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Four albums and the end of Martyn Joseph's relationship with Sony is really beginning to pay off. The removal of pressure to release singles quickly freed Joseph's songwriting up and in Far From Silent we have an album that approaches the stripped down passion of his live show. As an artist that has told us to "Treasure the Questions," that is exactly what Joseph does in his lyrics. Life is laid bare through stark observations but there is always a thread of hope in the bleakness of many of the scenes explored. Like many singer-songwriters Joseph's music is politically aware, but it is justice he seeks rather than a partisan point. "Celebrity" is a cutting exposé of the cult of celebrity, told in Joseph's familiar first-person style. Its guitar work is simple and serves to accentuate his (in this case) soft vocals; Joseph is more than competent as a guitarist but pays more attention to the completeness of each song rather than any particular virtuosity. Fashionably turned outLyrically this is a very strong album. "People Crazy Like Me" is described by Joseph as his "sermon on the mount ... some principles, not rules". It is perhaps the most straightforwardly hopeful track on the album, looking for simple, perhaps traditional, values with forward-thinking libertarianism. Perhaps the most poignant piece on the album, "The Good In Me Is Dead," is an affecting tale of a young Bosnian refugee waiting at the border to see whether his family has managed to escape. The tale of the boy's internal struggle between the anger and violence he feels burning inside and his desire to overcome them is filled with empathy and insight. Sympathetically accompanied by a single finger-picked guitar line, the continuing conflicts in Eastern Europe bring this song added impact. I woke shaking and thinkingMartyn Joseph is not unfamiliar with the mis-placed labels of "liberal", "backslider," or "sell-out". At Greenbelt he led the crowd in a new track "Liberal Backslider" and it is with this that he closes the album. I'm a liberal backsliderBeside the light-hearted chorus, and the obligatory references to televangelists, however this song could also serve as a reminder to work out our priorities carefully. I sing about the hope that's in meOne of the UK's finest songwriters, this album shows Martyn Joseph in fine form. Definitely a step forward from its predecessor, this album would be a fine introduction to Martyn Joseph for anyone who likes their music song-driven and stripped back. James Stewart 11/27/1999
Forever joking about the bleak, depressing aspect of his songs, Martyn Joseph never makes it Cobain-esque slit-your-wrists gloom. Indeed, with the ease of a stand up comedian the Welshman's live act can make you chortle. As he sings on "Good Man," "Broken on the wheels of living, broken by this life, broken yet still held together by his love." He's our British Ragamuffin. Honest but never depressing. Quite the reverse. Far From Silent is less produced and more in keeping with the live setting of his craft. Of course he does deal with tragedy ("Good Man"), injustice ("All in the Past"), Balkan refugees ("The Good in me is Dead") and the curses of modern culture ("Celebrity"). There is a righteous angst about Joseph's work but there are also those songs that speak of another way to live ("People Crazy like Me") and of spiritual self-discovery and pilgrimage ("All This Time"). Maybe the crux of the whole thing, the difference between one of Britain's best songwriters and the aforementioned Kurt Cobain is in the question of the Joan Osbourne cover that he has made his own - What if God was one of us? He is and that's what makes this man's contribution to his industry so vital. I find both on CD and live that Joseph's work does something that the froth and comfortable ease of modern worship doesn't - it empathizes. Realizing that someone else is going through it, too, helps. Must be why God became one of us in the first place, and yet the Church seems to have forgotten that. Thus Joseph is a prophet to remind us to comtemplate as realistically as we can about this planet of tangled and hurting souls. To somehow lighten the heavy burden with the presence of the Godman right slap dash bang in the middle of it. Far From Silent is a cry to the public. Major label Sony may have given way to Grapevine who in turn have given way to Joseph's very own Pipe Records, but this Welshman has no intention of leaving the helm of six strings and wood. Musically, this is a stripped back sound but one that seems more honest to his place in it all than anything that's gone before. Over 40 songs were sieved through to find eight great originals and two covers. This is his strongest collection to date. Definitive Joseph. Steve Stockman 1/30/2000
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