★★★★★
The very first piece of mail I received when I came home to New Orleans after two long months away was the new subdudes album. Talk about good omens! Recorded pre-Katrina at Dockside Studios near Lafayette, the album's title refers to the physical location where the 'dudes laid down ten soulful tracks with blues legend Keb' Mo' behind the board...
- www.offbeat.com
2010-11-09
★★★★★
This two-DVD set presents the subdudes in conversation and playing around the living room (disc one); and in concert at the Ram's Head in Annapolis, Maryland (disc two). Since the footage of that show includes too-many-to-count moments when the camera's out of focus and inexplicable, hand-held, swift pans to nowhere, it's pretty hard to pay attention to the music. With multiple cameras and an editing room, there's simply no excuse. Better is the disc of domestic subdudes...
- www.offbeat.com
2010-11-02
★★★★★
"Poor Man's Paradise," one of the highlights of the subdudes' latest, is the second New Orleans song of that title to come along in recent months; the first was the title track of Johnny Sansone's current album. Both songs are about life post-Katrina, but they're a study in contrasts. Sansone's is angry and wry, the singer still loving his home but not finding much cause for optimism. The subdudes' tune dares to suggest that things just might be alright...
- www.offbeat.com
2010-11-02
★★★★★
After the straightforward verisimilitude of its CD/DVD release Live at the Ram's Head, the new subdudes album, Flower Petals, is a mannered, carefully wrought set piece that takes a dramatic step away from the grim reality of life in the new millennium. In fact it's a rock band version of a historical novel, with the 'dudes costumed in 19th Century garb and writing about simpler times in the Old West...
- www.offbeat.com
2010-11-02
★★★★★
Live at Last captures 14 tracks recorded on the Subdudes' final tour, including favorites like "Cold Night," "Late at Night," and "All the Time in the World." The Subdudes were at their best in concert, as this album proves, and while the music is joyful, it's hard not to listen to Live at Last and be saddened that this is their epitaph.
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
★★★★★
After three years without a recording contract, the Subdudes reappeared with this beautiful collection of soulful, gorgeous, funkily "subdued" music. It's another example of why the band was so popular with those who were exposed to them, and why they were often mentioned as one of the bands most deserving of wider recognition. The lyrics here seem so personal at times that the listener feels like he's being allowed into the secret places of the writers' lives...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
★★★★★
The Subdudes produce a soulful musical blend combining the rhythmic feel of their native New Orleans, gospel-inflected vocals, and deeply personal lyrics. Ironically, the band has no one playing the standard drum set, but percussionist Steve Amedee is amazing with only a tambourine and a modified drumstick...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
★★★★★
To say that the Subdudes are back is an understatement that doesn't do this disc justice, because this is not a return, but a solid progression. They returned to recording in fantastic form after a nearly nine-year hiatus. The resulting disc has the trademark harmonies, the warmth the group exudes, the strong songwriting, and the rich soul-felt mix of music, all of which have always been characteristic strengths of this group...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
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