Cruel Sun
1992
Blue Duck
It's been a long time, but I'm really glad to have reached 100 reviews posted on this blog. I know I don't really have an audience, and most of the reviews posted are old reviews from a few years back, but it's still great to see how far the site's gotten since I started it back in October of 2015. So, as a late send off to 2016 and as a celebration of the big one-hundo, I'm gonna review one of my all-time favorite albums.
Cruel Sun by Rusted Root.
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I consider myself to be pretty erudite when it comes to bands that consider themselves to be a part of the "jam" scene of rock-n'-roll. As a scene, they're quite loosely-related and most of the time are much different as individual outfits. Sure, you can correlate similarities between say moe. and Widespread Panic, but as a whole they will be different in many complex ways, whether it have to do with their attitude as a band or their music style in general.
It's always extremely entertaining to interact-or hell, even observe the community that thrives around these bands. They've built themselves a reputation as massive group of stoners and potheads who can't tell the bands they're watching on stage from a ham sandwich, but in reality they remain one of the most tightly-knit communities that still exists in the rock world. People come from all walks of life to sing, dance, and generally enjoy life every since The Grateful Dead popularized the idea of massive jam shows back in the late 60's. This diversity of people also illustrates the diversity of the bands that fall under the label. Bands like Phish,Umphrey's McGee, Blues Traveler, and the aforementioned Widespread Panic and moe. all gather under the moniker yet translate it in different ways. However as the delineations between these bands can be made with ease, those classified under the jam band name can be vastly different than the most popular names.
This is where we encounter a band called Rusted Root, who are a little harder to compare to they're peers. Root made their honest debut when they practically exploded out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with their smash hit 'Send Me On My Way' in 1994, and to a greater extent the album it came from, When I Woke. The song itself is best known for being featured in children's films such as Ice Age (2002) and Matilda (1996), and it's no wonder why. The song was apt for a children's movie the day of it's inception, with it's light and bouncy atmosphere neo-scat gibberish lyrics. While most people know this 90's cultural touchstone from When I Woke, the song in reality debuted on Rusted Root's actual debut, Cruel Sun, in 1992.
You may be puzzled. It's understandable- the existence of the actual Rusted Root debut is practically unbeknownst to the mainstream crowd on which the band built their fame. This was mainly because Cruel Sun was more or less a passion project, bourne from the practically unknown Maryland-based Blue Duck Records. A passion project it may have been, but it was a highly ambitious one. Folk is a loose term that encapsulates a gamut of different sounds and bands, but it is what describes 'Root on this album. Albeit folk rock might be a more apt term, but folk nonetheless. And to tie back into our theme of diversity, Rusted Root brings in a plethora of different subcategories of the folk genre, specifically in a multicultural way. Cruel Sun incorporates ideas of Celtic, tribal, African, Asian, and other folk sounds under the same paintbrush. The album as a whole is filled to the brim with almost an unfathomable amount of different genres, so much so that the album and Rusted Root as a band were often dismissed by critics for being so ambitious that they fell flat. Some may say that Rusted Root's 'ambitious' qualities are in reality just the band being unable to pin down a unique sound of their own, but I think that's pure malarkey. Rusted Root did have their own sound, and they were constantly derided for such. In their earliest stages Rusted Root embodied the latter-day hippie movement to a t, as one would expect any conscious folk band to do. Now while I won't deny the scorn that neo-hippies to receive, Rusted Root's real power does emanate from their music, and the hippie ideal doesn't necessarily translate into it.
The multifaceted brilliance of this album is very prominent, right off the bat with 'Primal Scream', a song that lives up to it's name with an aggressive, foot-stomping beat as well as a splash of minstrel-esque music. 'Send Me On My Way' is of course a track pick-- it's iconic in so many ways that it will take a very long time to see it fade from our collective mind. I actually found myself enjoying this more raw, dilapidated version of song more than the more shiny version seen on When I Woke. 'Tree' is another highlight (although the whole album in itself is practically flawless), being a multi-movement, sort of prog-folk romp that clocks in at a clean 8 minutes. It might be smart to mention that much of this album is in fact early renditions of songs that would later appear on subsequent albums all the way until Welcome to My Party in 2002. My favorite of these is 'Cat Turned Blue', which is an energetic, wild track that really brings out the fun qualities of the band. It was turned into a more Red Hot Chili Peppers-esque song on When I Woke, also sans an 'All Along the Watchtower' bridge that was featured on the original, a removal I'm not exactly fond of.
Now this might seem like a cop-out, but I suggest you experience Cruel Sun for yourself. If you don't like it the first time, I urge you to give it at least 2 more spins. I myself had to ease into it, and now it's one of my favorite albums. The happiness this album has bestowed on me is extremely great, and when I went to go see Rusted Root back in December 2016 in a weed-smoke-filled theater in Syracuse, I felt an indescribable sense of wonderment that I've rarely felt with other musical groups. Recognizing songs- some new, some deep cuts- gave me the best thrill in awhile. And although some of the songs that were on Cruel Sun that didn't make it to When I Woke will doubtfully ever be played by the band again, there's no doubt that it increased the validity of my love for the band tenfold. So I urge you, listen to this album. You won't regret it.
Shoot for the stars, friends.
2017 - The Frying Pan & Thatcher
Here's to a thousand more.
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