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 Gets better with every listen Aug 07, 2009
I've loved Josh Ritter ever since a friend of mine forced me to go see him at Austin City Limits. I was completely blown away by how good he is live, even when (maybe especially when) competing with all the sound of louder bands at nearby stages. He and his band were absolutely charming in person (he actually hugged me when I went to get him to sign his CD for me after his set, and complimented me on how pretty the girl I was with was).
All that aside, I really love this album. When I first got it, I wasn't as happy with it as I was with Hello Starling (and I still like that album a little better), but I'm finding I like it better every time I listen to it. My favorite song is "The Temptation of Adam." I think it really embodies what I love so much about Ritter. It's a beautifully simple, catchy melody, with absolutely mind-blowingly good lyrics. They're clever, they're literate, they're emotionally honest while creating fictional characters and situations. And they all come together with an amazingly understated climax that literally makes me want to cry every time I hear it, it's so good.
Other standouts on the album are "To the Dogs or Whoever" and "Rumors," but really the whole album is worth repeated listenings.
0 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 missing cd Kelly Books Jun 26, 2009
I ordered this cd over 2 months ago from Kelley Books and never got it.
They shot me an email but never sent the cd.
Thanks guy's, real cool. Amazon was no help either.
The Dylan Comparisons are Well-Founded May 27, 2009
American folk singer/songwriter Josh Ritter built a steady following on the strength of his first two albums, but his artistic growth did not reach copious fruition until the release of "Hello Starling" in 2003. The track "Kathleen" has become such a prominent icon that Ritter's handwritten lyrics were auctioned for charity on eBay last year. "All the other girls here are stars, you are the Northern Lights" brilliantly introduces the track, though it is true the album is also suffused with sharp subjective thought as well. The solemn lamentations of "Man Burning" illustrate that quite well: "I regret the things I've done, bitter words and fiery tongues."
When "The Animal Years" appeared swiftly on the heels of the higher profile re-release of "Hello Starling", pre-release samples from the album were snapped up faster than doughnuts at a weight loss convention. Mr. Ritter suddenly featured in multitudes of music periodicals, including a grand write up in PASTE - and there was bounteous reason for this fervor. "Girl in the War" fronted a delicate, yet brutally honest anti-war stance, "Wolves" featured a rolling piano intro and called to mind a successor to Neil Young's throne might be at hand, while the lyric "Best for the Best" suggested a burgeoning songwriter who has the chops to rival Dylan.
As if the world needed any more proof of Ritter's inimitable talent, fourth record "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter" arrived in stores in August of 2007. The minute the jangly, excited guitar strum of "To the Dogs or Whoever" strikes the eardrum, it promises something ambitiously extravagant. It is distinctly Ritter, name dropping historical figures and following it up with profoundly mystic lines like "The stain of the sepia the butcher Crimea." The track "Right Moves" could have been a hit single were the masses not hopelessly superficial, "Empty Hearts" contains one of the most accessible choruses of the year, while "The Temptation of Adam" serves to exemplify Ritter's songwriting prowess.
The track is a distillation of a romance between a soldier and a woman named Marie hunkered down in a missile silo, described as a "top secret location three hundred feet under the ground." The lyric is hauntingly beautiful as it treads the course of the courtship amidst the foreboding intonations of "W.W.I.I.I.", the soldier's answer to Marie's question of "what five letters spell apocalypse?"
Occasionally, in order to fully understand an artist, it is helpful to read a bit about their background and lifestyle. Writer Josh Jackson, in the aforementioned PASTE article, assists with this sufficiently with the following excerpt:
"With his curly mop, scraggly beard, sweater and secondhand corduroy jacket, Ritter looks more like a college professor than either of his parents, who both teach neuroscience at Washington State University, just across the state line.
Though he left Idaho after high school, he's at home in the woods of the Northwest, where he first began writing songs. He points out the different types of trees--enormous cedars, cottonwoods, ponderosas, willows and Douglas firs.
Further up the mountain from Ritter's childhood home, his best friend Rocky Weitz's family owns hundreds of acres. 'I could disappear into those woods for hours,' Ritter says. 'Just take a book and spend the day by myself.'"
Dylan.'65. The Boss or Tom Waits in '74. O. M. G! Mar 19, 2009
Every now and then music and lyrics slam you, grab your heart, and stop you cold. But it doesn't happen to me all that often.
I was a hormonal teenager in 1965 but Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited and the Beatles Rubber Soul made music very serious to me. This was no longer about trivial folk or pop. In '68 Van Morrison's Astral Weeks left me in shock (and frankly still does. The album is a freak of nature or an act of God. Or something).
It happened twice around 1974: Springsteen's Born to Run and Tom Waits' Heart of Saturday Night. And a few others -- Pet Sounds, Let it Bleed. But there is not that much music that grabs you and make you desperate to know who IS that?
It happened again on a rainy night this February. I'm in Starbucks typing when I hear this guy sing. Young. Very smart. Lyrics that reference Casey Jones, Joan of Arc, Florence Nightingale, and Calamity Jane. Like Dylan, Springsteen, or Waits. And with a real band behind him.
Who IS this guy? The flat screen says Josh Ritter playing "To the Dogs or Whoever". It's whomever, but if you have come this far, you either know this guy, in which case my review has little to add, or you don't, in which case just get the album. If this guy keeps doing what he has been doing, we are all going to listen to him a lot.
Why Aren't You Buying This? Dec 28, 2008
Seriously. You see all the other reviews, the "add to cart" button is conveniently located... do you really need another five-star testimonial to convince you? All right, if that's what it takes. This was the first CD I bought of Josh, sought out immediately after catching "To the Dogs Or Whoever" on Letterman. I was blown away by this loud, raucous, shattering-noise of a song. But it was damned catchy, and I couldn't stop watching the grinning, energetic lead singer swing along with the sounds.
So I finally decided to take the leap and bought the CD. When I started the first listen, I was skeptical. But over time, I found I kept putting the CD back into the player. And, by jove, the layers peeled away like an onion. This CD is simply brilliant. Clever songwriting and a true joy for making music shine through on every single song here. Taken one song at a time or as a sprawling musical journey (many of the songs move effortlessly into the next track), you'll find something to pull you in.
And then you will want everything else by this artist. As soon as humanly possible. I saw Josh on TV on January 22, 2008, and at this moment I have his entire discography and I'm itching for more. But I can be patient. Music like this can't and shouldn't be rushed.
If you're still not convinced about "Historical Conquests," fine. Go buy "The Animal Years." It's just as good (in my book, I think it's actually better), more accessible, and you'll end up coming back for this one before too long anyway. Then you can make it your duty to go out there and convert as many people as possible. It's a crime that more people don't know Josh's name or his music.
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