Twenty Miles From Buffalo
"Seventies funk meets twenty-first century soul might be the best way of describing the heady vibe that characterizes Planet Earth’s newest platter, Twenty Miles from Buffalo. Released on the band’s own Sleeping Eddie Music label, Twenty Miles from Buffalo is the third disc from what has become an impressively mature, seasoned funk outfit of hellacious proportions." - Rob Bowman
All tracks written and performed by Planet Earth.
Produced and engineered by Dylan Heming.
Ron Littlejohn,: vocals/harp
Dylan Heming: keyboards/Organ
Ben Riley: drums/percussion/vocals
Glenn Olive: bass
Additional musicians: Kevin Turcotte, Steve Donald, Perry White, Dan Noodermeer, Kevin Breit, Holly Cole, Courtney Farquhar, Jake Langley, Tim Hamel
Planet Earth: Twenty Miles from Buffalo
by Rob Bowman
Seventies funk meets twenty-first century soul might be the best way of describing the heady vibe that characterizes Planet Earth’s newest platter, Twenty Miles from Buffalo. Released on the band’s own Sleeping Eddie Music label, Twenty Miles from Buffalo is the third disc from what has become an impressively mature, seasoned funk outfit of hellacious proportions.
The core group consist of Ron Littlejohn on lead vocals; Ben Riley, son of Canadian music icon Doug Riley, on drums; Glenn Olive on bass and the Juno Award-wining Dylan Heming on the keys. For Twenty Miles from Buffalo they are augmented by guitar wizards Dan Noordermeer, Kevin Breit, Jake Langley and Sean Baillie; Adele Armin on violin, Holly Cole and Courtney Farquhar on backing vocals and a crack horn section consisting of Steve Donald, Kevin Turcotte, Tim Rutledge and Perry White. Holding down a six year residency at the Orbit Room, Toronto’s emporium of all things soulful, Planet Earth’s ascendancy among local hipsters is reflected in the fact that they routinely are tapped to open up for visiting hip hop, funk and jazz artists such as K-OS, Maestro, Maceo Parker and Joey DeFrancesco.
Sporting a heady brew of diverse influences, various tracks on Twenty Miles from Buffalo remind one of Stevie Wonder (dig the vocals and funky clavinet on “Leading Me On”), George Benson (check out the guitar on “Coming On Strong”), Bill Withers (love the vinyl scratches lovingly juxtaposed with the Withers-influenced vocals on “Love Someone”), Steely Dan (sophisto jazz-funk rears its head on “Drive All Night”) and Tower of Power (funkier than a mosquito’s tweeter horns on the appropriately named “Bump Theory”).
The influences on other songs, such as “Testimony, are less specific as the track’s funky clavinet and crisp snare timbre suggests the sound of a myriad number of great seventies funk tracks. The highlight cut to these ears, though, is the enigmatic “White Trash Disco” where a heavily filtered vocal on the verses that is somewhat reminiscent of the great Dr. John meets a Funkadelic styled bass line and blues guitar and harp playing. The climax comes in the breakdown at the end of the track comprised of a rural blues take on a verse from Big Mama Thornton’s immortal original recording of “Hound Dog.”
In total, the ten tracks on Twenty Miles from Buffalo conjure up a soul satisfying stew that should satisfy any hipster’s palette. Dig in.