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Aside from a handful of real solid honest-to-gosh gems, the whole album feels a little too casual and off-the-cuff to stand on equal footing with her other recordings.
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Finds Welch showing more warmth, ease, and openness as both singer and songwriter.
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BlenderA condensed, highly disciplined work. [#17, p.147]
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Soul Journey takes off in more than one new direction.
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Fans and Luddites will find much to treasure when dropping this platter on the Victrola.
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Entertainment WeeklyHer smoky Appalachian porch moan has never sounded deeper, realer or sexier. [6 June 2003, p.79]
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There is a shortage of pathos, and relatively little ventured musically and lyrically from a songwriting team responsible for some of the most tortured, searching music of recent years.
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MojoAll in all, it's pretty much perfect. [Jul 2003, p.100]
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Soft, warm, but still interestingly distant.
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Q MagazineIt's the songs not the approach which set her apart. [Aug 2003, p.116]
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Her slow, earnest songs... don't have the texture of those from her three previous albums.
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The approach Welch and partner David Rawlings bring to the material feels crafted for private enjoyment rather than public consumption, and the end result is not only Welch's most personal work to date but one of her most emotionally satisfying as well.
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Soul Journey might sound downbeat and lonesome, wistful and dusty, but this is gospel music compared to what went before.
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Soul Journey finds her and collaborator David Rawlings making subtly searing front-porch folk-country, often sparing the embellishments for songs that are by turns raw, spare, direct, and achingly pretty.
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UncutA highly satisfying bridge between the log-cabin museum pieces of Revival and Hell Among The Yearlings and a more rockin', Basement Tapes-ish Americana. [Album of the Month, Aug 2003, p.96]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 10 out of 11
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Mixed: 0 out of 11
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Negative: 1 out of 11
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GordonRSep 19, 20031st GW cd I've heard and I'm very impressed