Customer Reviews

The Faithful Anchor

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

 

 

The first time I saw unwed sailor play was at cornerstone a few years ago. The sun was just setting, and I strolled casually past an generator powered dirt floor stage. The musicians formed silhouttes against the dimmed sky. Whatever you would imagine the musicians playing in such a context, is probably close. Poetic? Powerful? Relaxing? Yes, Yes, Yes. All this, with the exception of the last track, is done without words. Without words? Yes, and actually quite well.
I have no idea what the boys had in mind when they wrote tracks 3 and 5, but I can tell you exactly what they mean to me. Not that I will, but know this. There is something invigorating about this whole cd, something that I can't quite put my finger to, something that one reviewer called a "spiritual element." Well, I'm not sure about all that, "spiritual" has a lot of connotations that I don't think work, but if you think of "spiritual" as that element of man that transcends what he does in this world; the thing which unites the far flung roles he embodies in this world and makes them something more,enables him to both preserver, and yet, in the midst of it all, to be more than simply existing, that is to really live. If that is your definition then, heck yes, call it "spiritual" all day long. I love this stuff.

When I heard that Jonathon Ford of Roadside Monument was putting out a full-length with Unwed Sailor I was ecsatic. I went to Cornerstone Festival 2001 mostly to see them. I bought the Faithul Anchor there and saw them play. They are still one of my favorite bands in the world right now. Get this CD and play it when you are looking for energy or looking for peace.

This is definitely one of the best albums I've heard in quite sometime.Mello instrumental stuff, very similar to TRISTEZA. Good stuff here.Especially the song "GOLDEN CITIES" Awesome. I haven't come across anyone who doesn't like this album.Buy it, it's totally worth it.

About a year ago, before I began college, I lived in a young, fantastical world, where the meaning of life was high school crushes and participating in the local summer drama program every year. I was very naive in these days, willing to go along with anything if it meant standing closer to a girl I secretly loved. Despite the insecurity I had with my social life and how those I admired viewed me, I probably experienced the best times of my life in the last three years of my childhood.

The above paragraph is what you would call having nostaligia. And the point of it is that Unwed Sailor's The Faithful Anchor is the soundtrack to those memories. Whenever I hear the start-up bass picking of "Last Goodbyes," or the swishing cymbols in "The House of Hopes," I am taken back to the days of holding a girl onstage during Pirates of Penzance and attending joyful cast parties. Hearing "Golden Cities" reminds me of trips up to Wisconsin for Christmas, where I'd pass the time writing poems about the goddesses I worshiped. With the stress of college and jobs nowadays, I use The Faithful Anchor to portal back my spirit to that heavenly world I could never return to physically.

Musically, what we have here is energized, instrumental rock, crafted with much passion by bassist Johnathon Ford. Matt Johnson, the ingenius avant-garde drummer from Roadside Monument, adds his own skills to the mix, making Faithful Anchor a very personal teamwork effort between the two. Hearing them play together in songs like "Ruby's Wishes" is like watching two brothers work together to carve an intricate sculpture. It's not only the sculpture that's beautiful, but the effort that went into it as well.

So, wherever you are in life, give Unwed Sailor's The Faithful Anchor a spin. It just may become your own personal soundtrack, something to pull out if you ever desire to recall old memories of loved ones and loved times. The spirit is alive and well here.

what a wonderful cd!!
its full of, i think, 9 tracks of musical bliss. all of the tracks are instramentals. it resembles classical guitar styles
that i learned about in music class. but its sooo great to listen to it. i've not met anyone who's not loved this cd on first listen.