Originally published in The Aquarian
Weekly
Josh Ritter/The
Historical
Conquests Of Josh Ritter/
Sony BMG
Records
Josh Ritter has been
called
the new Dylan, an
expectation
that has cursed a number
of
songwriters. I don’t believe in
that kind of comparison,
but
for our purposes here,
let’s say
it’s accurate. In that
case, this
is Josh Ritter’s “Bringing
It All
Back Home”, the
album where
he brings the
electricity.
On his fourth album,
Ritter
eschews the political
content
of his last album, “The
Animal
Years”, opting to
explore the
wreckage of shattered
illusions.
The go-for-broke
spontaneity
of this album is also
in marked
contrast to his previous
effort.
It’s always about
the songs,
and Ritter is one of
our most
gifted songwriters. “Right
Moves” could be a
great ’70s
radio hit, and “The
Temptation
Of Adam” is a
romance cleverly
set among artifacts of
the Cold
War.
In A Word: Immediate
Grade: A-
—by Ken Shane