MEDIA

BLUE RODEO

NOWHERE TO HERE

**** (OUT OF FIVE)

MEDIA

Whenever several high profile Canadian albums appear at the same time, its always difficult to resist the temptation to treat them as a collective, as though mere temporal proximity is enough to constitute a statement about (insert portentous throat-clearing here) The State Of Canadian Music today. Truth is, the only thing Nowhere To Here conclusively proves is that Blue Rodeo has to exhaust the creative wave its been riding for the past three albums. Neither a continuation of the folksy Five Days In July nor a noisy reaction against it, Nowhere to Here' defining characteristic is instead the overwhelmingly introspective nature of its material. It would certainly be a challenge to name another recent pop album that opens with a six-minute ballad (Save Myself ) and closes with an eight-minute one (Flaming Bed ). In fact, the only potential problem with Nowhere To Here is its consistency. It would be a shame if we started taking Blue Rodeo for granted simply because they can be relied upon to produce a first-rate album each and every time out.