Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians

CD Title: Stranger Things

Record Label: Universal Music/Fantasy 

Reviewed By: Christopher Williams 

3 ½ Stars 

Edie Brickell and The New Bohemians have been recording and creating music a little over twenty years now, so what hasn’t been said before about their music might be a virtual impossibility. What I mostly can do as a reviewer is explain a little of what their music is like and what their newest collection Stranger Things has to offer. 

Edie Brickell and The New Bohemians might easily be classified as folk rock, but this new collection of songs also has a heavy undercurrent of Jazz. This seems a bit of a departure from their ska style roots of the 1980s, where the band originally converged in Dallas, Texas after High School. After an almost seven year departure from recording Stranger Things seems to be a much more mature and stylized collection with great depth.  

I was immediately hooked on the songs ‘Buffalo Ghost,’ ‘Early Morning’ and ‘Lover Take Me.’ ‘Buffalo Ghost’ is an eco-friendly anthem reminiscent of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Big Yellow Taxi,’ although Mitchell’s high-pitched singing is replaced with a laid back ‘butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth’ appeal from Brickell. I have this song on instant replay on my IPod, which I gladly play over and over. However, much of the collection was a stark change from these songs and tended to flip full-pelt into Jazz inspired tracks that left the listener wondering where to emotionally end up.  

Don’t get me wrong, when the songs on Stranger Things hit the mark, they do it big time. Although the songs that are a deviasion from ‘hitting the mark’ are of interest they can be quite overpowering and even distracting from a calmer, more focused collection. 

Stranger Things

Oh My Soul

Buffalo Ghost

No Dinero

Early Morning

Lover Take Me

A Funny Thing

Mainline Cherry

Long Lost Friend

Wear You Down

One Last Time

Spanish Style Guitar