BILL JANOVITZ
''WALT WHITMAN MALL''
APRIL 9 2013
57:45
1. Long Island /3:08
2. Withering /3:57
3. Noon Hill /2:42
4. Walt Whitman Mall /3:53
5. Prettiest /4:00
6. Best Route /5:08
7. Welcome /7:10
8. Heckscher Park /2:52
9. Mae and Maggie (I & II) /5:16
10. Rounding Third /5:45
11. I Know It's True /3:58
12. Diamonds Down /6:28
13. Cold Again /3:28
Paul Ahlstrand /Saxophone
Phil Aiken /Organ, Piano
Seth Altman /Choir/Chorus
Scott Aruda /Trumpet
Billy Beard /Drums, Percussion
David Brophy /Choir/Chorus
Laura St. Clair /Choir/Chorus
Will Dailey /Choir/Chorus
Colin Devonshire /Choir/Chorus
Ferriss Donham /Choir/Chorus
Will Donham /Choir/Chorus
Tim Gearan /Guitar (Electric)
Lilia Halpern-Smith /Choir/Chorus
Steve Hanna /Choir/Chorus
Kimberly Hartwell /Choir/Chorus
Bill Janovitz /Multi Instruments, Vocals
Lucy Janovitz /Choir/Chorus, Vocals (Background)
Will Janovitz /Choir/Chorus
The Lawnguyland Kwaya /Choir/Chorus
Ron Mesard /Choir/Chorus
David Moore /Choir/Chorus
Camille Speca /Choir/Chorus
Dan Speca /Choir/Chorus
Sean Staples /Mandolin
Matt Taheney /Choir/Chorus
Chris Toppin /Vocals (Background)
Ed Valauskas /Bass
Mark Zelermyer /Choir/Chorus
REVIEW
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
As the leader of Buffalo Tom, Bill Janovitz sometimes saw his subtle songs get overwhelmed by the roar of his power trio, but Walt Whitman Mall -- his fourth or fifth solo album, it all depends whether you count Crown Victoria's Fireworks on TV! as a Janovitz project or not -- spotlights his skills as a craftsman quite appealingly. Unlike Buffalo Tom, which was grounded in the college rock of the '80s, Walt Whitman Mall is essentially an Americana affair, built on sturdy songs but performed with ragged abandon. At times, Janovitz is delicately picking his acoustic, sometimes he's strumming chords with a full-muscled insistence, swinging between these two extremes and never invalidating either attitude. Throughout it all, Janovitz displays a nimbleness in melody and lyric, enjoying the folk-rock propulsion of his singalongs, sometimes dipping into a sweetness on his ballads, always banging out a robust, openhearted celebration of love and loss, frayed ends, and forgotten memories. Janovitz is happy to wander down detours, lingering upon loose ends and jagged chords, and that gives Walt Whitman Mall an ingratiating messiness: it may not be tidy but has the thrust and ballast of life itself, which makes it exceedingly appealing.
BIOGRAPHY
by Mark Deming
Bill Janovitz is best-known as the guitarist and lead singer with Buffalo Tom, one of the few bands that sprung from the American underground scene of the '80s who weathered the alternative rock boom of the '90s with their talent and integrity intact. Born in Queens, NY, Janovitz spent most of his childhood living in Long Island. At the age of 16, Janovitz moved with his family to Massachusetts and, after graduating from high school, he enrolled at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Janovitz began playing music while in elementary school when he took up the trumpet; at the age of 12, Janovitz moved on to guitar, and at 14 had formed his first band, the Plastic Peach, who played covers ranging from Neil Young to Talking Heads. Several years later Janovitz joined what he's described as "a tragically named high school band," the Rambunctious Llamas, who specialized in new wave and jangle pop covers. Janovitz was still playing with the Llamas during his early college days when he met fellow UMass students Chris Colbourn and Tom Maginnis, who were also playing in local bands. The three became friendly after running into each other at local rock shows, and after discovering a shared admiration for bands such as Hüsker Dü, Mission of Burma, and the Replacements, they decided to join forces, with Colbourn on bass and Maginnis behind the drums.
Calling themselves Buffalo Tom, Janovitz, Colbourn, and Maginnis began playing out in 1986, and soon gained an important ally when J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. befriended the band and loaned them equipment. In 1989, Mascis produced the group's self-titled debut album, which clearly displayed the producer's influence. However, the band's own musical personality -- tighter, cleaner, and more heartfelt -- began to manifest itself on their second album, 1990's Birdbrain. The band began to develop a following in Europe, and gained considerable college radio airplay with 1992's Let Me Come Over, a striking set of songs that included several heart-wrenching ballads and showed just how strong and dynamic the band could be. Buffalo Tom's fourth album, Big Red Letter Day, finally earned the band some well-deserved commercial radio exposure with the propulsive single "Soda Jerk," which also popped up on the acclaimed television series My So-Called Life. After Big Red Letter Day, Buffalo Tom opted to take some time off, and Janovitz decided to make use of a backlog of unrecorded songs by making a solo album. Lonesome Billy, recorded at a tiny studio in Arizona, found Janovitz playing alongside Joey Burns and John Convertino of Giant Sand and Calexico, and Chris Toppin from Fuzzy, on a set of material that displayed a surprisingly rootsy style. Janovitz returned to Buffalo Tom for 1998's Smitten, but in 2001, with the group on hiatus, he released a second solo set, Up Here, which found Janovitz exploring his interest in folk-rock and singer/songwriter-oriented material. The musicians Janovitz assembled for the Up Here sessions -- which included Toppin, bassist Josh Lattanzi, and drummer Tom Polce -- eventually evolved into a separate band, Crown Victoria, who began playing live shows and in 2004 shared billing with Janovitz for the album Fireworks on TV!. Janovitz also has a second side project, the Bathing Beauties; formed originally to play covers for fun at the occasional bar gig the group (besides Janovitz and Toppin) includes noted producer Paul Kolderie on bass).
DoWnLoAd
''WALT WHITMAN MALL''
APRIL 9 2013
57:45
1. Long Island /3:08
2. Withering /3:57
3. Noon Hill /2:42
4. Walt Whitman Mall /3:53
5. Prettiest /4:00
6. Best Route /5:08
7. Welcome /7:10
8. Heckscher Park /2:52
9. Mae and Maggie (I & II) /5:16
10. Rounding Third /5:45
11. I Know It's True /3:58
12. Diamonds Down /6:28
13. Cold Again /3:28
Paul Ahlstrand /Saxophone
Phil Aiken /Organ, Piano
Seth Altman /Choir/Chorus
Scott Aruda /Trumpet
Billy Beard /Drums, Percussion
David Brophy /Choir/Chorus
Laura St. Clair /Choir/Chorus
Will Dailey /Choir/Chorus
Colin Devonshire /Choir/Chorus
Ferriss Donham /Choir/Chorus
Will Donham /Choir/Chorus
Tim Gearan /Guitar (Electric)
Lilia Halpern-Smith /Choir/Chorus
Steve Hanna /Choir/Chorus
Kimberly Hartwell /Choir/Chorus
Bill Janovitz /Multi Instruments, Vocals
Lucy Janovitz /Choir/Chorus, Vocals (Background)
Will Janovitz /Choir/Chorus
The Lawnguyland Kwaya /Choir/Chorus
Ron Mesard /Choir/Chorus
David Moore /Choir/Chorus
Camille Speca /Choir/Chorus
Dan Speca /Choir/Chorus
Sean Staples /Mandolin
Matt Taheney /Choir/Chorus
Chris Toppin /Vocals (Background)
Ed Valauskas /Bass
Mark Zelermyer /Choir/Chorus
REVIEW
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
As the leader of Buffalo Tom, Bill Janovitz sometimes saw his subtle songs get overwhelmed by the roar of his power trio, but Walt Whitman Mall -- his fourth or fifth solo album, it all depends whether you count Crown Victoria's Fireworks on TV! as a Janovitz project or not -- spotlights his skills as a craftsman quite appealingly. Unlike Buffalo Tom, which was grounded in the college rock of the '80s, Walt Whitman Mall is essentially an Americana affair, built on sturdy songs but performed with ragged abandon. At times, Janovitz is delicately picking his acoustic, sometimes he's strumming chords with a full-muscled insistence, swinging between these two extremes and never invalidating either attitude. Throughout it all, Janovitz displays a nimbleness in melody and lyric, enjoying the folk-rock propulsion of his singalongs, sometimes dipping into a sweetness on his ballads, always banging out a robust, openhearted celebration of love and loss, frayed ends, and forgotten memories. Janovitz is happy to wander down detours, lingering upon loose ends and jagged chords, and that gives Walt Whitman Mall an ingratiating messiness: it may not be tidy but has the thrust and ballast of life itself, which makes it exceedingly appealing.
BIOGRAPHY
by Mark Deming
Bill Janovitz is best-known as the guitarist and lead singer with Buffalo Tom, one of the few bands that sprung from the American underground scene of the '80s who weathered the alternative rock boom of the '90s with their talent and integrity intact. Born in Queens, NY, Janovitz spent most of his childhood living in Long Island. At the age of 16, Janovitz moved with his family to Massachusetts and, after graduating from high school, he enrolled at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Janovitz began playing music while in elementary school when he took up the trumpet; at the age of 12, Janovitz moved on to guitar, and at 14 had formed his first band, the Plastic Peach, who played covers ranging from Neil Young to Talking Heads. Several years later Janovitz joined what he's described as "a tragically named high school band," the Rambunctious Llamas, who specialized in new wave and jangle pop covers. Janovitz was still playing with the Llamas during his early college days when he met fellow UMass students Chris Colbourn and Tom Maginnis, who were also playing in local bands. The three became friendly after running into each other at local rock shows, and after discovering a shared admiration for bands such as Hüsker Dü, Mission of Burma, and the Replacements, they decided to join forces, with Colbourn on bass and Maginnis behind the drums.
Calling themselves Buffalo Tom, Janovitz, Colbourn, and Maginnis began playing out in 1986, and soon gained an important ally when J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. befriended the band and loaned them equipment. In 1989, Mascis produced the group's self-titled debut album, which clearly displayed the producer's influence. However, the band's own musical personality -- tighter, cleaner, and more heartfelt -- began to manifest itself on their second album, 1990's Birdbrain. The band began to develop a following in Europe, and gained considerable college radio airplay with 1992's Let Me Come Over, a striking set of songs that included several heart-wrenching ballads and showed just how strong and dynamic the band could be. Buffalo Tom's fourth album, Big Red Letter Day, finally earned the band some well-deserved commercial radio exposure with the propulsive single "Soda Jerk," which also popped up on the acclaimed television series My So-Called Life. After Big Red Letter Day, Buffalo Tom opted to take some time off, and Janovitz decided to make use of a backlog of unrecorded songs by making a solo album. Lonesome Billy, recorded at a tiny studio in Arizona, found Janovitz playing alongside Joey Burns and John Convertino of Giant Sand and Calexico, and Chris Toppin from Fuzzy, on a set of material that displayed a surprisingly rootsy style. Janovitz returned to Buffalo Tom for 1998's Smitten, but in 2001, with the group on hiatus, he released a second solo set, Up Here, which found Janovitz exploring his interest in folk-rock and singer/songwriter-oriented material. The musicians Janovitz assembled for the Up Here sessions -- which included Toppin, bassist Josh Lattanzi, and drummer Tom Polce -- eventually evolved into a separate band, Crown Victoria, who began playing live shows and in 2004 shared billing with Janovitz for the album Fireworks on TV!. Janovitz also has a second side project, the Bathing Beauties; formed originally to play covers for fun at the occasional bar gig the group (besides Janovitz and Toppin) includes noted producer Paul Kolderie on bass).
DoWnLoAd
