Track Listing

1. In the Sun
2. Ashes Everywhere
3. Chemical
4. History
5. Invisible Hands
6. Cockroach
7. Exhausted
8. Eyes on My Back
9. Tattoo
10. Real You
11. Creation or a Stain
12. Speed of Light

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #94920 in Music
• Released on: 2000-04-11
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .17 pounds

Amazon.com's Best of 2000
The bleakest heartbreak abounds on Joseph Arthur's Come to Where I'm From, where this Ohio-born singer-songwriter picks up a guitar and strums out some gravelly, angst-ridden black magic. From the darkest depth of "Invisible Hands" where he sings "Your photograph sits like a scar against my wall" to the raspy groove of "History," this album is affecting therapy for the self-destructive, proving that it's better to play a sad song and smoke a cigarette than to extinguish it on your arm. --Beth Massa

Amazon.com
The music of singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur owes a lot to both country folk-rock outsider Joe Henry and the late Jeff Buckley. Combining the whimsical studio experimentation of the former and the blistering emotion of the latter, Arthur's Come to Where I'm From may confuse on first listen but engrosses with each successive spin. He is able to stretch out his voice into moody, ominous tones, or let it soar out over indigenously tinged oceans of sound ("Invisible Hands" and "Ashes Everywhere" demonstrate his two extremes). The strongest cut, "Tattoo," is the most telling; in the hands of someone with a penchant for high melodrama, this gorgeous gem easily could have fallen like a lead balloon. Arthur instead weaves his voice around the churning acoustic guitar and waltzing bass line to achieve a slice of transcendent bliss. --Jason Josephes

Customer Reviews

If you're sick of all the teen cheese on the radio....
try this beautiful album. Arthur has never seemed to pay attention to musical trends; he doesn't write catchy jingles; he's not buffed; he doesn't sport any cool tattoos. At least none that I've seen. What he does do is create some of the most powerful, haunting songs I've heard. If he lives long enough, I think people will sling his name around with people like Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith, and Ben Harper. This album puts JA in that league. (Don't trust the audio samples on the page here-- they sound awful).

I caught his live show in LA last week, which confirmed my impression: there's nothing fluffy about Arthur, nothing impressive but the music (and his art, esp. his painted guitars), and the music is all that matters.

This is a gorgeous album, up there with Jeff Buckley's Grace and the Flaming Lips the Soft Bulletin.

A gentle, articulate & powerful voice emerging from the void
It has become almost automatic in this day and age to try to search for comparisons when listening to an artist with whom you are not familiar. The first thing that pops into mind when listening to Joseph Arthur on the stunning "Come To Where I'm From" is Beck minus the goofiness and nonsensical lyrics. If you happen to know that he's on Peter Gabriel's label, it's easy to listen for and find similarities between his music and Gabriel's--he definitely shows signs of having Gabriel's craft and emotional intensity. You could even make a case for a comparison to Jeff Buckley or dozens of folk artists, as well, but in the end, Arthur truly emerges with a sound all his own.

His voice may sound weary and whispery for the mostpart, but he's quite capable being resonant when the songs call for it and his words are piercing and poetic. Like his voice, his melodies may sound shaggy and roughshod, but if you listen closely, you'll hear the craftsmanship of a post-Gen-X virtuoso who's doing a lot with what seems like a little. It is refreshing to hear an artist whose signature is neither an excess of irony or anger, nor an overflow of syrupy emotion. Rather than going with or against the stream of current music, Joseph Arthur seems to come from a different place entirely. It's certainly a place worth visiting.

Of my ridiculously large catalog of CD's this one is....
...is very special. It doesn't sit in within the alphabetical section; rather it sits on top -- close to my CD player.

I refuse to say an album/band is an all-time favorite. Too much depends upon one's mood, but if *did* you ask me; this album would have to cross my mind.

I first heard of Joseph Arthur on an NPR interview -- simply an unexpected surprise. The bits from the release were teasingly short. In the interview, much was discussed on the live show, something I've yet to see, but looked forward to with great interest. Damage was done - I ordered the CD.

The full spectrum of human emotion is explored on "Come to Where I'm From". Fall seems so appropriate background to this. Complete with angst, with wit and a sense that something better is within our grasp. This isn't Joseph Arthur baring his soul; this is a mirror to yours. This freezes your attention - holds you. How do you feel when someone touches you in way that makes you feel vulnerable? This is Poetry in every sense.

The lyrics alone would stand alone as poetry of the highest order, except when it's so well match by the music and melody. I'd walk you through the tracks, but it would take away from the beauty of it. You'll find your favorites on this release - I defy you to listen to this CD more than once without feeling something new.

John