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Terroir Blues is a significantly more ambitious and confident work from Farrar than Sebastopol, but it's also more elusive, and ultimately this is the sort of record fans will love, but the unfamiliar will have a hard time embracing.
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Once again, Jay Farrar has produced an album that's as stark and dreary -- and beautiful -- as the Midwest in winter.
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BlenderFarrar revives Neil Young's habit of presenting the same songs in different styles. [#17, p.134]
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At 23 songs... his second solo full length is as bloated as a rummy's liver. Still, it's good.
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Entertainment WeeklyMore sketchbook than album. [Jun 27/Jul 4 2003, p.138]
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More a sketchbook than a fully-formed statement of purpose, Jay Farrar's second solo release is nonetheless an excellent addition to his oeuvre.
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MojoAs accomplished as anything in his storied catalogue. [Jul 2003, p.113]
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The album has enough setbacks that Terroir Blues cannot be considered on the same page as Trace, Straightaways, or anything he did with Uncle Tupelo.
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While not as sonically ambitious as Farrar's first foray away from Son Volt, Sebastopol, there is a simple and stark grace to these songs.
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Q MagazineSound[s] as much half-finished, stoner bumbling as personal offbeat vision. [Aug 2003, p.104]
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Farrar's introverted neofolky material is pretty forgettable.
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Terroir Blues is an excellent album released by a man who knows he's at the height of his powers, whether anyone else knows it or not.
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Farrar's strongest showing since the first Son Volt album.
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This is no passive listen -- it is Trace rendered impressionistically -- but it has many rewards among difficult and unsettling stretches.
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UncutHis most towering achievement to date. [Aug 2003, p.114]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 8 out of 10
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Mixed: 2 out of 10
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Negative: 0 out of 10
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stefansMar 29, 2005
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kylecSep 24, 2003great songs...could live without the space junk...one would have to be a true farrar fan to fully understand this album.
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bendAug 21, 2003