by
Josh Ritter
- Record Label: Sony
- Release Date: Aug 21, 2007
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Historical Conquests is above all a fun record. It's got all of the heartache, acute observation, and crushing truth that fans are used to, but it never preaches without a wink and, most importantly, sounds as good blisteringly loud as it does drifting out of a clock radio in the garage.
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You're presently reading about what may be the best album of 2007, hands down, by the most under-accorded American musical genius.
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Idaho native Josh Ritter's fifth LP illustrates how well an artist can incorporate his influences while developing his own voice and sound, which in this incarnation is part Dylan, part sensitive swinger with a soft spot for Calamity Jane and Joan of Arc.
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The production creates a Joe Henry feel of gently deconstructionist pop--warm and relaxed even as the instruments occasionally struggle against their leashes--giving the album's best material an extra spin.
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Ultimately, it ends up being a fine album. Nothing too spectacular or breakthrough but filled with enough great tunes to keep you coming back.
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The Historical Conquests of..., a sprawling diorama of down-home rhythms and thoughtful lyrics, isn't immediately striking. But there's a joy in unfurling the half-submerged melodies and wry, tender sentiments.
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The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter finds namesake and frontman Ritter boldly claiming musical territory with a reinvented sound, turning from the meticulous arrangements and somber ruminations of his previous album to a more daring, moxie-charged approach that yields some of the freshest, most captivating songs of his career.
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MojoHIs essential charm flows through raise-a-glass choruses tinged with melancholy. [Oct 2007, p.91]
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The urge to dislike Josh Ritter is somewhat overwhelming. But, like a diseased puppy with an adorable smile, it's just impossible to take him out back with Pa's shotgun because he still has an ear for a good tune--even if it is one of Dylan's.
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The resulting album is as lean, rambunctious and snarling as its predecessor was stately.
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These songs rarely sound lived in or personable; rather, they're more like museum dioramas where he can pose figures like Calamity Jane, Casey Jones, and Casey at the Bat in stiff tableaux.
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The rollicking Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, makes clear that the songwriter is no mere mimic, and he’s having a grand old time.
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Q MagazineHis fifth album is a triumph where his previous efforts have promised but fallen just short. [Oct 2007, p.105]
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In many ways, the album plays out as a far more effective and far less deliberately post-modern survey of the multiple phases of Dylan's career than does Todd Haynes's "I'm Not There" or its accompanying soundtrack.
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The Historical Conquests is astonishing for its depth of exploration in the folk genre.
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The Historical Conquests is at its best when Ritter's off-the-cuff approach intersects with a winning pop melody, as on 'Right Moves' and 'Empty Hearts,' where the neatly arranged horns, fiddles, and piano play against Ritter's tumbling lyrics.
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'Right Moves,' meanwhile, is the kind of soppy-hearted, joy-fuelled singalong tune American freeways, convertibles and radios were designed for. If it doesn't make Ritter a star, nothing can.
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What makes The Historical Conquests Of... a great album and not just Ritter’s foray into stylistic versatility is the integrity of his musicianship. The album is thorough; it is complete.
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The Josh Ritter who appears here is primarily a writer of quality pop songs.
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Under The RadarJosh Ritter returns with a sloppier, less streamlined record. [Summer 2007, p.91]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 37 out of 40
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Mixed: 0 out of 40
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Negative: 3 out of 40
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Apr 25, 2012
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Feb 2, 2012
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Aug 6, 2011