THE BOTTLE ROCKETS
"LEAN FORWARD"
AUGUST 11 2009
42:06
1/The Long Way
Brian Henneman / Mark Ortmann/3:23
2/Shame on Me
Brian Henneman/3:42
3/Nothin' But a Driver
Brian Henneman/4:03
4/Hard Times
Brian Henneman/3:42
5/Done It All/2:56
6/Open Your Eyes/3:49
7/Kid Next Door
Brian Henneman / Scott Taylor/4:15
8/Way It Used to Be
Brian Henneman / Robert Parr/2:47
9/Get on the Bus
Brian Henneman/3:50
10/Slip Away
Brian Henneman / Mark Ortmann/2:35
11/Solitaire
Joe Flood / Brian Henneman/3:06
12/Give Me Room
Joe Flood / Brian Henneman/3:41
Eric Ambel /Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Rob Arthur /Organ, Piano
Jim Duffy /Organ
Joe Flood /Fiddle, Vocals
Brian Henneman /Dobro, Guitar, Sitar (Electric), Vocals
Sammy Merendino /Percussion
Mark Ortmann /Drums, Percussion
Mark Spencer /Piano (Electric)
REVIEW
by Mark Deming
It took the Bottle Rockets three years to come up with a follow-up to 2006's righteous return to form, Zoysia, but it doesn't take long for Lean Forward to demonstrate that Brian Henneman and his bandmates used the time wisely -- if this isn't an out-of-the-park grand slam like Zoysia or The Brooklyn Side, it's a solid home run that confirms the BoRox are still one of America's great unsung rock & roll bands. Plenty of roots rockers have written about their love of fast cars, as Henneman does here on "Nothing But a Driver," but not many have come up with a well-observed slice of life about using public transportation, and "Get on the Bus" is a great example of what the Bottle Rockets do so well, with its lean, wiry melody, the energetic banter between the mandolins and electric guitars, and Henneman's lyrics about the broad cross section of folks brought together on their way home, whether they like it or not. (And the hard boogie of "Nothing But a Driver" surrounds lyrics about a guy who's found a way to satisfy his need for a cool ride by becoming a repo man, hardly the usual gearhead's tale.) Elsewhere, "Solitaire" is an all-too-believable sketch of a marriage gone sour, "Shame on Me" is a spirited tale of a guy who knows changing his ways isn't as easy as he wants others to imagine, and "Kid Next Door" is a powerful story of a good guy who went to war and never came back. Eric "Roscoe" Ambel, who produced much of the Bottle Rockets' best work, returns on Lean Forward, and he gives the sessions a sound that's tough and full-bodied without drowning out the more subtle textures of the songs, and the guitar work by Henneman and John Horton is full of rock & roll crunch without beating the fine details to death. the Bottle Rockets fuse a regular guy's sensibilities and concerns with a streetwise intelligence that's smart without sounding arrogant, and their music is solid, Southern-style meat-and-potatoes rock at its best; it's a formula they've mastered over the years, and Lean Forward shows it's still delivering soul-satisfying results more than a decade and a half on.
BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
Festus, Missouri's Bottle Rockets ranked as one of the leading lights of the 1990s roots rock revival, thanks to a sound that bypassed the punk heritage proudly upheld by most of the band's contemporaries in favor of a redneck fusion of Southern boogie, country-folk, and crunching rock & roll. The group was fronted by singer/guitarist Brian Henneman, a Missouri native who formed his first band, Waylon Van Halen & the Ernest Tubbadours, in 1977 with friends Tom and Bob Parr. After a succession of names and a steady rise in musical competence, the threesome began landing club dates both locally and in Illinois, where they became friends with the young Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy, who would later start Uncle Tupelo.
In 1985, the trio was playing straight-ahead honky tonk under the guise Chicken Truck (so named in honor of the John Anderson song) with a new drummer, Mark Ortmann. Instead of giving in to local crowds who wanted to hear covers rather than originals, the bandmembers focused solely on performing their own material, which they began roughing up with a Crazy Horse-like edge. Shortly after frequent tour mates Uncle Tupelo signed a 1990 record deal, however, internal problems led Chicken Truck to disband; while the Parrs returned to civilian jobs, Ortmann moved to Nashville to become a session player, and Henneman became a roadie with Uncle Tupelo, even playing on their March 16-20, 1992 album.
During his roadie days, Henneman recorded a demo tape of new material, which Tupelo manager Tony Margherita began discreetly shopping around. After cutting a solo single backed by Farrar and Tweedy, he re-formed his old band with Ortmann on drums, Tom Ray on guitar, and Robert Kearns on bass, renaming the outfit the Bottle Rockets. After a 1993 self-titled effort, a year later the band issued its second independent LP, The Brooklyn Side, named after a bowling term. A portrait of life in rural blue-collar America, The Brooklyn Side was the subject of lavish critical praise, and the positive notices led to the band signing with a major label, Atlantic, which promptly reissued the album.
Shakeups at the label led to delays in the release of their next album, 1997's 24 Hours a Day, and when the album sold poorly, the Bottle Rockets were dropped. In 1998 they signed with the small Doolittle label and released an odds-and-ends EP, Leftovers; by the time they completed their next album, 1999's Brand New Year, the label had gained major-label distribution, but that deal proved to be short-lived, and in 2000 the Bottle Rockets were once again without a label. In 2001 they signed a deal with alt-country trailblazers Bloodshot Records; their first album for the label, a tribute to Doug Sahm, was released early the following year. Tom Ray left the Bottle Rockets in 2002, and the band moved ahead as a three-piece, signing yet another new record deal -- this time with Sanctuary -- in 2003, and releasing a new album, Blue Sky, in the fall of that year. Zoysia arrived on Bloodshot Records in 2006, followed by Lean Forward in 2009. In 2011 the band released Not So Loud: An Acoustic Evening, which was recorded in an old schoolhouse and featured material drawn from all eras of the band's history.
"LEAN FORWARD"
AUGUST 11 2009
42:06
1/The Long Way
Brian Henneman / Mark Ortmann/3:23
2/Shame on Me
Brian Henneman/3:42
3/Nothin' But a Driver
Brian Henneman/4:03
4/Hard Times
Brian Henneman/3:42
5/Done It All/2:56
6/Open Your Eyes/3:49
7/Kid Next Door
Brian Henneman / Scott Taylor/4:15
8/Way It Used to Be
Brian Henneman / Robert Parr/2:47
9/Get on the Bus
Brian Henneman/3:50
10/Slip Away
Brian Henneman / Mark Ortmann/2:35
11/Solitaire
Joe Flood / Brian Henneman/3:06
12/Give Me Room
Joe Flood / Brian Henneman/3:41
Eric Ambel /Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Rob Arthur /Organ, Piano
Jim Duffy /Organ
Joe Flood /Fiddle, Vocals
Brian Henneman /Dobro, Guitar, Sitar (Electric), Vocals
Sammy Merendino /Percussion
Mark Ortmann /Drums, Percussion
Mark Spencer /Piano (Electric)
REVIEW
by Mark Deming
It took the Bottle Rockets three years to come up with a follow-up to 2006's righteous return to form, Zoysia, but it doesn't take long for Lean Forward to demonstrate that Brian Henneman and his bandmates used the time wisely -- if this isn't an out-of-the-park grand slam like Zoysia or The Brooklyn Side, it's a solid home run that confirms the BoRox are still one of America's great unsung rock & roll bands. Plenty of roots rockers have written about their love of fast cars, as Henneman does here on "Nothing But a Driver," but not many have come up with a well-observed slice of life about using public transportation, and "Get on the Bus" is a great example of what the Bottle Rockets do so well, with its lean, wiry melody, the energetic banter between the mandolins and electric guitars, and Henneman's lyrics about the broad cross section of folks brought together on their way home, whether they like it or not. (And the hard boogie of "Nothing But a Driver" surrounds lyrics about a guy who's found a way to satisfy his need for a cool ride by becoming a repo man, hardly the usual gearhead's tale.) Elsewhere, "Solitaire" is an all-too-believable sketch of a marriage gone sour, "Shame on Me" is a spirited tale of a guy who knows changing his ways isn't as easy as he wants others to imagine, and "Kid Next Door" is a powerful story of a good guy who went to war and never came back. Eric "Roscoe" Ambel, who produced much of the Bottle Rockets' best work, returns on Lean Forward, and he gives the sessions a sound that's tough and full-bodied without drowning out the more subtle textures of the songs, and the guitar work by Henneman and John Horton is full of rock & roll crunch without beating the fine details to death. the Bottle Rockets fuse a regular guy's sensibilities and concerns with a streetwise intelligence that's smart without sounding arrogant, and their music is solid, Southern-style meat-and-potatoes rock at its best; it's a formula they've mastered over the years, and Lean Forward shows it's still delivering soul-satisfying results more than a decade and a half on.
BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
Festus, Missouri's Bottle Rockets ranked as one of the leading lights of the 1990s roots rock revival, thanks to a sound that bypassed the punk heritage proudly upheld by most of the band's contemporaries in favor of a redneck fusion of Southern boogie, country-folk, and crunching rock & roll. The group was fronted by singer/guitarist Brian Henneman, a Missouri native who formed his first band, Waylon Van Halen & the Ernest Tubbadours, in 1977 with friends Tom and Bob Parr. After a succession of names and a steady rise in musical competence, the threesome began landing club dates both locally and in Illinois, where they became friends with the young Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy, who would later start Uncle Tupelo.
In 1985, the trio was playing straight-ahead honky tonk under the guise Chicken Truck (so named in honor of the John Anderson song) with a new drummer, Mark Ortmann. Instead of giving in to local crowds who wanted to hear covers rather than originals, the bandmembers focused solely on performing their own material, which they began roughing up with a Crazy Horse-like edge. Shortly after frequent tour mates Uncle Tupelo signed a 1990 record deal, however, internal problems led Chicken Truck to disband; while the Parrs returned to civilian jobs, Ortmann moved to Nashville to become a session player, and Henneman became a roadie with Uncle Tupelo, even playing on their March 16-20, 1992 album.
During his roadie days, Henneman recorded a demo tape of new material, which Tupelo manager Tony Margherita began discreetly shopping around. After cutting a solo single backed by Farrar and Tweedy, he re-formed his old band with Ortmann on drums, Tom Ray on guitar, and Robert Kearns on bass, renaming the outfit the Bottle Rockets. After a 1993 self-titled effort, a year later the band issued its second independent LP, The Brooklyn Side, named after a bowling term. A portrait of life in rural blue-collar America, The Brooklyn Side was the subject of lavish critical praise, and the positive notices led to the band signing with a major label, Atlantic, which promptly reissued the album.
Shakeups at the label led to delays in the release of their next album, 1997's 24 Hours a Day, and when the album sold poorly, the Bottle Rockets were dropped. In 1998 they signed with the small Doolittle label and released an odds-and-ends EP, Leftovers; by the time they completed their next album, 1999's Brand New Year, the label had gained major-label distribution, but that deal proved to be short-lived, and in 2000 the Bottle Rockets were once again without a label. In 2001 they signed a deal with alt-country trailblazers Bloodshot Records; their first album for the label, a tribute to Doug Sahm, was released early the following year. Tom Ray left the Bottle Rockets in 2002, and the band moved ahead as a three-piece, signing yet another new record deal -- this time with Sanctuary -- in 2003, and releasing a new album, Blue Sky, in the fall of that year. Zoysia arrived on Bloodshot Records in 2006, followed by Lean Forward in 2009. In 2011 the band released Not So Loud: An Acoustic Evening, which was recorded in an old schoolhouse and featured material drawn from all eras of the band's history.
