West Texas

Sleepercar | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 22, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Doghouse
• ASIN: B0014DC04Q
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #100,353 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. A Broken Promise

2. Wasting My Time

3. Fences Down

4. Wednesday Nights

5. Kings & Compromises

6. Heavy Weights

7. Sound The Alarm

8. End Of A Year

9. You Should Run

10. All Will End Well

11. Stumble In

Editorial Reviews

Fronted by Jim Ward, lead singer/guitarist of Sparta, and founding member of At The Drive-In, who combined have sold over one million albums worldwide. In 2002, Ward recorded demos of songs that were bouncing around in his head and over the next four years, "West Texas" evolved. The original recording sessions included his father Jeff on bass, Gabe Gonzalez on piano, Micah Adams on guitar, and Clint Myers on drums. Sleepercar was never meant to be a band, it was just a jam, just fun. But Jim was hooked, and a more detailed demo was recorded. The result is this debut. Sleepercar have shared stages with Pearl Jam, Incubus, Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, and Dashboard Confessional. Look for them at SXSW.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hidden Gem, June 9, 2008

By 

Gianmarco Manzione (Tampa, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: West Texas (Audio CD)

What an extraordinary exhibition of influence these songs offer: the echo of a latter day Lloyd Cole album drives a spike through the broken heart of "Heavy Weights," the vaguely new wave "Sound the Alarm"--perhaps the album's finest track--almost prepares you for Hall & Oates to take the mike and belt one out about a woman who only comes out at night as Mark Knopfler straps on a guitar and awaits his part.

If none of the material here really approximates Ward's vision of a rootsy American rock album as closely as he may have desired--Jim Ward still sounds very much like the lead vocalist of Sparta throughout West Texas--it's in his aspiration for a sound so alien to the music he's known for that brings him--and his listeners--to some unexpected creative landscape where willows drip with a melting and late-season snow as an iron and sweeping sky rushes the day to dusk. You lift the collar of your coat to combat a dank chill in the air--one of the last of the season--and you grin and walk right through it as the year closes in on so many warmer days.

Only "Wednesday Nights" and "Fences Down" really hit the alt-country mark Ward seems to set his sights on here, songs that could quite easily pass themselves off as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot outtakes. But, again, it's in the album's misfires that something genuinely fascinating occurs, and it's for that reason that we expect West Texas to feature prominently in many end-of-the-year "best of" lists. Don't miss this record; it's as close to a guaranteed pleasure as we may hear all year.

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5.0 out of 5 stars The Music Transports Me Home, February 2, 2010

By 

J. Wactor (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: West Texas (Audio CD)

I am not knowledgable about this genre. I've heard of but never listened to Jim Ward's 'Sparta' or 'At the Drive In' days. I stumbled across this album a month after its release, and something about this album felt like home; I live in Washington (and sometimes Iraq), but I was born and raised in Texas, and when I'm listeninging to to this album I feel like I'm being transported home. I couldn't explain to you how it sounds like Texas--except maybe the guitar twangs in 'Fences Down'.

Regardless of your hometown, it's a very comforting album, one with a lot of soul. Ward worked hard on an album that he knew would never gather as much attention after his previous works, but he was compelled to follow his heart, and that led him to record one of the most soothing albums I own.

Manzione is right; you've found a hidden gem.