Mini Review of Josh Rouses Nashville (2005)

aight quick review since i got the new joint. I enjoyed the whole vibe of the album. Rouse wanted to show the other sides of Nashville you dont normally hear, due to the commmercial country..ect

The album was basically recorded live (if u know what i mean, studio and overdubs but the overall feel and instruments were live)


It's The Nighttime - This is one of the catchiest tunes rouse has written. vocally and instrumentation wise, its fun and a great way to introduce the record.

Winter In The Hamptons- This song is hot, and its his next single. The song is full of beautiful hooks and brings memories of the Under The Cold Blue Stars album.. very nice.

Streetlights- The albums slows down a bit.. but not too slow. This song has beautiful strings, strumming acoustical guitars, distant piano.. very beautiful piece. Might be my favorite song on the album. I dig his lyrical landscape of what he calls him hometown.. This album shows what songwriting skills he has.

Carolina- Acoustical ubeat song with some nice keyboard sounds in it. This album is very upbeat (great driving songs) lyrically might be different but his musical layout holds a great format. His producer is great.

Middle School Frown- This riff reminds me of (penny lover.. this is just me) I totally dig the instrumentation on this album.. its a story about him dissin some girl when he was in school and how she held high and kept going.. the lyrics arent the best. definantly something to get accustomed to.

My Love Has Gone- excellent song.. Its a slow tune, but still has enough beat to not be.. I keep hearing comparisons to 1972.. production wise, i believe this album has it.. but after repeated listens.. this album is beyond that record.. He has achieved great songwriting, this album is somehow different than the rest.. Josh Rouse claims its exactly the same and he isnt covering new boundaries.. but he is, in more ways than one.

Saturday- Mellow acoustical song. this entire album has a live feel to it.. the simplicity of the songs withold more melody than most of the stuff i've heard in the last couple of years.. like I said.. nice acoustical song that. Josh does this "Be home soon.. Ho yeahhh" and it reminds me so much of John Lennon.. its the way he is singing that one part... just a nice moment..

Sad Eye's- I believe he issued this song out on a ep years ago.. and this is a newly remade version. Piano based song, strings, drums ect.. come in half way through.. another top notch song..

Why Won't You Tell Me What- Okay.. album starts to get a little different now.. something you wouldnt normally find on a rouse record... bluesy rock song.. he hits this one hard, and damnit its got some soul through it.. piano breakdown just makes u wanna shake it.. nice touch.

Life- acoustic song. it simply is what it says.. life.. it talks about the good times and bad.. ups & down.. very inspirational lyrics and a song for hope. a Nice way to end this album.. very different, but I damn well understand what he's gettin at with this album.. and its a great musical start (for me at least) in this years music.


Check this one out when its released in Febuary! :)

if it matters

my star rating wise


1 Is the nighttime (5 stars)
2 Winter In The Hamptons (5 stars)
3 Streetlights (5 stars)
4 Carolina (3 stars)
5 Middle School Frown (3 stars)
6 My love has gone (5 stars)
7 Saturday (4 stars)
8 Sad Eye's (5 stars)
9 Why wont you tell me what (3 stars)
10 Life (4 stars)

Ave rating : 4 out of 5 stars

nice

Its his best album yet.. production is excellent!

RYKODISC
30 Irving Pl., 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10003
www.rykodisc.com

Josh Rouse

"Nashville"

When writing about Josh Rouse, you can no longer say he’s a Nashville-based artist; but ironically, you can refer to amazing songwriter and artist Josh Rouse, whose new album is called Nashville. For almost 10 years, Rouse called Tennessee’s capitol city his home. But on the eve of finishing Nashville, he decided he was finished with Nashville.

After the dissolution of his marriage and months spent soul searching, Rouse decided to pack as little as possible, put the finishing touches on his album and split for Altea, Spain. And although he’s shifted his long-time artistic base of operations, he has left us with a musical tome of that town–befitting the beautiful and complex nature of one of the most misunderstood musical cities in the world.

"It’s an insider title, I guess, for us, musicians living there that don’t really live in the world of commercial country music but know about what’s really going on in town," Rouse reveals. "There’s always been great things going on here musically outside of country, but no one really thinks of Nashville in that way."

The album didn’t start out being called Nashville. It didn’t start out being called anything at all. After assembling the songs, Rouse ruminated on what to call this collection when a voice from above gave him the answer.

"The record was completely recorded and I was still kinda messing around with names," Rouse remembers. "We were flying back from L.A. in July and the Captain came over the intercom and was like ‘We’re landing in Nashville’ and I thought you know what, I’m gonna call the record Nashville."

Upon reflection the title took on much more meaning to Rouse, and began to be revealed as more than merely a random thought flying through friendly skies.

"It kind of reflects where I’m at," Rouse states. "I thought that it would be cool to have a record come out called Nashville and it really not be a typical Nashville record. There is pedal steel on it and stuff like that. There are some small country things, but it’s really more to expose a different side of Nashville. There are people who are doing music that’s more interesting than your really generic country song."

The songs on the album successfully encapsulate different sides of Nashville that are hidden from the view of almost anyone outside the scene. "Life" gives a glimpse into the cosmic country club of the city’s folk roots outsiders, "Winter in the Hamptons" and "My Love Has Gone" are perfect examples of the Brit-influenced guitar pop of Nashville’s criminally-underrated indie scene, and "It’s the Night Time" and "Saturday" display the crafty but resolutely human musicianship of the city’s sophisticated bohemian bunch–a group of eclectic talents which includes many of the men in Rouse’s band and Josh’s marvelously mad co-producer Brad Jones. Whether or not by conscious decision, Rouse has pulled in many of the myriad elements available in the city’s scene to make a perfect time capsule of the real and modern "Music City USA."

Beyond being a time capsule, this album is also a post card, and in many ways a love letter, to a city whose vibrant music community and rich history have meant so much in the development of Rouse as an artist.

"There’s no other place like it in the world. Just the history of people who have played on great records, all the great songwriters, and all the stuff that’s there is just incredible," Rouse relates. "I learned how to write songs from being around all those people and learning things from them and doing it every day."

"Nashville’s about songs. It’s not about looking cool or wearing the right things, it’s a matter of if you can do it. I think it’s pretty cool to be able to sit down with a guitar and have a song come across with a great melody, the right chord changes and a good feel, and that be it. In Nashville there’s people who know that. You can’t fool them. To be able to do it, and do it well, that’s the town."

"This record is kind of an homage," Rouse states. "It’s kind of a thank you to Nashville because its definitely where I learned the craft."

Rouse has been executing that craft rather well for a number of years, on critically acclaimed records like 1972 and Under Cold Blue Stars, but it’s probably safe to say that this album truly marks Josh’s first real stab at crafting a semi-traditional singer-songwriter record.

"It feels like that to me," Rouse agrees. "In the past I could play my songs on acoustic guitar but these songs are definitely more folksy in the sense that they’re simple, concise. That’s kind of what I set out to do. I said ‘Hey Brad (Jones, co-producer) I’ve got some more songs but lets not really worry about making a record, lets just record some songs.’ Brad had been telling me about Neil Young, about how whenever he had some songs, he wasn’t like ‘Hey I’m going in to make a record.’ He would just have a stockpile of songs and he would go ‘Oh these kinda go good together, this will be the next record.’ I think these songs are quality but I wasn’t like ‘I’ve got to make a masterpiece!’ or anything like that. I didn’t really have a big plan, I just wanted it to be a song record."

"I was in Nashville for a reason. I moved there for some reason," Rouse offers. "At this point in my life, I believe things happen for a reason and I think I ended up in Nashville for a reason. Part of that reason is to meet all the people that I knew there and to soak up some Southern culture (laughs)."