Josh Rouse compiled
Josh Rouse
The Best Of The Rykodisc Years
(Rhino)
In an age of iTunes hyper-selectivity and inescapable Essential and 20th Century Masters compilations, the music-buying public has nearly unlimited access to the dark corners of any artist’s career, regardless of record label. But Rykodisc and Rhino have a screwy little game they’d like to play.
Josh Rouse has recorded for a total of three record labels — one of them his own, and two of them since he left Ryko in 2005 — yet Rhino treats him like Sinatra and hands out The Best Of The Rykodisc Years. It’s a meaningless distinction, as the artist, now “property” of Nettwerk, remains a shy-voiced, panty-wetting singer-songwriter. It’s also overkill, featuring a lethargic 13-track disc of demos and rarities. The 19(!)-track overview on Disc One more than adequately demonstrates what Rouse offered during this seven-year epoch, though the chronological sequencing betrays any effort to attract newcomers. Aside from “Directions,” which featured in Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky, the first dozen offerings are completely overcast, and rely exclusively on the backseat intimacy derived from Rouse’s flirty pipes. Not until “Love Vibration” and “Come Back” does the compilation genuinely come to life, coinciding when Rouse developed into a capable genre-jumper.
R&R are also going about this with Jayhawks/Wilco/Soul Asylum supergroup Golden Smog, whose Stay Golden, Smog ignores two recent releases on Lost Highway in preference of the three on. In Smog’s case, they’re right to do so.
— Steve Forstneger
