I discovered a lot of bands and artists during the Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year, and M. Ward was one of them. One Tuesday in August there wasn't a great deal in there that I fancied buying that day, but they did have a bunch of M. Ward reissues in. I'd never heard of him, but the info they'd put in with the sleeve made it sound interesting. Plus, I was wanting to find some new music so I decided to chance it on Transfiguration of Vincent.
Initially, I wasn't a huge fan. It was kinda nice, but it wasn't entirely my thing. I've always felt that guitar players appreciate music differently to everyone else and that certain bands appeal more to guitarists. I got that impression here, probably swayed by the instrumentals and song titles like Duet For Guitars #3. However, that was six years ago; in the time that's passed this record has grown on me hugely. Vincent O'Brien and Sad, Sad Song are both incredible songs, as is Fool Says and the cover of Bowie's Let's Dance near the end of the album is just lovely.
I've ended up seeing M. Ward live three times since - once with Monsters of Folk and twice on his own in some very lovely settings (The Union Chapel and Leicester Square Theatre) and he was excellent each time. I've only since bought one other album of his (his second-to-most-recent, Hold Time) but that's mostly because I don't very often see them for sale. I'd certainly like to hear more.
Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 15
Cost: £11 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 12/08/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
