Duet for Guitars #2 [Extra tracks]

M. Ward | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 10, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks
• Label: Merge Records
• ASIN: B000RGSOSM
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #57,214 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

This is M. Ward's first record, originally released by Co-Dependent Records in 1999, then re-released in 2000 by M's friend Howe Gelb (Giant Sand) on his Ow-Om label. It has been out of print ever since. Now Merge is offering this re-mastered version with three bonus tracks.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Numero Uno, Ward Highway: the Wellspring, February 27, 2005

By 

loujack (coos bay, oregon) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Duet for Guitars #2 (Audio CD)

If you are reading this, then you are in big, big trouble. It may mean that you have discovered M Ward and are tracing him back to his roots, to his beginnings. It further implies that you may have already heard something he did and are curious about this M Ward fellow. Either way, brace yourself because you are in for a rare musical treat. What awaits you is genius, pure unfettered genius, and you are going to find it here at the beginning (in its incipient stages) or growing stronger with "End of Amnesia" or bursting forth with "The transfiguration of Vincent" or simply exploding everywhere all over the place in "Transistor Radio". Whatever direction you are travelling on the Ward Highway, get ready to be in a big musical wreck. Nobody does anything near to music what this man does. There ought to be a law against him for making so much beauty so fast and so soon (he is only 31 and just put out his fourth CD) but who's going to vote for it? Not me, that's for sure, and pretty soon, not you either. Listen and see. After hearing this one, you have the best collection of the four waiting for you next at #2 Ward Highway. The ride on this road only gets better and better as it heads for the musical hall of fame. This man is making once in a lifetime music and you are standing at the spot from which it all began. You need to drink the Kool-Aid from the wellspring immediately and when you do you'll understand what all the fuss is about. The Ward highway is an incredibly beautiful and remote yet immediately present place laced with sounds and sights often imagined but rarely encountered.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pricey but Priceless, August 19, 2005

By 

Laura A. Webster "Laura Webster" (Sunnyvale, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Duet for Guitars #2 (Audio CD)

I'm a cheapskate and bought this. Well worth it too. Waiting years vol. 2 (track #14) makes my heart throb. Duet for guitars #2 (track 1) good. Beautiful car calls me home to real home. Nevermind this singling out. All tracks are gifts to you from M. Ward and your soul will love this album. I became a fan one night about 4-5 years ago in my search for decent music because so much of what's out there isn't. Something no one's heard of that "only I like". I found a sampling of M. Ward and that was it. Done. Search over, M. Ward is it. I worked at Tower so got End of Amnesia employee discounted, went home late after closing, popped it in the discman, got into bed, full moon out, sheer white curtains gapped open a little to let moon in and I don't know what happened. Transcendent. That's why I liked it. He's an experience and he makes music in the unadulterated and freshest sense of the word. He's an artist.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the import price for die hard M. Wardites, January 27, 2006

By 

philosophy student "philosophy student" (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Duet for Guitars #2 (Audio CD)

If you are staring at this review, chances are you own End of Amnesia, Transfiguration of Vincent and / or Transistor Radio -- so you know M. Ward's sound. You should also know, that, no, this disc is not available in the US and is only in print in Japan. It SHOULD cost about $30. If you are a fan of M. Ward, the price is worth it, 100%. All the odd-ball production techniques that add such a quirky touch to his unique blend of Americana neo-folk blues sound are all already present on this first offering. But what is so nice about this first album is that M. Ward's voice is even MORE fragile and unsure of itself here than on his other albums and b/c it is his first outting, the recording monies were less and it's got a sweet lo-fi taste to it--that doesn't mean cheap sounding by the way, far from it. It's just rawer than his other works. He sings a bit higher and with a bit more wobble than on his later albums on certain tunes. But the lyrics have the same maturity and the song writing really is as superb as anything else he has done. If you are a fan of M. Ward, you will not be let down if you drop the $30 necessary to obtain the disc. Again, it equals everything he's done. Buy it with confidence; it will be in rotation as much as any of his other albums you own. It is no coincidence that all the previous reviews give the labum 5 stars after all.