Top 10 Records of 2006 - Number Five

I mentioned previously that two artists have been in my top 10 records three years in a row – Josh Rouse and M. Ward.  These two artists are operating at a creative level that few artists obtain. They are putting out great record after great record, year after year.

M. Ward makes my favorite kind of music; inspired, unique, intense, beautiful, guitar driven folk rock. He plays guitar with the best of them and he can play any style and does it brilliantly.

This record, called Post-War, is for some a let down after the masterful Transfiguration of Vincent and Transistor Radio. But I was not let down in the least. Post-War is what it is, a treatise on life in a world gone wrong. From the title track:

I know when everything feels wrong
I got some hard hard proof in this song 

It moves from melancholy to upbeat and back again for twelve wonderful songs, each one perfectly timed.

The song that makes the record for me is Requiem, an obituary for a man who “was a good man and now he’s gone”.  The guitar solo in the middle of the song is classic M. Ward.

The whole record can be summed up by this line in the song Rollercoaster:

Rollercoaster, it was the best of times
Rollercoaster, it was the worst of times too
Because you lift me up so high
It’s the most unbelievable ride

And so it is. You should give it a try.