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Despite releasing two of the Americana's most critically-lauded albums of the decade so far in 2004's Post To Wire and the following year's The Fitzgerald, Oregon's Richmond Fontaine remain resolutely obscure compared to contemporaries like Ryan Adams and My Morning Jacket.
For their seventh studio album, the four-piece relocated from their native Portland to Tucson, Arizona to try and capture the sounds and character of the U.S. south-west, visiting each of the thirteen cities that give the collection its title. The initial signs are promising.
First song proper 'Moving Back Home #2' effectively evokes Tucson residents Calexico, due in no small part to a horn section led by the band's Jacob Valenzula. Another Calexico member, Joey Burns, contributes glockenspiel and moog to the brooding soundscape of instrumental 'El Tiradito', and five tracks in, the album looks set to deliver a winning blend of Richmond Fontaine's trademark country-rock combined with the new musical ideas inspired by their Arizona adventure.
Unfortunately, Thirteen Cities then rather inexplicably runs out of ideas. The remaining tracks fall somewhere between the exuberantly melodic road trip blues of Post To Wire and the sparser, folkier intimacy of The Fitzgerald, but without being as good as either.
Part of the problem is singer and band leader Willy Vlautin. A published novelist he may be, but his lyrical style, while undeniably evocative, is in danger of becoming stale. There's only so many tales of drifting, drink-addled losers you can tell before they cease to be interesting. An exception is "The Disappearance of Ray Norton" which skilfully examines negative attitudes towards immigration in urban areas.
After such a strong start, it's a real shame the experimentation of the early numbers is not sustained. As a result, the concept of a vivid, atmospheric tour around the disappearing American West is never fully realised, and Richmond Fontaine, while still delivering an accomplished album, fail to hit the heady heights of their last two works. --Chris White
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Yes, that much over-used word when the likes of Mojo give 3.5 star reviews to records they call masterpieces. But this is an absolute 5-star record. The best rootsy band in America have astonishingly exceeded their past excellence and delivered their best yet. The stories are intact, but surrounded by a broader range of music and pace. There's none of the Husker-go-country of their earlier records but they rock firmly but gently in parts, strum soulfully in others. But above all, even though it might be a marginally more commercial sound, it's an incredibly warm and human record. Cliché alert and possibly mixed metaphor: but the band seem to inhabit the songs like a warm winter coat, and rarely has music, arrangement, song and performance all come together so snugly.
And it's a grower and grower. Whatever you think 1st listen, by 5th you'll like it twice as much and by 10th you'll live it and repeat-play immediately to the 11th.
I'm struggling to find reference points - it's just great songs, and very American-sounding ones to me a Brit. But think of when already-great bands suddenly gel as a unit and step up a notch, usually with great outside help eg producer, and rooted in a particular place/studio: The Band, Creedence's Willy and the Poor Boys, London's Calling, Songs for the Deaf, Tusk, Exile, Steve Earle's El Corazon, Gentlemen by the Afghan Whigs. Thirteen Cities sits alongside these great records with pride and I hope a touch of deserved arrogance.
Oh and whatever you do don't miss them on tour. They've added Paul Brainard who plays pedal steel and trumpet on their records, and what a difference he makes. They still bar-band rock, and even included their brilliant Husker Du cover, but again have stepped up to sound bigger and broader without losing any of their warmth and charm. Hopefully bigger stages await them, they deserve it.
If the Stooges weren't releasing a new record next month, I'd place money on this as record of 07, no contest. And Iggy, you got competition now, the gauntlet is thrown
And it's a grower and grower. Whatever you think 1st listen, by 5th you'll like it twice as much and by 10th you'll live it and repeat-play immediately to the 11th.
I'm struggling to find reference points - it's just great songs, and very American-sounding ones to me a Brit. But think of when already-great bands suddenly gel as a unit and step up a notch, usually with great outside help eg producer, and rooted in a particular place/studio: The Band, Creedence's Willy and the Poor Boys, London's Calling, Songs for the Deaf, Tusk, Exile, Steve Earle's El Corazon, Gentlemen by the Afghan Whigs. Thirteen Cities sits alongside these great records with pride and I hope a touch of deserved arrogance.
Oh and whatever you do don't miss them on tour. They've added Paul Brainard who plays pedal steel and trumpet on their records, and what a difference he makes. They still bar-band rock, and even included their brilliant Husker Du cover, but again have stepped up to sound bigger and broader without losing any of their warmth and charm. Hopefully bigger stages await them, they deserve it.
If the Stooges weren't releasing a new record next month, I'd place money on this as record of 07, no contest. And Iggy, you got competition now, the gauntlet is thrown
21 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Richmond Fontaine have finally establihed a unique identity with this, their first truly classic album. The almost unbearable melancholy of Willy Vlautin's oblique stories is here expressed though a clearer musical identity which moves away from the "alt-country" milieu and embraces orchestration, keyboards and brilliantly unconventional use of pedal steel. Benefiting from collaborating withTucson musicians like Joey Burns and Howe Gelb, producer JD Foster has brought out the best in a band which has always threatened to deliver in a major way. This record moves me to tears and it will have the same effect on you.
Oliver Gray
Oliver Gray
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
It seems like years since Richmond Fontaine were flavour of the year in all those trendy music magazines; Post To Wire (last but one album) was Album Of The Century, Willie Vlautin was the new Dylan, Springsteen, Young, etc. Well thankfully hype dies down and moves on to some other poor deservers and Richmond Fontaine can settle back to what they do best - writing and playing Americana (I hate that Alt Country tag)of a quality which both proves the hypers right and gives us stalwarts a thumping good album every year.
Thirteen Cities marks something of a crossroads. The somewhat limited sounds of last year's The Fitzgerald have been supplemented by rich keyboards, brass, accordion and strings provided by some excellent guest musicians and this gives a richer, more varied background to Vlautin's almost narrative songs of drifters, grifters and losers jobbing their way across the western States in search of solace and answers. The debt to Springsteen is most obvious here with some plausibly heartfelt lyrics and cleverly crafted mini tales which never descend into parody.
The one fault which prevents that fifth star is the repetition of the grainy, sepia artwork which has graced every album cover so far. Come on boys add the same colour to the cover as you've so obviously done to the music.
Thirteen Cities marks something of a crossroads. The somewhat limited sounds of last year's The Fitzgerald have been supplemented by rich keyboards, brass, accordion and strings provided by some excellent guest musicians and this gives a richer, more varied background to Vlautin's almost narrative songs of drifters, grifters and losers jobbing their way across the western States in search of solace and answers. The debt to Springsteen is most obvious here with some plausibly heartfelt lyrics and cleverly crafted mini tales which never descend into parody.
The one fault which prevents that fifth star is the repetition of the grainy, sepia artwork which has graced every album cover so far. Come on boys add the same colour to the cover as you've so obviously done to the music.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
No rhyme but reason
The key to enjoying music for me is suspension of disbelief. Whatever the process of writing, rehearsing and producing that has gone on, I want to hear the end result as if it's... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Doug
Oh no !
They used to be a great band, but please ignore all the "best yet" reviews (I hate to say it, but some people appear to be either cloth-eared or else just convinced that bands will... Read more
Published on 22 Aug 2009 by Mada about music
under the skin stuff
In a year when Wilco failed to deliver with the bland Sky Blue Sky, RF came along and provided the salvation with, imho, the best album of 2007. Read more
Published on 14 Aug 2008 by R. Brewer
Small-town characters on an empty, dusty landscape...
'Thirteen Cities' is the seventh studio album from Richmond Fontaine, a 'alt.country' foursome from Portland, Oregon and is the latest of their releases to receive worthy critical... Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2008 by A. Sweeney
PERFECT
Simply put, this album is perfection. Don't miss the chance to see Richmond Fontaine on tour they are the finest live act you are ever likely to see.
Published on 1 Mar 2007 by Paul Mcparland
A Dip In Form?
I eulogised about The Fitzgerald when it was released,and having enjoyed Obliteration By Time and Live at the Doug Fir Lounge in the interim between the two studio albums of new... Read more
Published on 9 Feb 2007 by BTM Linlithgow
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