Customer Reviews

Thirteen Cities

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yes, that much over-used word when the likes of Mojo give 3.5 star reviews to records they call masterpieces. But this is an absolute 5-star record. The best rootsy band in America have astonishingly exceeded their past excellence and delivered their best yet. The stories are intact, but surrounded by a broader range of music and pace. There's none of the Husker-go-country of their earlier records but they rock firmly but gently in parts, strum soulfully in others. But above all, even though it might be a marginally more commercial sound, it's an incredibly warm and human record. Cliché alert and possibly mixed metaphor: but the band seem to inhabit the songs like a warm winter coat, and rarely has music, arrangement, song and performance all come together so snugly.

And it's a grower and grower. Whatever you think 1st listen, by 5th you'll like it twice as much and by 10th you'll love it and repeat-play immediately to the 11th.

I'm struggling to find reference points - it's just great songs, and very American-sounding ones to me a Brit. But think of when already-great bands suddenly gel as a unit and step up a notch, usually with great outside help eg producer, and rooted in a particular place/studio: The Band's 2nd LP, Creedence's Willy and the Poor Boys, London's Calling, QotSA's Songs for the Deaf, Tusk, Exile, Steve Earle's El Corazon, Gentlemen by the Afghan Whigs. Thirteen Cities sits alongside these great records with pride and I hope a touch of deserved arrogance.

Oh and whatever you do don't miss them on tour. They've added Paul Brainard who plays pedal steel and trumpet on their records, and what a difference he makes. They still bar-band rock, and even included their brilliant Husker Du cover, but again have stepped up to sound bigger and broader without losing any of their warmth and charm. Hopefully bigger stages await them, they deserve it.

As the Stooges record is a disappointment, I'd place money on this as record of 07, no contest. The gauntlet is thrown.

For some reason this CD is not coming out domestically in the U.S. until May 2007, neither on the band's website or here at Amazon. That's too bad, but it's worth tracking down a copy now.

Hailing from Portland Oregon, Richmond Fontaine (which is a band, not a person) is one of the survivors of the unfortunate musical ghetto that was called Alt Country or Americana. Sadly, a lot of bands paid a heavy price for being lumped into this genre, and many of them are no longer together. Richmond Fontaine, though, has continued to evolve and has released one of its strongest CD's to date with Thirteen Cities.

The band's personnel has changed a bit over its ten-year recording history, but the focus is and has always been singer and songwriter Willie Vlautin, whose songs seem like perfect short stories set to strong melodies. Few songwriters function at Vlautin's level, and some of his best work is to be found here. Producer JD Foster returns and adds a sonic density that serves the songs well. The CD was recorded in Arizona, at the same studio where Calexico, another gifted band who are also produced by Foster, has worked, and at a few points the musical arrangements remind one of Calexico's trademark sounds of the desert. But it is the strength of Vlautin's songs that sets this CD apart, strong tunes and evocative lyrics that never cross the line into pretension or cliche.

Thirteen Cities ranks with Richmond Fontaine's best work, like Winnemucca, Post To Wire and The Fitzgerald. They've shown remarkable consistency over their last four releases, while continuing to add new elements and ideas to their music. It's encouraging to see this talented band continue to grow. One hopes that this is the CD that brings them the wider audience they deserve.

Yes, that much over-used word when the likes of Mojo give 3.5 star reviews to records they call masterpieces. But this is an absolute 5-star record. The best rootsy band in America have astonishingly exceeded their past excellence and delivered their best yet. The stories are intact, but surrounded by a broader range of music and pace. There's none of the Husker-go-country of their earlier records but they rock firmly but gently in parts, strum soulfully in others. But above all, even though it might be a marginally more commercial sound, it's an incredibly warm and human record. Cliché alert and possibly mixed metaphor: but the band seem to inhabit the songs like a warm winter coat, and rarely has music, arrangement, song and performance all come together so snugly.

And it's a grower and grower. Whatever you think 1st listen, by 5th you'll like it twice as much and by 10th you'll love it and repeat-play immediately to the 11th.

I'm struggling to find reference points - it's just great songs, and very American-sounding ones to me a Brit. But think of when already-great bands suddenly gel as a unit and step up a notch, usually with great outside help eg producer, and rooted in a particular place/studio: The Band, Creedence's Willy and the Poor Boys, London's Calling, QotSA's Songs for the Deaf, Tusk, Exile, Steve Earle's El Corazon, Gentlemen by the Afghan Whigs. Thirteen Cities sits alongside these great records with pride and I hope a touch of deserved arrogance.

Oh and whatever you do don't miss them on tour. They've added Paul Brainard who plays pedal steel and trumpet on their records, and what a difference he makes. They still bar-band rock, and even included their brilliant Husker Du cover, but again have stepped up to sound bigger and broader without losing any of their warmth and charm. Hopefully bigger stages await them, they deserve it.

If the Stooges weren't releasing a new record next month, I'd place money on this as record of 07, no contest. And Iggy, you got competition now, the gauntlet is thrown.

Briefly put, Thirteen Cities finds a great balance between the musical style of previous albums (Winnemucca and Post to Wire) and the somber storytelling of The Fitzgerald. Sound quality has also improved markedly over the years. The lyrics represent a fresh batch of stories from another side of America, and the arrangements are creative and unique.
Great album altogether.

The Fitzgerald was a discovery by pure chance that just blew me away, and continues to do so to this very day. It's power has never diminshed for me, each song more akin to a short story ala Carver than a rock song. To me that album was the pure embodiment of what Springsteen was attempting with his Nebraska-esque albums, buty it just put him to shame. It was never, ever going to be a hit in any sensxe other than critical, as it was pretty tough medecine. The devil is in the details, and in a sense that is a perfect summation of what I ove about Ricmond Fontaine's/Will Vlauntin's work. Songs are fractured bits of stories, like broken mirrors held up to desperate people in desperate situations, but all so very human. Haunted and bleak, and sorrowful and just plain sadly beautiful, are about the best adjectives I can subscribe to the feeling the album evokes. Mostly slow numbers with a couple of upbeat songs to break the spell that I find a bit weaker. This for me was their high water mark. Since then they have augmented their sound, with fuller arangements including horns, and at first it gave me pause, but the mood evocation is still there, and while I still hold to The Fitzgerald as my favorite, this collection is so far above what other bands are producing that it is a classic in it's own right. I you want hardcore sadness and human grief that will haunt your heart go straight to The Fitzgerald, if you want to work your way to that darkness, then by all means start here. All of their work is worthwhile and is a must own. I have never played their music for anyone no matter what type of music they like and not had a response akin to "Wow, what is this, this is amazing". Way too good for general consumption but in a perfect world that were to reward artistic achievement, then these guys would be selling out arenas, and bands like Coldplay etc would be out on the mediocre fringe. This is a damond discovery of a band that you should definately invest your time in.

This album unabashedly defies categorization as Richmond Fontaine further creates their own idiom of musical expression: part americana, folk, prose laced with tragedy, transcendence and narrative innocence, multicultural blues, and so forth.

By any means, see them perform live. You will be forever changed.

Thirteen Cities is a work of growth and change. RF has been evolving consistently for many respectable years now, and this album is nothing short of their brilliant artistic evolution. Thirteen Cities is unlike anything I have ever heard before (cohesively) and I can't begin to compare it to any other artist or category of music, so I'll try not... to try. Okay, so the lyrical (or literary) themes share a common thread with their past efforts, and it weaves the fabric that holds these works together. Every track is uniquely different, while Mr Vlautin's vox are immediately recognizable, as is his well-grounded writing. Each number invokes a different mood while somehow keeping a similar, complimentary flavor on the aural palate... some evocatively sublime, to the verymost downtrodden disturbing perils of life. Always served with a huge slice of heart, raw truth, clarity and compassion; the experience of listening remains in flux as you take the aural journey that awaits you.

Some of the songs do hearken back to the band's earlier material (which is a nice hook to hang ones' hat on). The real surprises are the departures via (surprisingly musical) spoken-word pieces and atmospheric instrumentation/angles.

With each successive listening, I find myself delving deeper into the subtle nuances of RF's latest creation. A daring and solid offering- hats off to all the guys in Richmond Fontaine for delivering a really refreshing slab of inquisitve American country soundscapes.

Having heard "The Kid from Belmont Street" and the instrumental "El Tiradito", I was anxiously awaiting this release. As I feared though, those have ended up being the only two tracks that I'll regularly play. The others have this alt-folk-country sound that has been done before and better, by the way, by others. There is nothing particularly special about the lyrics either, although you might think so if you've never gotten out much. If this type of music really turns you on, then I suggest you get the solo releases of Mark Lanegan. Your head might just explode.
P.S. It's a year or so later and in the spirit of fairness I decided to give it another listen. Haven't changed my opinion one bit. I live smack dab in the midst of this reality which RF tries so desperately to romanticize and it doesn't render me winsome in the least. The whole effort reminds me of a flatulent soundtrack to The Last Picture Show. Get into the Handsome Family if you need a musically narrative dose of lost souls in the Great Western expanse.