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Off to meetings for the rest of the day...but I leave you with Josh Ritter...again, I know...but this album is amazing. Some of the best songwriting you will ever lay ears upon...Dlyan-esque even...Peaceb
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Josh Ritter
The Animal Years
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AMG Review of The Animal Years
James Christopher Monger
All Music GuideIdaho-bred singer/songwriter Josh Ritter's V2 Records debut follows in the footsteps of 2003's Hello Starling only in instrumentation. While he retains his literate tongue and expressive voice, there is far less humor on Animal Years than on his previous two outings. Producer Brian Deck (Iron & Wine, Modest Mouse) keeps Animal Years intimate but transient, like a circus train crawling through a small town on a busy Saturday afternoon. Essentially built around two startlingly affecting diatribes on the war in Iraq, Ritter utilizes the voices of Peter and Paul, as well as Laurel & Hardy, to eke some kind of explanation from both the Administration and the Creator. The first, the deceptively sweet-sounding "Girl in the War," threatens "The angels fly around in there, but we can't see them/I got a girl in the war, Paul I know that they can hear me yell/If they can't find a way to help her they can go to Hell." The second, "Thin Blue Flame," is a nearly ten-minute rant that follows the Velvet Underground "Heroin" arc of tinder to spark to full-on blaze in a way that hasn't worked for anyone in a long time, but most certainly does here. The other cuts never reach the same heights, but standouts such as "Wolves," with its sunrise gallop and "Whole of the Moon"-era Waterboys piano, and the languid "Monster Ballads" soar only inches beneath them.
One for the road...
josh ritter, park west - chicago 2/11/07
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Last night I saw Josh Ritter play a solo acoustic show at the Park West in Chicago. It was a seated show, with the tables lined up cabaret style, angled towards the stage. Stephen Kellogg was the opener, and he played a lively set, without the usual backup of his band the Sixers.The stage was set with empty picture frames hung on the back wall. A string of lights snaked across the floor creatin...
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Tonight's entertainment
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Josh Ritter, solo and acoustic tonight. Should be wonderful. And there should be no need for me to get on stage, therefore I won't be able to fall off...things are looking up.
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Josh Ritter fans! Man your TiVos ..
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Just a heads up that Ritter is the musical guest on Letterman Friday, January 12th.I tried and tried to find the YouTube of Josh's appearance on Conan O'Brien only to stumble on this link: http://exodus.interoutemediaservices.com/?id=368477fd-4246-4b01-b3b3-e46473aa1b5b&delivery=streamEnjoy.
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All props to Zeld & The Unibrows
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I think the following video describes my interaction with the City of Detroit pretty much spot on!
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My favorite Josh
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SO many Josh's out there making good music...Josh Rouse, Josh Radin, and the pride of Idaho, Josh Ritter. I saw him play Friday night...the songs just shine live. It was just him and an acoustic guitar. His songwriting on his latest album, 'The Animal Years' is Dylan-esque...and I don't think I am ovestating that...the man can turn a phrase. Go buy 'The Animal Years' now...its pure poetry.
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Tonight's entertainment
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Josh Ritter, solo and acoustic tonight. Should be wonderful. And there should be no need for me to get on stage, therefore I won't be able to fall off...things are looking up.
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One for the road...
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Off to meetings for the rest of the day...but I leave you with Josh Ritter...again, I know...but this album is amazing. Some of the best songwriting you will ever lay ears upon...Dlyan-esque even...Peaceb
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I am no quitter
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A ha! I have found a longer song than 'The Trapeze Swinger' and it fits into the MOG tech standards and it is a great song...so I think I have done it, I have posted the longest song in the history of MOGdom...i feel a parade coming on
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Another Song That Makes Me Cry
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http://www.artifex.org/~beloy/guitar/Josh_Ritter_Girl_in_the_War.txtThis is one of the songs that eshep included on my mog secret santa mix, and it's the only one that made me cry as I listened the first time around. What a powerful, provocative statement. http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2006/10/ritter.html
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Josh Ritter fans! Man your TiVos ..
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Just a heads up that Ritter is the musical guest on Letterman Friday, January 12th.I tried and tried to find the YouTube of Josh's appearance on Conan O'Brien only to stumble on this link: http://exodus.interoutemediaservices.com/?id=368477fd-4246-4b01-b3b3-e46473aa1b5b&delivery=streamEnjoy.
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All props to Zeld & The Unibrows
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I think the following video describes my interaction with the City of Detroit pretty much spot on!
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josh ritter, park west - chicago 2/11/07
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Last night I saw Josh Ritter play a solo acoustic show at the Park West in Chicago. It was a seated show, with the tables lined up cabaret style, angled towards the stage. Stephen Kellogg was the opener, and he played a lively set, without the usual backup of his band the Sixers.The stage was set with empty picture frames hung on the back wall. A string of lights snaked across the floor creatin...
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holiday gifts from josh ritter
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josh ritter finished up his year with a couple of shows at vicar street in dublin backed by a 24-piece orchestra, shows we're sorry to have missed. fortunately ritter has decided to offer up free downloads of two songs - "girl in the war" and "empty hearts" - recorded in tandem with a string quartet from the orchestra to give us a taste of what those shows might have sounded like. josh ritte...
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10 Most Underappreciated Songs of the Decade
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1.) Josh Ritter - "Thin Blue Flame" (from The Animal Years)Nearly 10 minutes in length, Ritter's masterpiece is a "Stairway to Heaven"-caliber achievement with Jimmy Page's guitar licks exchanged for 700-plus words of poetry. Traversing a war-torn world and a host of Shakespearean, Biblical, and science-oriented images, Ritter finds solace in a ray of hope: "So I stopped looking for royal citie...
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 "The Animal Years")
