When it was first released in 1994,
Richard Buckner's debut album
Bloomed seemed little short of miraculous, a beautifully spare but rich and compelling set of songs about the sweet and bitter sides of love, accompanied by a superb, primarily acoustic ensemble led by producer
Lloyd Maines. In retrospect,
Bloomed turned out to reveal just one of the many facets of
Buckner's musical personality, but if his muse took him many places after this (and continued to guide him in fascinating ways), this still remains one of the most satisfying and engaging albums in his catalog.
Buckner's songs on
Bloomed dig deep, whether he's pondering the mysteries of love on "Blue and Wonder" and "Mud," or sketching an indelible portrait of a young man succumbing to despair and self-pity on "22," and his wordplay is at once artful and down to earth, and all the more effective for
Buckner's strong, burnished voice and thoughtful phrasing; it's hard to imagine another voice putting so much effortless resonance behind lines like "This is where things start going bad," or "Christ, how this life, from mud to miracles, is just the prettiest little burden."
Maines and his small crew of musicians (including
Butch Hancock on harmonica and longtime
Joe Ely sideman
Ponty Bone on accordion) give
Buckner's songs all the care they deserve, adding to the nuances of the melodies and moods with a master's touch, and
Maines' own steel guitar work is especially striking, from the determined drift of "Gauzy Dress in the Sun" to the sharp, howling report of "Rainsquall." The rootsy sound of
Bloomed gave way to more ambitious approaches on
Devotion + Doubt and
Since, but if
Buckner wanted to show people just how much he had to offer on his first album, he succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams:
Bloomed is about as masterful and confident as debuts can get, and it's a heady joy to hear. [In 2014, in time for the 20th anniversary of its release,
Merge Records reissued
Bloomed in a special two-disc package, with 11 bonus tracks on disc two. The remastered edition of the original album sounds great, and the bonus disc includes several "lost" songs from the
Bloomed era, including "Hutchinson" and "The Worst Way." There are also a few radio recordings that reveal how the songs from the album sounded when
Buckner was performing as a solo acoustic act, and the final three tracks document
Buckner's short-lived band
the Doubters. Anyone who cares about good singing and songwriting needs a copy of
Bloomed in their collection, and this deluxe package only adds to the excellence of the original; it's recommended to curious neophytes as well as longtime fans.] ~ Mark Deming
