SAM LLANAS

4 A.M. (The Way Home)

2012-02-05

I guess it was true. The BoDeans, the harmonic duo of Sam Llanas and Kurt Neumann who met in a Waukesha, Wisconsin high school in 1977, are no more. Virtually at the same time the news was out--and on the heels of he last BoDeans record, "Indigo Dreams"--Llanas [pronounced "Yanas"] has released a stripped-down quiet set of "nocturnal songs" (hence the name of the CD). Three are remakes of older BoDeans songs ("Shyne," "Nobody Luvs Me," "Janey") and one is a string-aided Jules Shear cover of a song Cyndi Lauper made famous ("All Through the Night"); the others are new Sam tunes. All relate to sights, sounds and feelings in the wee hours of the morning. The set is definitely scaled back from a typical BoDeans outing, but the band has recorded many acoustic numbers; in fact, these songs remind me of "Lookin' For Me Somewhere" from the very BoDeans first record. Maybe, on his own, Llanas has come full circle. 02/12 Michael J. R-Contemporary

Quick Links:

• Sam's homepage
• Sam sings "Nobody Luvs Me"