| View Larger Image | Transistor Radio | Audio CDby M. Ward
| List Price: | $15.98 | | Price: | $13.99 | | You Save: | $1.99 (12%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Audio CD | | Studio: | Merge Records | | Release Date: | February 22, 2005 | | Sales Rank: | 7,443th |
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TRACK LISTING |
Disc: 1
- Track 1: You Still Believe In Me
- Track 2: One Life Away
- Track 3: Sweethearts On Parade
- Track 4: Hi-Fi
- Track 5: Fuel For Fire
- Track 6: Four Hours In Washington
- Track 7: Regeneration No. 1
- Track 8: Big Boat
- Track 9: Paul's Song
- Track 10: Radio Campaign
- Track 11: Here Comes The Sun Again
- Track 12: Deep Dark Well
- Track 13: Oh Take Me Back
- Track 14: I'll Be Yr Bird
- Track 15: Lullabye & Exile
- Track 16: Well Tempered Clavier
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Album Description
From a half-named troubadour with an otherworldly voice and an old time sensibility comes this fourth full-length, a collection of songs "about childhood memories of a utopian radio power", dedicated to "the last of the remaining independent radio stations." With songs normally associated with the front porches of Louisiana, back when families gathered around the radio instead of the TV, "Transistor Radio" fits somewhere between your great-grandfather's collection of 78 rpm records and current and timeless artists such as Iron & Wine, Gram Parsons, and Tom Waits. Guests include Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley), Howe Gelb (Giant Sand), and Jordan Hudson (The Thermals). |
Amazon.com
Transistor Radio may be bookmarked by instrumentals, but M. Ward’s cracked, jazzy croon is the true star of all his work. The sixteen tunes here all sound like sketches that became songs on the spot, and we all know the well-crafted illusion of spontaneity is a very difficult thing to pull off repeatedly. His most consistently enjoyable album to date, Transistor offers breezy, smart, poppy music very much in the American folk tradition, from country blues to bleary-eyed bedroom strums. This is the soundtrack to a lazy Sunday when you sleep in, read the Times in bed, cuddle with a friend, then finally leave the house for cheese grits. "I’ll Be Yr Bird" sounds like the Fruit Bats collaborating with Vic Chesnutt, while Ward recalls Stew on "Hi Fi," the deadpan lyrics over lazy, lovely sounds: "Why burn your bridges when you can blow your bridges up?" The laudanum-like charms of Ward’s music are tough to resist. --Mike McGonigal |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 28 reviews)
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an aquired taste by cerberus (vermont)  4 Stars
July 01, 2009
The Man has skills, the music is spot on, slow and dreery with a lot of heart. NOT a mainstream lp (qualifies for an extra star), if your looking for radio pop go some where else. I very much appriciate the musicianship but a little too slow for my taste.
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SHINY! by Mary M. Hosford  5 Stars
June 04, 2009
Even the cover songs are incredible! Each track is exquisite...My only complaint is that some of the track near the end also appear on a previous album.
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Good, not life-changing by J. T. Herbert (Durham, NC USA) 4 Stars
January 06, 2009
This album by M.Ward is pretty solid with some standout tracks ("Hi-Fi" is my favorite, but "One Life Away", "Fuel for Fire", "Four Hours in Washington"), and some weaker ones. On the whole, Transistor Radio could have benefited from a little less attention to spacey production values and more attention to songwriting. To me, the major emphasis of the album we less the songs, and more about using a variety of Lo-Fi production values to evoke a vague, dreamy nostalgic feeling. The arrangements are by and large interesting and engaging, but often things are obscured by too much reverb, most especially M. Ward's vocals, which are laconic, breathy, and drowned in too much echo to have energy or cut through the mixes. Reverb is a taste thing, but in my opinion it distracts from the stronger songs on the album and fails to help the weaker ones. There are some songs like "I'll Be Yr Bird" and "Oh Take Me Back" that seem to rely almost entirely on Lo-Fi production values to hold the listener's interest, but fell flat. I think the energy on this album could be a bit better, and with some slightly altered production values, cut a few songs, and add in some more of M.Ward's tasteful guitar arpeggiations and some more vocal harmonies it could have been a 5 star album. I'll look forward to M.Ward's next effort, and hopefully it will be a little stronger on songs and a little weaker on reverb.
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This one has got it all by Infopusher (Portland, OR) 5 Stars
April 22, 2008
This CD is one of my all time favorites. It has all the elements of music that I love - beautiful sounds, soul-provoking smart lyrics, some rhythm, and variety.
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springboard by jude (Atlanta) 5 Stars
July 16, 2007
What Elvis did with Junior Parker, the Stones did with Howlin' Wolf, M. Ward has done with Louis Armstrong. Why didn't I think of that?
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