Ghost of David

Damien Jurado

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 19, 2000)
• Original Release Date: September 19, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sub Pop
• ASIN: B00004XSO0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #67,376 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
"It just so happens I have many concerns," sings Damien Jurado on "Medication," the opening cut of Ghost of David, before letting loose with a tale of despair and woe rarely matched: the singer is quietly struggling with an affair while his brother sits in a sanitarium, suffering from delusions. The singer is being twisted and turned by the mounting troubles kicking in from both sides. Just as his excellent second album, Rehearsals for Departure, began with the mesmerizing "Ohio," Jurado has again pulled it off for his third solo album. The Pacific Northwest has been a fertile ground for all kinds of songwriters this past decade, but Jurado is single-handedly reviving the raw-boned, skeletal folk song. These tunes wouldn't sound out of place on one of Harry Smith's revered folk anthologies. Even when Jurado ups the amp volume for "Paxil," it's still within the cozy confines of the rec room. But he's at his best for the lonely, ambient "Tonight I Will Retire" and the mountain harmonies of "Rosewood Casket." --Rob O'Connor

Product Description
Damien Jurado is an urban-folk singer with his hand in the baskets of all the right fringe genres. He's a storyteller, and the stories have matured steadily since he first appeared on the scene with the perfect balance of lighthearted pop and saddest of the sad on his early singles and first full-length, Waters Ave S. Since then, (with his second full-length, Rehearsals for Departure, the Gather in Song EP (both from 1999), and this year's collection of found recordings, Postcards and Audio Letters) he's moved more toward the dark, and if you ask him, he'll tell you point blank that it's in the dark where you'll find us all.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Haunting..., December 9, 2000

By	Rob Damm (Brick, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

"Rehersals for Departure" was merely a great album... "Ghost" is Jurado's masterpiece... it is sparer, stripped down to the bare bones. The songs are elliptical. They sound like they are 1000 years old. "Ghost in the snow" is spellbinding. "Tonight, I will retire" is the best thing he's ever written. The sound quality is remarkable. It seems the singer is in the room with you. Great, spooky late-night listening. For all fans of quiet music.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Many concerns, July 13, 2001

By	David Snyder (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

I first purchased and played this record when I was stricken with pneumonia and almost homeless, and it was just about perfect timing. Jurado here fulfills the promise of his earlier records, stripping away the (very well-done) jangle-folk-pop learnings and playing to his greatest strength: rustic, intimate, timeless confessional folk music. The characters on the brink of emotional collapse in the first part of the record fittingly give way to the hazy experimental confusion of the second. This is folk music as it was meant to be, harrowing, engaging and true.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars damien quietly blows all other music out of the water..., January 20, 2003

By	Burnbrightlystar (West Chester, PA United States) - See all my reviews

I picked up my first Damien Jurado album in college after a certain boy put him on a mix tape for me...and you know what mix tapes can do to your heart....Anyway, Damien has a presence which will resonate in your mind long after you are done listening to him. He is eloquent, and soft, and sings from his gut...what more can you ask for? Every album he has ever made is worth buying, but Ghost of David is a great one to start with...and please take this on car trips with you,...I think that you will find yourself listening to it again and again trying to get more from each song.