You Can Not Go Wrong with this Album - Our Shadows Will Remain is up to the same excellent standards Joseph Arthur has set with Come to Where I m From(my favorite) and Redemption s Son. You can t go wrong with any of these three and if you like Joseph Arthur -you should go ahead and get them all. Nuclear Daydream and Big City ... are fine for a fan (which I am), but start with one of the three I suggest here if you are just being introduced to him.
I will wait for you Joseph - I suspect I d enjoy this album better if I hadn t seen Joseph perform most of these songs live in a much more stripped down haunting manner. Can t Exist is the most obvious casualty of the overproduction here, making it for me at least almost unlistenable. There is just something a bit too slick about how this album was produced as if someone was afraid of how stark the material is so they decided to sweeten it. I Am is another one that worked quite beautifully live and seems almost hokey on the album, which is a shame as it is almost Beckettian in its clarity. Still some great songs but too much gloss.
Shadows and Light - Let s get the clunkers out of the way first: I Am sounds like the more pretentious bits of Pearl Jam via Daniel Lanois, while Leave Us Alone sounds like Meat Loaf. Given that Arthur usually writes with a pretty sure hand, both songs sound like jarring missteps.On the other hand, Joseph Arthur s never been one to play it safe, so he can/should be forgiven if his reach occasionally exceeds his grasp. I ve seen a couple of reviewers--here and elsewhere--complain that this album s a stylistic hodgepodge, but I rather liked the variation, which tends to be absent on, say, the more recent Nuclear Daydream. It should also be said that it s not variation for variation s sake, from the ethereal Echo Park to the more earthy Can t Exist or Devil s Broom, the changes are appropriate to the music. They re there to drive home the lyrics, rather than being there for their own sake. In contrast to someone like Josh Rouse (whose songwriting I love, but whose arrangements tend to fall into a middle-of-the-road sameness), Arthur s not afraid to stretch out.What all of this translates to, when all s said and done, is someone whose work bears up to repeated listening... even if the number of those listening is probably much smaller than it ought to be. Joseph Arthur is one of a small number of artists whose work I ll buy with no questions asked, because the end result--whatever else it may be--is always compelling.
Album of the year? - Amazing songs, well constructed, different, mixed instrumentation, great use of drums and guitar and voice. Ranks with Hose Gonzalez as Album of 2006. Enjoy.Davo
Great Art, Joe. - Listening to this, I am reminded of the best work of Elliott Smith. And that is saying something.