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Les Bohem - Moved to Duarte

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Les Bohem's music doesn't sound at all like it did when he was with the 80s band Gleaming Spires, which had a hormonally-charged hit with "Are You Ready for the Sex Girls," a song that wouldn't have sounded out of place in Sparks' repertoire, a band with whom Bohem also played. Moved to Duarte is the sound of a grizzled folkie, one who has seen and experienced much.

Bohem is better known for his work in film. He won an Emmy for his work on Taken, a Steven Spielberg mini-series. Chances are good the songs on Moved to Duarte won't receive the same kind of mass exposure as Taken, especially since the chorus to "The Moral Premise" includes the repeated line, "So, f*** you all."

Bohem songs are many times profane folk musings, usually backed by little more than acoustic instrumentation. There is also a cynical streak running through Bohem songs, too. He sings of mockingly suggesting a woman put a Band-Aid on a fractured life to make it better, for example, on the appropriately named "Put a Band-Aid On My Life." Band-Aids fix boo-boos for children, but it's not quite so simple for adults. Vocally, Bohem sounds a bit like John Prine, with a sandpaper vocal honesty.

Although Bohem has made his mark in Hollywood, he name-drops a few SoCal locales throughout only locals will likely recognize. These cities include Alhambra, Arcadia and Monrovia.

This is dark stuff. It's ugly, realistic and more than a little depressing. It can also be darkly funny, as when Bohem sings about how Bruce Springsteen dyes his hair. Put this one next to Leonard Cohen's albums in your collection.

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Les Bohem - Moved to Duarte
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