Fort Recovery

Centro-Matic (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 7, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Misra Records
• ASIN: B000E6GBWG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #154,987 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great stuff, June 7, 2006

By 

Antiquity (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fort Recovery (Audio CD)

This is a fantastic album, the best I have heard in a while. The sound is something of a mix between Son Volt and Drive by Truckers, but completely unique and better than anything those two have done recently. I really like the sound; it is not "poppy" at all like some of Wilco's stuff, or like the Band of Horses new album that is over-hyped. The songs are real and of high quality throughout, not a clunker on the album. This is one that will hold up over the years.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best album i've heard in a while, September 12, 2006

By 

A. Volz (los angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fort Recovery (Audio CD)

pretty melodies, hard rocking guitars and drums, evocative lyrics. centro-matic songs get stuck in your head pretty quickly. they remind me of REM songs played in the style of crazy horse or pavement. this is probably my favorite of their albums. you can throw it on and listen start to finish without wanting to skip a song.

buy this CD and you'll achieve maximum sonic sweetness.

also, see the band live if you get the chance. they bring a bunch of extra rock to the songs when they play 'em live.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly gritty & poignant Americana, November 12, 2009

By 

Charlie Quaker "The Quaker Goes Deaf" (Normal, IL.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fort Recovery (Audio CD)

This is the sixth release from this Texas band led by singer/songwriter Will Johnson. Centro-Matic have steadily developed a sizeable & loyal cult following with their trademark raw pop/rock poignancy and uncompromising delivery. "Fort Recovery" is the moment they've been searching for the past ten years.
The album begins with a soul-wrenching slide guitar refrain that melts into some of the most heartfelt, raspy vocals in this universe. Then the power rises. Without losing an ounce of passion, the volume cranks, the voice strains with a gripping urgency, the guitars roar...and back we move to the soft slap in the face, the tug that migrates with an intimate ease from primal heartbeat to the zipper on your pants--and that's just the first song!
Will Johnson's voice was custom-made to rip your still happily beating heart right out of your chest cavity, while you nod your head to the compelling rhythms, and think to yourself that this is just about the most meaningful damn experience you've ever had. It has that dark, sad, smoky quality that recalls every night you've ever sat alone in a bar after last call, listening to the band play the tearjerk ballad that precedes the closing curtain-call rocker--and hearing nothing but the devastating sound of your own loneliness.
The songs ring like myths of the maligned romantic anti-hero. The good guy may not win, but damned if he's not gonna offer you the chance to submerge every fiber of your being into the boiling cauldron of his pain. And you'll think you're having a good time, too. These are tales of the twisted lovelorn--those who find themselves locked in alternate realities where good and evil meld as the best of friends. The poignant lyricism is comfortably surrounded by subtly hook-laden melodies that drag you into the center of the mix, like a black-hole bound torpedo of love.
Irresistible vocals and genuinely compelling songwriting aside, the real star here may be the production. Drummer Matt Pence and co-producer Jeff Powell have created a warm, truly inviting atmosphere that collides beautifully with raw, distorted guitars--exuding a vibrant, grabbing immediacy. The bass/percussion rhythms sit beside you like a best friend, smiling and nodding their heads every time a tear traces its course over the smiling ridge of your cheekbone. Within this challengingly warm-but-edgy climate of comfort, Johnson's plaintive voice rises and falls in the mix like a yo-yo gone astray--the spinning cylinder seeking solace as it crawls the string from barren, naked truth to a deep-throated mumbling buried under layers of simple, beautiful dissonance. This is a place you want to be for a long, long time.
Stand-out tracks abound, including: "Calling Thermatico"--Raw and primal, but thick, warm chords with a T. Rex beat and a sincerity that makes you think it was Will Johnson who died for your sins...before loping off into the distance with a falsetto cowboy hum and light, but persistent, traveling percussion. "Take A Rake"--This is the best Wilco song you've never heard. The ghost of Jeff Tweedy sucks Will Johnson's soul into the nether-realm of epic Americana songcraft. Big, semi-distorted riffs of poignant post-country melody finally find a slowly ripping Black Sabbath finale. "Take The Maps And Run"--A soft and surprisingly bouncy, almost pop moment, this strangely compelling rhythm-driven track is led by near-whispery vocals which naturally devolve into cheery, semantic nonsense propelled by the light, repetitive beat to a destination unknown, but unquestionably desired. "Patience For The Ride"--The epitome of emotion-packed Americana balladry, with a voice that wants you, I mean really wants you, to be there for the whole ride; and hooks that slay, with the soft-but-serious love scars of a red velvet whip. This song wants, and deserves, all you've got.
Centro-Matic is a band at their creative peak on "Fort Recovery". This is the sound of some Texas boys who've found the magic touch, playing their hearts out. One of this year's very best!