Regret Over the Wires

Matthew Ryan | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 23, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hybrid Recordings
• ASIN: B0000C7PRB
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #179,427 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Return to Me

2. The Little Things

3. Trouble Doll

4. Long Blvd.

5. I Can't Steal You

6. Caged Bird

7. Come Home

8. I Hope Your God Has Mercy On Mine

9. Nails

10. Sweetie

11. Every Good Thing

12. Skylight

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Fantastic, September 25, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Regret Over the Wires (Audio CD)

I have to say I have been a Matthew Ryan fan for quite sometime but this record really blew me away and easily stands as his best work (which in my mind is really saying something).

This is by far the most accessible record Matthew has made to date. He has made this transition without giving up any of the depth and thought that has made so many people devoted fans of his music. This record is the best record top to bottom I have heard this year.

Ryan's mastery of imagery and the english language have always been his trademark and that still holds true. I have always been amazed how he can explain so much with so few words. The tracks "Return to Me", "Long Blvd", and "Caged Bird" are my early favorites but the record is full of standout tracks.

Mixed in with his heartbreaking tales of loss and politics are rays of hope. This was also true of his last major release "East Autumn Grin" but I did not feel that many people really saw the hope hidden in that record. In this record it is all right there. He lays himself out on the line for all to see and still has hope for himself and us all.

His humor is even more apparent. On "Come Home" Matthew sings:
"Our cat is sad and withdrawn
The dog just stares at the lawn
None of us are eating
I think they blame me your gone"
Mixed in with the so many heavy and powerful images, this simple witicism strikes a real needed balance.

If you have never heard Matthew Ryan before I would defintely offer up this disc as an excellent introduction. I really don't rave like this about stuff usually but it is just a crime that this guy is not a household name.

Carl

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'The little things mean everything.' Matthew Ryan gets them all right., February 23, 2006

By 

Jesse Kornbluth "Head Butler" (New York) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Regret Over the Wires (Audio CD)

If I were creating a bionic singer-songwriter, I'd start with these elements: a decent voice, a knack for writing lines that make you think, a heart just slightly smaller than the mind, a love of all kinds of music, an interest in the most tedious details of the recording process, a modest capacity for joy, a gallon of empathy for the listeners. And I'd shove all that into a body --- male or female --- that might not look so good modeling clothes.

Which is to say: I'd build Matthew Ryan.

"Regret Over the Wires," Ryan's fourth CD, was released in 2003. It rather pleases me that I missed the first three; reading about them, they sound dreary. And I'm always happy to be two years "late" --- hearing about someone great years after the fact suggests that the musician has something enduring to say.

You have only to listen to a snippet of the first song, "Return to Me," to know that Matthew Ryan's a bit more interesting than the competition. There's a melody, an actual melody. And lyrics that are smarter for their seeming informality.

The voice? I hear echoes of Leonard Cohen, Dylan, Mellencamp. But just echoes. The whisper that's topped by hoarseness is all his own. And there's none of the stripped-down production that pushes the vocals forward --- there's knockout percussion here and even better violins. The music supports the words, the words echo the music: This is what a song is meant to me.

Matthew Ryan's one of those guys --- Josh Rouse is another --- you hear on alternative radio and think, "Yes, I ought to get this." Usually, you don't because, after all, you've heard the One Good Song. The thing is, "Regret Over the Wires" is sharp all the way through. Listen to it loud, listen to it soft, play it as background music, put it on during a party --- it passes every test.

"The little things, the little things mean everything," he sings. So true. And he got them all right. I like to think I'll be listening to this CD for a long long time.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I don't write reviews. Period., May 25, 2005

By 

LH (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Regret Over the Wires (Audio CD)

First, let me say this: I have never written a review for any product I have ever purchased. I just don't do it -- no matter how great or awful I think a book, CD or product is. So the fact that I am writing this review, maybe the only one I'll ever submit, should tell you how highly I regard Matthew Ryan's work -- and how much I think the music of this underappreciated, almost-unknown artist deserves to be heard.

In the past five or six years, a whole slew of new-generation singer-songwriters have hit the scene: Pete Yorn, Ryan Adams, John Mayer, etc. For my money, Matthew Ryan beats them all. Each of his albums -- this one included -- teems with fresh, heartfelt, intelligent lyrics delivered with a gravelly, world-weary voice that -- like Paul Westerberg on songs like "Skyway," Here Comes A Regular," and "Achin' To Be" -- captures the pain and hope of being human. If you like literate singer-songwriter music, do yourself a favor and buy this CD...and grab "East Autumn Grin" and "May Day" while you're at it.