Griffin House: Lost & Found

In recent history, two albums have found their way onto my truly elitist "Desert Island Records" list. Joe Strummer's Streetcore, and this album, Griffin House's Lost & Found.

And, yes, it *is* that good.

Remember, "Along time ago in a blog entry far, far away," I was praising Glen Phillips work while noticeably ignoring Kim Richey and Griffin House? Yeah, I'm still sorry for that. And that's not an offense against Glen.

Griffin House masterfully crafts beautiful, realistic, emotional songs, all wrapped in his acoustic guitar and bundled up in his wonderful voice.

Does it sound like I'm tripping over myself to give this guy praise? Well, it should. I honestly feel he's that good, and after having seen him solo and live recently, my feelings were completely confirmed.

Any way, the album. 11 tracks, just shy of an hour. 100% wonderful. Sorry, there I go again.

Outside of saying "the whole album," some excellent tracks include "Ah Me" (even if it deals with a crumbling relationship, it's musically brilliant), "Waterfall" (which has found some commercial success, no pun intended, for oral-b), "The Way I Was Made" (a pride-inducing tune which traces his origins back to his grandparents), and "New Day" (which just slowly builds to this beautiful, optimistic ending).

In the end: I could trip over myself for another hour and a half singing this guy's praise, but I'll just leave it at "I think most anyone would, could, and should enjoy this album. On repeat."

On the web: There are a few shows of the Weekly Review Traveling Roadshow (House, Richey, Phillips) on archive.org. This one is the best of them.

Also available are photos from his concert at Harpers Ferry, in Allston, Ma. on my website: Griffin House photos @ AdamSalsman[dot]com.

Technorati Tagged: Griffin House | Acoustic | Desert Island Album | 2004