Complicated Game

James McMurtry - Complicated Game
Critic Score
Based on 8 reviews
2015 Ratings: #17 / 1021
User Score
Based on 63 ratings
2015 Rank: #216
February 24, 2015 / Release Date
LP / Format
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CRITIC REVIEWS

90
Paste

Complicated Game is brilliant album, dense and thoughtful as McMurtry swirls around inside the heads of another set of fascinating characters.

90
American Songwriter

It’s an album that shows again and again that very few songwriters on this planet illuminate the oft-unfair rules of this game or the inner workings of the players quite like he can.

90
Slant Magazine
He's a storyteller with a literary knack for using detail and narrative to draw complex, relatable characters, and his storytelling finesse has never been more evident than it is here.
90
Uncut

McMurtry's flair for the cinematic shines brighter than ever.

80
PopMatters
The new album doesn’t have the political commentary that we saw on those two, but it’s likely we’re going to see Complicated Game on the nominee list come next year. It’s that good.
80
AllMusic

The difference between the guy who made 1989's Too Long in the Wasteland and the man who cut Complicated Game is the more mature McMurtry has figured out how to deliver the fine songs he writes and get their qualities on tape

80
SPIN
This 53-year-old minor folk vet’s drawl doesn’t obscure his flow, making it all the easier to follow his tales in real-time, inhabiting a husband cleaning his deer rifle or the bent-backed Deaver who watched as “Uncle Sam took away the neighbors’ land.”
80
Mojo
There's a sense in almost all the songs of open roads, either beckoning or closed in, or both.
Doofy
81

‘Complicated Game’ sees McMurtry take a different direction nine albums into his career - this is more restrained, contemplative, folk-centric and downbeat. It’s a style that’s refreshing and one that allows McMurtry’s nicely ageing vocals to work against sympathetic acoustic instrumentation more often.

The soaring chorus of ‘You Got to Me’ is good enough to make Ryan Adams jealous you’d think, while 'How'm I Gonna Find You Now’ is a ... read more

thierry
78

McMurtry has created an absolutely unforgettable musical journey through Americana. His storytelling is top notch and the music doesn't hide away either. Complicated Game tackles some heavy, existential themes without drooping or becoming pretentious. And most important of all, McMurtry retains his undying spirit throughout the whole album.

Copper Canteen, You Got to Me, She Loves Me, How'm I Gonna Find You Know, These Things I've Come to Know, Deaver's Crossing, Carlisle's Haul, Long Island ... read more

95

"Honey don't you be yelling at me when I'm cleaning my gun" gotta be one of the best opening lines to an album of all time.

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Track List

  1. Copper Canteen
  2. You Got to Me
  3. Ain't Got a Place
  4. She Loves Me
  5. How'm I Gonna Find You Now
  6. These Things I've Come to Know
  7. Deaver's Crossing
  8. Carlisle's Haul
  9. Forgotten Coast
  10. South Dakota
  11. Long Island Sound
  12. Cutter
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Added on: February 19, 2015