Joseph Arthur - one of the best.
To me, when it comes to the younger generation of American songwriters, Joseph Arthur is one of the very best. Only Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie and Ryan Adams are superior to him. Redemption's Son is a great album / cd - his best so far.

Decent
I purchased this because I love the song Honey and the Moon, which turned out to be the best song on the album. The rest of the album was just mediocre. The use of spiritual references were throughout the album. I'm not saying this was a bad thing but in this case none of the spiritual referances reached me other than the song You've Been Loved. It is the other song that in my opinion carries the album. I still would recommend the purchase of this album if for no other reason than to support the artist that could write such a beautiful song as Honey and the Moon. Hopefully he has more songs like this one in him.

Tight songs layered with sound effects but not cluttered
"Redemption's Son" remains my favorite Joseph Arthur recording so far. Both a clever wordsmith and talented musician, Mr. Arthur weaves his insights, hopes, and fear into tight songs layered with sound effects but not cluttered from overindulgence. The production and packaging are top shelf, too.

One of the most creative and engaging singer-songwriters
Another great album by one of the most interesting comtemporary singer-songwriters. Joseph Arthur draws of a wide-range of American music influences to create a unique and engaging sound all his own. He also does the art work on this and other albums which is interesting in its own right. If you do not own a Joseph Arther CD - this is an excellent one to start with.

Great album, but all over the place
What to say about this album. The bottom line is there are some great, classic songs on here, then there are some not so good song. Luckily the cd has 16 tracks and is 75 minutes long so that even if you weed out the ones you don't like you still have a lot of music to listen to. The problem is this cd has so many different types of songs in it that you really have to be a fan of all music I think to fully enjoy this album all the way through. It seems like he was trying to do a little of everything possible here, having some type of identity crisis or something. If I had to split the songs into seperate categories I would say we would have 1)Classic Joe sound (which is basically him and his guitar with possible drum beat, singing from his heart about past or present girlfriends) 2) pop/emo 3) rock/grunge 4)industrial 5)country

Now I am not a fan of somewhat cheesy pop/emo songs or country, so that makes for a problem for me and this album. I love the classic sound where he just sings his poetry and let's his voice and acoustic guitar work all the beauty, those song mostly comprise of this:

Signature Joe sound: Redemptions son, Honey and the moon, Innocent world, september baby, termite song, favorite girl, and you are the dark.

These are far and away my favorite songs on the album and I can't get enough of them. They take me to a whole new state of mind when I hear them.

Then we have "Nation of slaves" which is kind of grunge ish with kurt cobain type vocals. Then "Permission" which sounds like it could be a nine inch nails song. Not a bad thing at all if you are a fan.

But for me at all gets worse from there. Firs we have the pop/emo songs that just dont' work for me. It's not that they are horrible songs, it just sounds like he is trying to be somebody he is not. Those songs consist of the following :

I would rather hide, evidence, let's embrace, and in the night.

Then finally, my least favorite type of music, country. There are three songs on here that are borderline county songs and just can't listen to them:

Dear lord, blue lips, and you've been loved.

Well there you have it and know you know what to expect. It's worth getting for the songs that you do become passionate about, but be prepared to probably find some you dont' like.