Josh Ritter - Fever Breaks (April 26th, 2019) Album • Page 2

This song is simply gorgeous. This album is going to be so damn special.

 

First Listen: Josh Ritter, 'Fever Breaks'

 

Really glad "Old Black Magic" wasn't the lead track on the album. I really don't like singles as opening tracks.
"Ground Don't Want Me" is such a great opener to create the build-up to "Old Black Magic"!

 

Hell yeah, glad people will finally hear this.

 

I am loving this, but its such a strange listen because, to my brain, these are clearly Josh Ritter songs but then you get to a track like "On The Water" and Isbell's guitar presence couldn't be clearer.

I think the best collaborations are when two great people find the right balance and don't trample over each other. So far, this record has an incredible balance of Isbell & co. doing just enough so you know its them and not random studio players, but not too much where it feels disingenuous to Ritter's songwriting style.

 

Very excited to give this a spin this afternoon

 

Hole ee shit, "The Torch Commitee"

 

Craig, I am curious - do you think there are any weak spots on this album?

 

That its only 10 tracks?

 

Not really. "The Torch Committee" is the least "replayable," but it's still a very good song. But the first four tracks and the last four tracks are all perfect.

 

I love this so far. Quite the bounce back album after what I consider maybe his worst album. Not that Gathering is bad, just bottom of the stack when it comes to Ritter for me.

 

I liked Old Black Magic enough but oh man does it work wonders as track two.

Really enjoying this so far.
Probably buying Toronto tickets after I finish this first playthrough haha.

 

Don’t remember much about Gathering. “Dreams” and “Myrna Loy” are two of his best songs, I think, and the rest never really held my attention. Excited for this one!

 

Yeah... I think expectations were high after Sermon on the Rocks. So I'm not sure if anything could live up to my expectations for it. But most of it kind of fell flat for me, too.

 

I was really trying to keep my expectations in check for this album, because this is one of my all-time favorite artists producing one of my other all-time favorite artists. I was worried that anything short of an absolute masterpiece for the ages was going to feel like a little bit of a disappointment.

For me “The Torch Committee” may be the stand-out track here. The first time I heard it it stopped me dead in my tracks. I tend to love Josh Ritter's slow-ish but powerful story songs. Like even though I love the entire rollicking Historical Conquests album, my absolute favorite track from it is hands down “The Temptation of Adam” which is a little bit of an outlier on that album and not as 'fun’ as the other songs, for lack of a better word. “Torch” reminds me of that song on this album - a lot of the other songs are more fun and a little more listenable but holy shit is it a powerful song. The way it slowly builds is awesome and I think every single instrument in the song is used to absolute perfection.

The weak track for me on this one is really “Silverblade”. I'm trying not to jump to any conclusions and really let the album sink in before I write it off, but so far it really doesn't do anything for me. Like what Barcara said, I enjoyed both “Old Black Magic” and “I Still Love You (Now and Then) on their own, but they were both markedly improved when heard in the context of the entire album.

Aside from “Silverblade”, the other 9 songs are fantastic. The music is gorgeous and sublime
and there are so many masterful touches throughout. Amanda Shires in particular brings so much to this album.

 

Excited to give this a listen soon, especially with all of the comments here.

 

Gathering just felt a little...lifeless? It was fine, but coming after Sermon, it really felt like a step back.

"The Torch Committee" reminds me a bit of some of the stuff on So Runs the World Away, which is not my favorite Ritter album. But yes, the lyrics are very powerful and very interesting. I just prefer the slightly more rollicking tracks.

 

This makes sense, because I think if I had to pick So Runs The World Away would probably be my favorite Josh Ritter album.

 

Really enjoying this. Strangely getting “I’ts Alright, Ma” vibes from “The Torch Committee”.

 

It's like a George Saunders short story set to music. I think this album'll be in my top 3-4 of his.

 

Wow, this is great. Pretty much a perfect combination of everything he does.

 

I need more time to fully process this, but it sounds goddamn wonderful. Warm and subtle in every way you'd hope for.

 

Isbell’s production really shines, and the 400 Unit sounds great as always. The guitar tones are amazing, especially on the louder songs.

 

This album sounds incredible. This is definitely a fantastic album, but I would be lying if I didn't admit that I very much want to get my hands on the song "In Passing", the one that the Rolling Stone write-up from a while back focused on very heavily.

 

So I went to see this guy tonight after hearing his incredible cover of Frightened Rabbit's Old Old Fashioned - not knowing any of his stuff, I was very happy to hear it as the first of two encores. Is this a good place to start with him? He and his band are, it turns out, really fucking good live.