| Buffalo Nickel | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1996 | |||
| Recorded | 1995 | |||
| Label | American | |||
| Producer | Brendan O'Brien | |||
| Dan Baird chronology | ||||
| ||||
Buffalo Nickel is an album by the American musician Dan Baird, released in 1996. [1] [2] The first single was "Younger Face". [3] Baird supported the album with a North American tour. [4]
The album was produced by Brendan O'Brien, who also played guitar. [5] [6] Baird cowrote or wrote nine of the songs; he ignored musical trends when forming the songs. [7] [8] Two songs were written by Terry Anderson, Baird's bandmate in the Yayhoos. [9] Georgia Satellite Mauro Magellan played drums. [10] "Hush" is a cover of the song made famous by Deep Purple, with backing vocals by Joe South. [11] [12] "I Want You Bad" is a cover of the NRBQ song. [13] "Cumberland River" and "Younger Face" are about washed-up characters. [14] "Hell to Pay" is about a friend who destroys his life. [15] The album contains a hidden track about a Tennessee state park. [16]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [11] |
| Audio | A [17] |
| Calgary Herald |  [18] |
| Chicago Tribune | [15] |
| The Indianapolis Star | [6] |
| Los Angeles Times | [19] |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide | [20] |
| Orlando Sentinel | [10] |
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote that "Dan Baird plays guitar like the cockiest rooster stalking the walk and sings like a Faces-era Rod Stewart weaned on stock car races and homemade sin." [21] The Denver Post determined that Baird "is making the kind of footstomping, rude, seat-of-the-pants rock 'n' roll you hardly hear anymore." [22] The New York Times concluded that, "in an era of grunge power chords, he's dedicated to twangy, down-home, cowbell-socking rockers steeped in Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones." [14] The Los Angeles Times deemed the album "not profound, exactly, but a sloppy good time." [19]
Stereo Review noted that "Baird's an old-school rocker who kicks the blues and boogie around with a salty wit underscored by a love of the sweaty, footstompin' fun that can be had when guitars, bass, and drums fall into the lockstep of Faces and Humble Pie by way of Sun and StaxVolt." [23] The Toronto Star stated that "Baird remains one of southern rock's finest writers of toe-tapping tunes and dispensers of home truths." [24] The Austin American-Statesman opined that O'Brien "seems obsessed with trying to keep the careers of former Georgia Satellites alive ... [he] only helps point out why the Satellites were one-hit wonders." [13]
AllMusic wrote that "Baird's approach is so basic it borders on the generic, except when he comes up with striking lyrics to supplement the simple sound." [11]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Younger Face" | |
| 2. | "Cumberland River" | |
| 3. | "I Want You Bad" | |
| 4. | "On My Way" | |
| 5. | "L'il Bit" | |
| 6. | "Hell to Pay" | |
| 7. | "Woke Up Jake" | |
| 8. | "Birthday" | |
| 9. | "Hush" | |
| 10. | "Trivial as the Truth" | |
| 11. | "Hit Me Like a Train" |