Nashville - Josh Rouse
Metascore
80 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 18
  2. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. Persistently gorgeous. [25 Feb 2005, p.102]
  2. If you like intelligent song writing with killer sing-along choruses, then you desperately need this album.
  3. 90
    If you liked 1972 in 1972, or liked '1972' in 2003, you'll find yourself swimming with this. [Album of the Month, Mar 2005, p.90]
  4. Somebody will really have to pull off a miracle to top Nashville as far as intelligent, honest and entertaining guitar pop goes in 2005. Or any other year.
  5. Nashville validates the promise Rouse has exhibited since Dressed Up Like Nebraska, encompassing a gift for emotional detail and a fondness for simple, unadorned lyrics. It's an understated, impeccably played collection of heartfelt tunes about a time and place that can never be returned to.
  6. Nashville is further proof that Rouse is one of the best songwriters of his generation.
  7. This is the year’s first great summer album.
  8. These are great songs, regardless of categorisation. [Mar 2005, p.101]
  9. Nashville may not have the immediate appeal of 1972, but it is just as strong and, with time, may even be remembered more.
  10. Rouse’s ambiguity and storytelling, so strong on Under the Cold, coupled with the quirky pop pastiche that found it’s backbone on 1972, is what his latest effort is all about.
  11. Decidedly a pop record. [Apr/May 2005, p.150]
  12. Rouse's primary gift remains his easy-flowing melodies, which are coaxed along by his cherubic rasp.
  13. Not as cohesive nor as musically alliterative as [Rouse's] previous breakthrough, 1972, this wistful, meticulous collection of short, (bitter) sweet strummers fits its nostalgic niche like a K-Tel bargain bin 12-inch.
  14. Nashville is chock full of weeping slide guitar work, soaring harmonies, keyboards, and Rouse’s lonely breath of a voice pushing out from the relatively lush production.
  15. As with past Rouse efforts, Nashville is always pleasant, if unexceptional.
  16. 60
    Looting a Smithsy guitar line for Winter In The Hamptons or aping Steve McQueen-era Prefab Sprout on My Love Has Gone momentarily lifts Rouse's gloom, but it is scant relief from the stillness at Nashville's core. [Mar 2005, p.106]
  17. 60
    Lyrically, Nashville... is about as insightful as a Hee Haw rerun. But... his warm, reedy voice gives comfort where his words can't. [Apr 2005, p.125]
  18. Where artists such as Elliott Smith or Jeff Tweedy manage to express their unique creative personalities while they wield the traditional tools of the trade, Rouse's songwriting lacks a similar sense of urgency or drama, too often stumbling into amazingly trite cliches. [#9]
User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 33 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 24
  2. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. Josh Rouse' best record, with 1972 close behind. First bought this in Montana while road tripping through the country. Perfect driving (or anything) music. All the songs are great. I also had the honor of seeing him on this tour in Nashville, solo acoustic. Fantastic. Full Review »
  2. eirike
    9
    what a brilliant album - it should really be on all best music of 05 lists !
  3. MichelleT
    9
    Almost as good as 1972 and different than the albums that came before.