Customer Reviews

Transistor Radio

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

M Ward's Transistor Radio is an eclectic mix of genres that is captivating in its beauty and scope. If I needed one word to describe the album it would be ethereal. With influences both classical and popular this album hearkens back through the years giving it an ultimately timeless feel. I highly recommend this one.

Transistor Radio opens up with "You Still believe in me" which showcases Wards musical ability with this purely American tune that is reminiscent of Bluegrass and Folk. And of course worthy of note is his cover of Louis Armstrong's "Sweethearts on Parade". I am always fearful when an artist sets out to cover Armstrong. It usually sounds more like a mockery than serious art. But Ward is so focused and creative that he can pull it off making the work something entirely new while still keeping the feel of the Armstrong original. Lastly, I must mention "Fuel for Fire" which is exemplary of wards haunting vocals and "Four Hours in Washington" with its shuffling rhythm sound like a Tom Waits song.

M Ward is a true artist and this is a great work. If I had to compare him to anyone it would be to Tom Waits. They both have a real knack for mixing genres and adding subtle hints and allusions to other styles and songs. They are both true American Artists. Transistor Radio has wide appeal and I think fans of "emo" to fans Billie Holiday will find this a great album. M Ward is one to watch and this is a super album. Buy a copy today.

Ted Murena

Mr. Ward manages to release an album that maintains the timelessness of Transfiguration of Vincent, his indescribable and impeccable previous release. Transistor Radio is a collection of short songs that isn't as cohesive as his previous release, but as you move from song to song you understand this is by design. Each song is crafted not simply from folk and bluegrass but also 50s AM radio, the saloon cabaret of studio-era Hollywood, and good old-fashioned indie rock.

I think what makes M. Ward most appealing is how effortlessly he plays and sings, giving you the feeling that these songs were conceived and recorded in a single take. Ward is a "true" songwriter and at no point do you feel he's following or trying to create a trend by resurrecting a sound from the past. This album along with his previous releases gives me plenty of ammunition when defending a genre that has been so poorly mistreated.

This is one of most texturally rich and inventive pop music albums I've heard. I'd put it up there with any album I've listened to in the last 30 years. M Ward is an outstanding musician whose bank of pop musical knowledge is immense and goes back many decades. With this CD, Mr. Ward vaults to the upper echelon of the pop music world (not in sales, but in artistic expression). There is an effortless inventiveness here that you see in only a handful of musicians. It's the rare kind of album that gets better the more you listen. Joe Henry. Elvis Costello. Nirvana. Randy Newman. These are the caliber of people/bands M Ward stands with in my book. If you want something for a casual listen - the Dave Mathews/Jack Johnson crowd - this CD probably won't work for you. But if your tastes run to meaningful music that demands careful listening, you'll love this album. Transistor Radio is a gem.

Matt Ward's luminous new CD is a faded message from a beautiful dream that begins to dissipate in our memory the moment we awake. A postcard sent from the age of innocence that reminds us of how uncorrupted we once were. Deja vu for the jaded generation living in the age of corruption, lies and Bushspeak. "Transistor Radio" is the appropriate title because it evokes the age of poplar music, when the means of listening to portable music consisted of one ear pressed against transistor radio. Long ago we could be dazzled by the beauty of song that shimmered through the static of a distant signal picked up by a transistor radio. This modern world is different and everything we do is defined by high tech digital overkill and electronic elitism. Today's commerical music is defined by the use of I-pods, headphones, and all of the attendant bells,whistles and electronic gadgetry, yet none of the music resonates with the power of those long forgotten chestnuts we heard on our transistor radios. The power of M. Ward is the his sincerity and reverence for the finely sculpted musical material and pre-digital studio techniques that many Gap generation fashionistas would regard as retrograde. Those who dismiss the charm of Ward's music, are the same folks who rely music telvision and youth targeted advertising to tell them what is hip. To his credit, M. Ward distances himself from those who buy into the megacorporate definition of "alternative" rock.

Some of Ward's originals and well chosen covers (including the vintage Louis Armstrong jewel, "Sweethearts On Parade") contain a timeless quality and warm analogical fidelity of Smithsonian field recording. The rock oriented material has charming "first-take, no redos" production quality that echoes the old garage band ethic: your first take of a song will always be the most spontaneous and heartfelt take of the recording session, no matter how ragged it sounds. "Regeneration #1" has the reckless abandon of surf band gone berserk on L.S.D. "Big Boat" sounds like an outtake from a 1956 rockabilly session at Sun Records. "Paul's Song", "Radio Song" and "Here Comes the Sun Again" are the kind of winsome songs that M. Ward excels at. Ward's plaintive vocals and the sparse instrumentation are blissful. His musical command of country, blues, jazz fretwork recalls the complexity of John Fahey's self-styled "primative American guitar."

The enigmatic M. Ward has been around for nearly a decade, counting his time with the trio, Rodriquez. Mainstream popularity has eluded Ward, but I doubt he entertains any illusions about the desirability of commercial success. Like many indie artists, Ward has seemed content to remain on the fringe of popular music playing to a handful of loyal fans. "Transistor Radio" may change Ward's cult hero status, whether he likes it or not. It's simply an album that is too good to escape the attention of a broader audience. If "Transistor Radio" makes a star of him, it's a good bet that M. Ward will not modify his unique talents to meet the demands of the marketplace. It's a reassuring that M. Ward may well build something like a career as a musician on his own terms. It would be a remarkable feat, in the hostile environment of today's megacorporate, Dow Jones driven pop music market, run by the Axis of Evil: the six major international music labels.

This album by M.Ward is pretty solid with some standout tracks ("Hi-Fi" is my favorite, but "One Life Away", "Fuel for Fire", "Four Hours in Washington"), and some weaker ones. On the whole, Transistor Radio could have benefited from a little less attention to spacey production values and more attention to songwriting. To me, the major emphasis of the album we less the songs, and more about using a variety of Lo-Fi production values to evoke a vague, dreamy nostalgic feeling. The arrangements are by and large interesting and engaging, but often things are obscured by too much reverb, most especially M. Ward's vocals, which are laconic, breathy, and drowned in too much echo to have energy or cut through the mixes. Reverb is a taste thing, but in my opinion it distracts from the stronger songs on the album and fails to help the weaker ones. There are some songs like "I'll Be Yr Bird" and "Oh Take Me Back" that seem to rely almost entirely on Lo-Fi production values to hold the listener's interest, but fell flat. I think the energy on this album could be a bit better, and with some slightly altered production values, cut a few songs, and add in some more of M.Ward's tasteful guitar arpeggiations and some more vocal harmonies it could have been a 5 star album. I'll look forward to M.Ward's next effort, and hopefully it will be a little stronger on songs and a little weaker on reverb.

Transistor Radio is easily one of the best albums I've heard in the past few years. It was my first exposure to Matt Ward, and I have since purchased his two previous albums. The songs have an old-timey feel and mainly features just Ward's voice, guitar, some piano, and light percussion. The songs are simple and the lyrics are great. "Lullaby + Exile" is one of the prettiest songs I've ever heard. "Big Boat" is catchy and tough not to sing along to. Songs like "Hi-Fi," "One Life Away," "Paul's Song," and "Fuel for Fire" are incredible. Really, every song is as good as the last. The instrumentals (there are 3) are good, but not highlights for me. Other than that, this is one of the most pleasing albums I have ever heard. M. Ward's raspy voice isn't too far off from Louis Armstrong, and his gentle guitar playing is soothing. If you like great song writing and folky pop, you'll love this. I even turned my parents on to M. Ward. I can't recommend this more highly, and it's a crime that Matt's music is not more well-known.

I read a review of M. Ward's "Transistor Radio" album in the 3/14 issue of Newsweek magazine. I was intruiged enough to hop on over to Amazon to see what more I could find out about this M. Ward, and see what my ears could hear. After getting a small taste of each track, I was compelled to purchase the album.
When it arrived, I played it. And played it. And played it. I have become enchanted, entranced and mesmerized. The album title describes it best: songs deriving their essence from the station hopping of yesterday's radio. Somehow,it doesn't matter what's going on in our house, this album matches the activity. First thing in the morning, last thing at at night, driving from here to there and everywhere in between, kicking back and taking time to soak in every note, this album magically fits it all. How? I couldn't tell you. But it does.
It is now several days later, and I've found myself back at Amazon, purchasing yet another copy of this album. This time for another redhotmama who enjoys true, real, musicianship with a twist of life thrown in. Be a believer. Buy the album.

M. Ward has a laconic, front-porch style that reminds me a bit of Jeb Loy Nichols. The conceit of "Transistor Radio" is to present music in a classic style, with the feel of that kind of medium - lo-fi reception and all. That's not to say it's poorly recorded - in fact, there's a certain warmth to this CD - it's accomplished more with fade-in/fade-out engineering and hints of "static" here and there. It puts me in mind, though, more of a cross-country car trip, trying to keep the passing stations in tune. Musically, it's a pretty satisfying ride, dominated by a kind of sleepy country blues, but breaking out now and then into Dick-Dale-style surf-rock ("Regeneration #1"), a Jerry-Lee-Lewis-style piano stomp ("Big Boat"), a song that could have been lifted from "O Brother Where Art Thou" ("Oh Take Me Back"), and even a lovely classical guitar arrangement (Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier"). For all its easygoing manner, it's a pretty eclectic collection of tune, connected by Ward's husky, smoky vocals. It's not the kind of music that bowls you over, but it will surprise you, song after song, in rewarding little ways.

Welcome to Number Four, Ward Highway, M Ward's World. This stop on the highway is clearly his broadest and most wide ranging compilation to date in a musical journey that is increasingly making the case that the listener is walking around in M Ward's world soaking up the soulful beauty which his genius creates for us. And while The End of Amnesia (#2) is perhaps the tightest and most cohesive collection and The Transfiguration of Vincent (#3) his most spectacular and powerful offering, Transistor Radio feels like the logical extension and continuance of all that has come before. In short, it sounds like the perfect "next step" for a man who is all but baring his musical soul and genius for us to hear. His breadth and depth is staggering when you put all four stops on the Ward highway together---everything from classical virtuosity to rockability ala Sun Records to beautiful melodies with poetry for lyrics. Sounds this beautiful and vast come along once a generation, or less, and musical talent this certain and apparent is rare, very rare. Transistor Radio is the fourth of what is certain to be many more "sharings" from a man who plays music and sings like he can't help himself. It comes out---it pours out softly and soulfully at times and then at other times seems to just burst out of him---and there doesn't appear to be anything he can do about it either way (like a medium for a muse). When he plays the piano he does so in keys, combinations, and physical places on the piano that I never really knew were there or accessible (listen to the opening chords of "here comes the sun" or "seashell tale" for instance). When he plays the guitar, well...never mind trying to find words for that (listen to the opening chords of "bad dreams" or "fool says" for instance). And when he sings, well, just never mind. It's unique, it's pure, it's incredible. And that's our good fortune, and yours too, if you take a ride on the Ward highway. Start anywhere and work your way back or forward: your call. You'll be glad you did.

The Man has skills, the music is spot on, slow and dreery with a lot of heart. NOT a mainstream lp (qualifies for an extra star), if your looking for radio pop go some where else. I very much appriciate the musicianship but a little too slow for my taste.