The Album Review Club - End of Round #9 Break (page 1904)

Mancitydoogle said:
Got it,
Josh Ritter ‘ So the world runs away’

born in Moscow Idaho
big following in Ireland

im looking forward to this , I’ve got a couple of his albums but not heard this one,
saw him live a few years ago
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Well done.
 
RobMCFC said:
Well done, Mr Doogle.

So Runs the World Away – Josh Ritter (2010)

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I’m probably setting myself up for a fall with my next selection. It’s an album that doesn’t have any obvious hooks: there’s no guitar solos, no fancy Hammond licks, no singalong choruses, and yet it’s one of my favourite albums released this century. I don’t think that it’s something that you can “get” in a single sitting, but hopefully, at least a few of you will hear enough to want to come back for a second listen.

That’s the way I felt when I first heard it. I knew on that first listen that I would love it after a few plays because it offers up so much to think about in the lyrics and invites repeat listens. It’s unlike most of the albums in my collection, but it was my first listen to Josh Ritter, and he is now the only 21st Century artist inside my top 15 (given that his debut was released in 1999, obviously the remainder of his work is post-2000).

The thing that makes his music so special, and this album in particular, is the lyrics. They unfold like some wonderful novel, or at least short story, and at least two of the tracks here will have you leaning into the speakers, wondering what the end of the story will bring. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that he’s in with a shout of being the best lyricist since Dylan. Stephen King seems to think so.

So Runs the World Away takes its title from Hamlet and is full of stories of exploration, discovery, travel, science and mathematics. As already noted, the “sonic palette” is unusual for a pop/rock record, driven along by woodwind, brass and strings as much as it is by acoustic guitars and drums. In common with a lot of my favourite albums, the music is wonderfully arranged, and Ritter is supported by a superb band that has played alongside him for some time.

So, to the highlights. After the opening soundbite of “Curtains”, the first six tracks proper are pretty much faultless. “Change of Time” is an unusual opener, stuffed to bursting with maritime references, "Battered hulls and broken hardships. Leviathan and Lonely." I’ll come back to the third track later, but there’s some great lyrics and arrangements on everything in this section. The dramatic percussion that opens “Rattling Locks” which is then carried along by moody organ as the protagonist is left "out here in the cold with a wet face a-rattling your locks" and culminating in the sprightly “Lark”, which manages to open with a reference to “the golden ratio”.

This is followed by three tracks that are all different from one another: the poppy “The Lantern”, the extraordinary martial beat of “The Remnant” (which Josh Ritter describes as a mean song) and the delicate “See How Man Was Made”. The album ends with another pretty, uplifting acoustic number, “Long Shadows.”

But for me, the two standout story songs are “The Curse” and “Another new World”.

Remarkably, “The Curse” recounts an unusual love story between an ancient mummy and the archaeologist who excavates him. It sounds bonkers but it’s an incredibly detailed and moving song with a beautiful arrangement. I don’t know what it means, and it’s unlikely to make your summer playlist, but I could listen to it many times without getting bored.

Perhaps the best song on the album is “Another New World” – the story of a doomed Arctic explorer who is prepared to risk the thing he loves most for “another new world at the top of the world”. The song unfolds against dramatic music and is probably the musical equivalent of watching “The Terror”. On first listen, you are dying to know how the story ends (but I won’t spoil it for you). A bit of background reading reveals that the name of the ship, the Annabel Lee, is taken from the Edgar Allan Poe poem of the same name. A brilliant song, perhaps unsurpassed in its “detailed long-form story” genre (certainly in my collection).

You get even more out of the album when you start searching for some of the influences behind the songs: whilst “Southern Pacifica” sounds like it should be about a ship, the “Red, white and blue” apparently refers to an American railroad company and “Roxy Anne” is a mountain in Oregon. “Folk Bloodbath” is a kind of cover song, featuring infamous murderers from older songs, with the main refrain based on a song by Mississippi John Hurt. Whilst “The Remnant” is about a manhunt, the original objective seems to melt away as the protagonists become nothing against the vastness of the universe and creation.

Hopefully some will enjoy this, but either way, I’m eager to hear your thoughts. It was recommended by a fellow City fan on a non-City forum, so I hope that by nominating here, I can give something back to other City (and West Ham) fans.
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Nice write up mate. Will defo give this one a listen.
 
Early doors Rob, but I think this is going to score well.
First listen, very pleasant. Going to play this one to the missus, no problem.
I can see his attraction here in Ireland. We have a tradition of storytelling in song that goes down well and he is just the right side of acoustic folk with a hint of country every now and then.

Another World reminded me of Shackleton which is very topical here at the moment as it’s the centenary of his death in 1922 and he was born in Kilkea in Kildare and they’ve restored his shack from the ship that he survived in on South Georgia.
There’s a museum in his honour down in Kildare.
 
mancity2012_eamo said:
Early doors Rob, but I think this is going to score well.
First listen, very pleasant. Going to play this one to the missus, no problem.
I can see his attraction here in Ireland. We have a tradition of storytelling in song that goes down well and he is just the right side of acoustic folk with a hint of country every now and then.

Another World reminded me of Shackleton which is very topical here at the moment as it’s the centenary of his death in 1922 and he was born in Kilkea in Kildare and they’ve restored his shack from the ship that he survived in on South Georgia.
There’s a museum in his honour down in Kildare.
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Good stuff. I never knew Shackleton was from Ireland. It's had to work out where "Another New World" got it's inspiration from (apart from the Annabel lee / Edgar Allen Poe reference I mentioned), but i guess it's take your pick from any one of a number of doomed arctic expeditions.

His storytelling in brilliant, like I said, the main attraction of his music.

There's some great videos on YouTube of his performance at Iveagh Gardens on the tour for this album (and the whole album's on Spotify). This is my favourite clip - one of his older songs, but I love the way it morphs into a shaggy dog story and then involves one of his band singing a well known song. Worth a watch.

 
RobMCFC said:
Good stuff. I never knew Shackleton was from Ireland. It's had to work out where "Another New World" got it's inspiration from (apart from the Annabel lee / Edgar Allen Poe reference I mentioned), but i guess it's take your pick from any one of a number of doomed arctic expeditions.

His storytelling in brilliant, like I said, the main attraction of his music.

There's some great videos on YouTube of his performance at Iveagh Gardens on the tour for this album (and the whole album's on Spotify). This is my favourite clip - one of his older songs, but I love the way it morphs into a shaggy dog story and then involves one of his band singing a well known song. Worth a watch.

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I noticed the Iveagh Gardens concert when browsing and will definitely put that on later.
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
This isn’t necessarily my speed but Rob is spot on about The Curse — it’s beautifully written. Truly moving. I hear a lot of later Paul Simon here (Lark in particular) too. Glad I have some time finally to give this a few plays.
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A unique song if ever there was one - it has a nice video too:-

 
Gave it a first listen this morning, pleasant enough although a couple of tracks oddly jarring. Was background to my internet and social media catch up so no real heed paid to the lyrics yet. I did like the more traditional folky sound of some
 
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