijinks. Not all of them work, but those that do possess a perverse pleasure. Opener “10 Million BC” sounds like someone drinking cough syrup and playing Stoneage Romeos on the wrong speed. “Some Kind of Velvet Sunday Morning”, as its title suggests, is an attempt at a drowsy Hazlewoodsy epic, with Buck playing a strong Lee to Annalisa Tornfelt and Chloe Johnson’s Nancy Sinatra.
Freed from the demands of notching a radio hit or selling however many units, Buck can simply chase one whim after another, with its surf rock or 60s bubblegum pop, R&B, or C&W. Perhaps that devil-may-care spirit is geographic in nature: A few years ago, Buck relocated from the Peach State to Portland, and the change of scene and scenery has invigorated him. The only other Georgian on the album is Mike Mills; everyone else is a Pacific Northwesterner, including Corin Tucker and Decemberist Jenny Conlee. It’s Tucker who gets the best and most straight-faced song on the album, the defiantly despairing “Nothing Means Nothing”, which may be the most personal and revealing song here.
Buck’s obviously more comfortable as the sideman, but after decades spent backing Stipe, the task of accompanying a different set of pipes has obviously made him reconsider how he plays. In fact, this is the loosest, wildest, and most unguarded any member of R.E.M. has sounded in ages, maybe even since Hindu Love Gods or even Dead Letter Office. Like those two releases, Peter Buck is likely a fans-only effort, but one that showcases a low-stakes spontaneity and a renewed sense of possibility. Inauspicious by design, this debut is ultimately a minor contribution to the R.E.M. canon, but therein lies its chief appeal.

Peter Buck – guitar, vocals
Jenny Conlee – percussion
Lenny Kaye – guitar
Scott McCaughey – vocals
Mike Mills – vocals
Bill Rieflin – drums
Corin Tucker – vocals