Cheap Regret Over the Wires (Music) (Matthew Ryan) Price

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Customer Reviews of Regret Over the Wires

"...So I can begin to begin again."
I've got to say that I'm a sucker for a good singer/songwriter. There's just something about the good ones, they can produce honest lyrics woven with soft melodies and it's just something that I love. John Mayer, John P. Strohm, Jonah aka Onelinedrawing, the list goes on and on. Now that I've heard this album by Matt Ryan, I can add him to the list too.

Regret Over the Wires is a great album. Return to Me starts the album off, and is probably my favorite song on the entire album. Suttle strings and percusion are mixed with guitars all creating a very hushed feel through the song. One of those songs that you can just close your eyes to and feel memories come rushing back. Return to Me brings to mind an autumn day with a light wind blowing the leaves around. Every song communicates a feeling, the lyrics are personal and very well written. Ryan has written some of the best lyrics I've ever read, he says so much through so few words. That's something to admire.

The rest of the album rocks a little more than the opening song, while there are a few breaks in between for softer songs. Over all this album is easily above average from top to bottom and has some true standout songs. Return to Me, Skylights, I Hope your God has Mercy On Mine and I Can't Steal You are my favorites.

I recomened this release to almost everyone, it really appeals to a wide audience and is a great album. One that I've been enjoying and will continue to enjoy for a while. Hopefully his past works will be as good or even better.

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One of my favorites
Matthew Ryan's music is honest and to the point. It is tinged with regret but stubbornly optimistic. It has seen way too much but refuses to look away. It trudges onward despite any obstacle that may get in the way. It makes you think and dares you to feel. It's Matthew's whiskey and cigarettes vocals set to frayed at the edges, country rock sounds. It's highly recommended if you love the best of Paul Westerberg.

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Matthew Ryan's 2003 masterpiece
"Songs are souvenirs, for the peace that hasn't come and if it neverdoes,better still that they be sung...." - The Little Things

Why in the world Matthew Ryan isn't a household name amongst
proverbial aficionados of singer/songwriters and performers has
baffled me since late 97 when his first offering "Mayday"
cast a huge musical shadow, eclipsing many of the year's musical
challengers. Perhaps it was the advance buzz by the musical press hailing Ryan as the next Springsteen,Waits or Dylan tag scaring off potential listeners that sealed his fate as it has done to many contenders of the past, with stripped and barren stories lying unfinished and in tatters.
Or maybe a record label that expected mega platinum success with
bottom line results, condemning those who fail in delivering hit
records, to the cut out bins and second hand stores who deal in used goods.
"Mayday" was a bright light filled with brilliant stories of broken and torn communities of the human spirit,
seeking redemption and healing, (Lights of the Commodore Perry)
or self reflection (Beautiful Fool) that left those in the known musical community stunned by it's intensity and beauty. It explored avenues in the struggle of darkness over the trivial day-to-day battles forsurvival and understanding of what life means within the rainbow of emotional high and lows.
Matthews second offering to A&M "East Autumn Grin" with guests
Johnette Napolitano, Will Kimbrough and David and David alumni David Ricketts fell into obscurity upon release in 2000. In Ryan's own words:

"East Autumn Grin was written during and after the falling apart of a relationship. At the time, all romanticism seemed challenged to say the least. Nothing seemed permanent. This record reaches for the stars knowing full well that often, it's only hope and faith that keeps you suspended in any precarious situation. I produced it along with Trina Shoemaker. I tried to surround myself with musicians that would read between the lines. I love this record. It was made in an attempt to
find the comfort in coming to terms with loss. Sometimes that's all you can do. Upon leaving Interscope, a month after it's release, I was offered $15,000 to put in my pocket or do a tour with. I chose to do a tour with Steve Earle. Watching him every night was an education".
Indeed, working with Earle was an education. Perhaps Earle's
independent and distant attitude toward an industry that breed's
contempt for under performers rubbed off on Ryan. Retreating to his garage studio and 16track recorder, Ryan would record the one work that truly captured the naked spirit of Springsteen's 1982 opus "Nebraska". With tales of rage, lawlessness and abandoned hope Ryan drew a dark and stripped down musical canvas which took "Concussion" to a very deep and disturbingly dark level of exploration of the human condition, with guests Lucinda Williams on the drunken disoriented "Happy Hour".
With 2003's "Regret Over the Wires" Matthew Ryan offers us the
culmination of the past 3 albums. Still intact throughout is his
intense and deep vocal delivery much in the spirit of Springsteen,Mellencamp, or Dylan, the songwriting strong and vibrant and his delivery more convincing then ever. Along with Dylan alumni BuckyBaxter, David Ricketts (David and David) and Fellow compadre and sound engineer David Henry, Ryan has created his accumulative masterpiece for 2003.
From the opening of "Return to Me" with its heartfelt melody filled with regret over past relationships and broken promises to his observations of greed and corruption in "Caged Bird" (" Tony Robbins boot camp,Dickey's got a new plan, It's deep pockets with quicker hands, privilege breeds circumstance") and "I Hope Your God Has Mercy On Mine" ("Unions can't be trusted, workers must unite, It's not a wage your fighting for these days, Your fighting for your lives") Ryan has created
a masterfully composed and executed contemporary musical
statement that deserves a much wider audience then it will receive.
In an era of prepackaged assembly line musical product, Matthew Ryan continues to fight the good fight. The fight for true artistic merit in a world gone awry with image over substance, ugliness over beauty and emptiness over fulfillment. "Regret Over the Wires" delivers the goods in full and that's something to cherish and behold.....................

-Mystic-