It Had to Happen

James McMurtry | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 17, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sugarhill
• ASIN: B000000EXT
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,605 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #22 in Music > Indie Music > Folk > Folk Rock
  • #27 in Music > Indie Music > Pop > Singer-Songwriters
  • #36 in Music > Indie Music > Folk > Singer Songwriters

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best album from a great songwriter, April 22, 2000

By 

Brian D. Rubendall (Oakton, VA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: It Had to Happen (Audio CD)

If radio had any imagination, James McMurtry would be a superstar. Folk rock simply does not get any better than this. "It had to happen," his fourth album, is also his best. Not a bad song, but the tracks that really stand out are "No More Buffalo," "Twelve O'Clock Whistle," and "Jaws of Life," which are all lengthy tributes to Americana. Also of note is the fine cover of Kinky Friedman's "Wild Man from Borneo," showing once again that James has a sense of humor. If you buy one McMurtry album, this should be the one.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Obscure Gem, December 28, 2002

By 

Kurt Harding "bon vivant" (Boerne TX) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: It Had to Happen (Audio CD)

Some years ago, I chanced to hear James McMurtry perform at a small club near where I live. He was promoting his first album which had received accolades in the alternative press, and though the crowd was very thin, he played as if he were playing for thousands.
I bought that album on cassette and still have it, but I hadn't thought much about him until recently when a friend to whom I had introduced McMurtry's music brought out a stack of his newer CDs for me to hear.
Among those was It Had To Happen. When I first put it on, I was pleased but not overwhelmed. McMurtry's unmistakeable voice and style were there to be sure, but no song initially stood out. Then, as I listened more closely, it began to grow on me.
McMurtry is nothing if not sardonic and that is a quality I admire in a songwriter. Dylan has it, Nick Cave has it, and its clear that McMurtry has it too. You gotta love story songs like 12 O'clock Whistle, the sneering Sixty Acres, and the wistful No More Buffalo. But to my ears, the best song on the album is the lyrically and musically powerful Be With Me. McMurtry's bitter, sardonic delivery is just stunning and makes it a song I could play over and over again.
There are a few weak spots that detract from a higher rating, notably the too frequent repetition of the title of the otherwise well-written Jaws of Life and the inclusion of Kinky Friedman's Wild Man From Borneo. Despite that, I highly recommend buying this obscure gem by a singer/songwriter who deserves more fame than he has.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Truly Great Record, December 12, 1999

By 

Amos A. Magliocco (Bloomington, Indiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: It Had to Happen (Audio CD)

From the dusty roads and rocky mesas of Texas to the intimate and biting conversations around a grandparent's dinner table, McMurtry combines powerful melody and skillful musicainship with brilliant lyricism to bring us one of the best records of the year, maybe of the decade. The hooks in these sonngs stick to the bone, earned through smart song craftsmanship and pure, raw emotion.

The song "12 O'Clock Whistle" plays like a great fiction set to a driving ryhthm, as a soulful acoustic melody walks us through a grandchild's day with his parents. There are multiple characters and the dialogue is strikingly authentic: "And granny was hanging up wash / talking acorss the fence / neighbor lady nodded like it all made sense / 'She's just gonna stay with him till the kids are grown / fetch me that clothespin off up the ground would you hon'"

McMurtry's sense of himself and where he's from are overshadowed only by his sense of who we are, good and bad, right or wrong. I don't know the right label for his music, so I'll use one that makes sense: humbling.