Customer Reviews

Duet for Guitars #2

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I saw Matt a couple of days ago when he opened for Bright Eyes here in Chicago. From the first chord, the audience was absolutely riveted. I'm not talking about the polite attention usually reserved for opening acts -- this was an entire room of people being actively converted into fans. Thank god I was smart enough to sneak out early and snag a CD, because he sold out before the show was over. The album is amazing, for lack of a better word. I've had it on constantly in the last 4 days, and I fall in love with it all over again with each listen. The price here is pretty steep -- if I were you, I'd catch Matt on tour. The cost of a ticket and a CD would be less, AND you'd get to watch this lovely boy work his magic. What a deal.

This is an interesting CD. Unmistakably M. Ward, but not so melodic or polished. It seems funny to use that word for a guy who records in his attic, and wants his music to sound like it, but later M. Ward has a fuller sound, more instruments, and the occasional song you want to hum along to. None of that here. He seems to be channeling early Neil Young but more whispery. This would make good background music, but if I want the full M. Ward experience I am more likely to put End of Amnesia, Vincent, or Post-War on the turntable.

After having thoroughly familiarized myself with M. Ward's more recent albums, I happened upon this little gem from the early days of his solo musical career. Ward, with his husky voice and a musical style that evokes a certain nostaligia for lazy early evenings on a front porch, has, for a while, been one of my favorite contemporary artists. And so I overcome much embarassed hesitancy to state that this may very well be my favorite album of his.

One of the things that makes M. Ward's work distinctive as a whole is its organic raw quality; but this album is, well, rawer. Tracks like "Scene from #12" and ""He asked me to be a snake and live underground" are notably less polished than what Ward produced in his later albums, but roughness, here, indicates neither a lack of skill nor a soundness of intention. And the songs "Good news" and "It won't happen twice" are certainly as poignantly beautiful as anything found on Transistor Radio, End of Amnesia, Transfiguration of Vincent, or Post-War.

Overall, I highly recommend this album to anyone who is a fan of M. Ward's later work, or even anyone who is remotely interested in hearing a bit more of what this highly tallented artist has to offer. There isn't a single track on this album I don't like!

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

I have always been a fan of M. Ward's works. However, it wasn't until very recently that I was able to get my hands on his stellar debut album. It has now become my very favorite album of his. Very mellow, very stripped down, and very beautiful. The album makes you feel as though you are sitting right next to M. Ward as he plays these songs for you.
Very worth the buy!

I, like most, uncovered M. Ward forward-back. It started with Transistor Radio, which obsessed me and drew me to Transfiguration, which obsessed me also... and then it was Amnesia; then Post-War came out, and finally it was this. Now through all of these later albums I came to love M. Ward as kind of a refuge for my entire value system: traditionalism, due valuation of the past, etc. Each album seemed better than the others as I listened to them... all of them on par in greatness. And then this thing comes along: this raw low-fi gem... I first listened to it driving out to my cabin in the plateau region of Western New York. And that became my tradition; I listen to it every time I head there. It settled into the trees and hills in sunshine and cloud both. It completed the scene -- and in this way, this "first album"; this "deed of amateurism" became my favorite M. Ward record. I don't think that it was the musicianship or any analysis on my part that made it this way. It is the peace that the music made me feel, I think.

The entire thing is just constant bliss. Lines come up again and again that speak to the better part of me. "I know the next life's gonna be a good one for me" in the child's school bus story "Song From Debby's Stairs." "The Love you deserve is coming on stormy winds... it won't happen twice my friend." And so on. Or the song about the apartments; the insomniac neighbor won't let him sleep; then he falls and vanishes (dies?) and he still "ain't sleeping" -- only now because of the silence; at least that's how I interpret it.

What is this album about? Well, it's kind of like one big hymn -- musically and lyrically. It is melodic beautifully and invariably human throughout. It's a hymn for God, sure. The religiosity is evident. But more than that, it's a hymn for people; it's a hymn for our better part... Gloria finding the lost picture on the school bus; that kind of thing. It seems to say well about everything important. M. Ward has only gotten better since this -- but M. Ward has always been looking back... therefore this little secret of his is as well as eternal. And everything after seems to just do tribute to it: "I was there, but now here I am." But He Was There: that bit is irrevocable, thank God : )

M.Ward's re-issue of his first album is worth the money. If you enjoyed Post-War, imagine the record even less produced and mostly just guitars and voice. He goes for the high notes a lot more than he does now on this release, I noticed. I have to say that I have been a fan from the first time I saw him play and wished I had gotten into him earlier.