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52 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What are the odds that one guy makes the CD of the year 2 years in a row?, August 21, 2007
Guitars jangle. A piano ripples incongruously. And that's all the warning you get before "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter" blasts into music so alien to Josh Ritter that you might reasonably think there's been some identity theft here.
On this CD, the lyrics are murky and convoluted; on most of the songs, the music rules. The last time I heard a drummer hit this hard was four decades ago in San Francisco, and that poor speed freak was still flailing when they carried him off. The guitars slash. The string section, to steal a line from one of the songs, is "screaming like horses in a barn burning up." And yet none of it's quite sufficient: "I put a whip to the kick drum/But the music's never loud enough."
I was sufficiently unnerved by "Conquests" to request a sitdown with its creator. In that interview, Josh made it clear why he'd confounded expectations --- because he needed to. For if ever a CD had generated expectations, it was "Animal Years". The public loved it. Critics loved it even more; writers who didn't see Josh Ritter as the next Dylan suggested he just might be the next Springsteen. Can we talk about a burden?
"People start to believe their reviews," Josh told me. "And the last thing I want to be is another Bob Dylan --- I don't want to be anything to him. What's the point? Sure, poetry is super-important to me, but these songs have another character. They're more about being confident that I can do this."
Josh is self-deprecating, so he calls the music on this CD "nerd rock". He's right, in a way; at his shows, pretty young things will never throw thongs at him. Anyway, this CD's too varied to provoke mania --- in addition to the rockers, there are slow songs, a goofball song about lovers in a missile silo, a delicate instrumental and a hearty singalong.
Still, three rockers lead off the CD, with more dotting the sweeter stuff. And it's the rockers that --- cleverly sequenced on your iPod --- last just long enough to make the cardio part of your workout more fun than you ever thought it could be. This is, I can tell you, as useful a CD as anything you'll hear in an aerobics class.
This CD also invites you to play games.
The first is "Name That Tune", for the music liberally quotes rock's greatest hits. I'm no scholar, but I heard snatches of "London Calling" by The Clash. "My Sharona", Paul Simon's "Duncan", "Obladi Oblada" from The Beatles, plus John, plus Paul, The Beach Boys and even the background of the disco hit "Ring My Bell". Can you find those references? Did I miss any?
Another game is Memorable Lines. The first few times you play "Conquests", zingers come at you almost randomly. I found myself, hours after, smiling at the cadence of "I love the way she looks in her underwear" and "The comedy of distance, the tragedy of separation" and --- from the singalong --- "Don't let me into this year with an empty heart." But then, with repeated listening, other lines emerged: "She'll know me by the sound of my longing" and "Each silver lining is a crown of thorns" and "Did you look up at the stars and feel something for the constellations?" And then I saw that there were levels and levels to this CD, and that if you stayed with it long enough, you might just find yourself back in the Ritterland you know, the one where spirituality and romanticism and Josh's signature emotion, generosity, are effortlessly linked.
Many listenings in --- you may not need as many as I did --- "Conquests" inspired me. On this CD, a talented guy takes a flying leap into the unknown, and his experiment turns out to be a total triumph. Makes you want to raise a fist and cheer. And more: It returns you to yourself. It challenges you to bring your warehoused dreams down from the attic, to take some flying leaps of your own.
If "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter" turns out to be, like "Animal Years", the CD of the Year, it's not just because of the brash, self-confident music --- it's equally because, in a dark time, it's a gorgeous, steady light.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Barn Burning Up, September 2, 2007
The more I listen to "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter," the more I like it. The opening track "To the Dogs Or Whoever" has a machine gun lyric shooting out faster than Bob Dylan's lyrically packed tracks with Ritter singing zoom style, "I love the way she looks in her underwear; I lose my page then the plot then the book then I swear; She makes the most of her time by loving me plenty; She knows there'll come a day when we won't be getting any." "Mind's Eye" tromps out with a beat like a transformer clomping on cars. "Right Moves" sounds like a slightly bent pop song that wishes it were released in the golden age of radio. "The Temptation of Adam" contrasts the sweetness of a Paul Simon folk song with an apocalyptic lyric, "I never had to learn to love like I learned to love the Bomb." "Open Doors" is catchy with a thin drum sound that makes it sound as if it was pounded out in the garage. "Rumors" delights with a slightly tango-flavored beat and Ritter pushing the lyrical boundaries, "My orchestra is gigantic; This thing could sink the Titanic; And the string section's screaming like horses in a barn burning up." "Edge of the World" is a brief instrumental inserted about the middle of the set. The CD concludes with my two favorite tracks. "Empty Hearts" is a polished pop song while "Wait for Love (You Know You Will)" is a more full band arrangement of track 8 with its catchy chorus. While my package did not come with a bonus disc, this set shows growth from this very talented Idaho singer with each track unique. Bravo!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Josh Ritter...Still Beating!, August 31, 2007
No one said it would be easy to live up to the hype of Animal Years, but I think Josh Ritter has done it! Historical Conquests shows the continued maturation of Josh Ritter. The new album is different than earlier albums, but definitely not worse. On display are different musical styles and creative lyrics. My favorite part of the album is that no two songs sound alike, but there are no duds. Some songs are a little more catchy, while some songs are a little more darker and haunting, but equally as good.
In a music era where originality is rarely found...Josh Ritter is a breath of fresh air. With every album he becomes more refined...I'm excited to see what is next, but in the mean time I'll enjoy this album over and over again!
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