RUFUS MANUEVERS
One Clear Moment (Self Released/B-Group)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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If they've got anymore like 'em at home, then Buffalo, NY is likely to become the next Seattle/Chapel Hill/South Florida. Of course, if that place is like those places, it's the best we hear from first, and Rufus Maneuvers is not only the first band I've heard from the Buffalo area, they're good enough to be among the best in any neighborhood.

It's pretty apparent that there's a jam band or two in the background of the members of Rufus Maneuvers, but they can't be confined by that particular label in this particular incarnation. While there's an air of laid back roots influence typical of the best jam bands in the music here, there's a tightness to the sound and a level of pop craft in the songwriting that's all to rare in jam bands, or any other kind of bands, for that matter.

Part of the credit doubtless goes to indie mastermind Brent Bodrug, leader of the B-Group consulting organization. While B-Group isn't (as the band was careful to tell me) a label per se, Bodrug does more for his stable of indie clients than most majors do for all but a very select few of their acts. In this case, that included a songwriting assist on a pair of tracks, some keyboard work, promo and album photography and producing, arranging, engineering, mixing and mastering the whole thing. And that's before he put the considerable marketing skills of his organization to work.

There's nothing even a Brent Bodrug can do unless there's talent there in the first place, though, and once again he's aligned himself with a very talented ensemble. If there's anything else worth hearing in Buffalo, he'll find it and let us know, but meanwhile there's Rufus Maneuvers and they're not only worth hearing, they're well worth seeking out. [Hint: www.rufusmaneuvers.com/.]

Track List:

Let It Burn * Welcome To The Outside * Dead End Town * Ice Man * Rhyme Or Reason * Hopeless Romantic * New To You * Somewhere * Room Upstairs * Run Away

© 2001 - Shaun Dale