One Fast Move or I'm Gone (Music from Kerouac's Big Sur)

I took a road trip a few years ago and visited a lot of the places Kerouac describes in Big Sur. This music, and the film it accompanies, are perfect in every way, both a tribute to the book they celebrate and a tribute to the artists (both Jay and Ben) who are celebrating it. This disc is on my desert island collection, for sure.

I just started listening to Son Volt by my friend who's father is in the band. And since his father and someone else is on this album i really think its great.

Wow, that was a good album. Very mellow vibe and all songs are good. Very impressed when an artist steps out and shows us how much of a musician they can be by doing stuff like this.

Ben Gibbard is by far my favorite vocalist. He has such an amazing voice it's hard for me to not like everything he has ever been in. I like the other dude too Farrar he has a folksy quality to him very good singer but every song he does I'm waiting for the Edmund Fitzgerald cut in lol. No but I like his songs too. I love the folksy country style this has it's a new way for me to enjoy Gibbard's voice. First the melodic emo of DCfC then the techno styles of PS now this. Next Gibbard Hardcore Gangsta Rap! No that would be awful!

I read Kerouac's books several years ago, (big sur; twice). Upon first listen, I experienced something close to tears, whateever the inside pain is, first because Jay and Ben completely "get it" (Kerouac) and what they have put forth is an astounding account of such writings. Secondly, the thought occured to me that there are no more authors of this caliber anymore, not only am I an audiophile but an avid reader, sure there still some great writers out there, but few still carry the depth of thought and man. All these reviews about "country" and the "postal service" do not understand Jay and Ben or what they have displayed here.

Every track is solid. Looking forward to a road trip to Big Sur, but for now will enjoy while exploring the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state.

dare i say this record is a more comfortable fit for farrar than gibbard? i think jay had more say as to the tone of the record than gibbard did. that being said, it 's a beautiful record. looking forward to the show this saturday in sf!

i was so excited to hear what could come of this collaboration and i am impressed on many levels. not a weak track on here but... what i really imagined and hoped for was more of a duet style record. while they sing together on some of the choruses, it's mostly as a lead and harmonizing backing vocal. "sea engines" has the best duet on the album and hearing ben's honey tenor with jay's straight-and-true baritone just makes me wish for more. this album just could have been so much greater with the emphsis on highlighting these great voices singing TOGETHER. ...and please, fellow reviewers, stop posting the one dimensional thoughts on "different-than-ben-with-postal-service-crap". sure postal service was good, but it's a crumb on the floor compared to the big picture on the table of this collaboration.

Although best understood after reading Kerouac's "Big Sur," Ben and Jay successfully illustrate the ups and downs of Kerouac's experience as an artist. By using the actual text from the novel as a platform for lyrics, they are able to convey Kerouac's message in a direct, authentic way. By incorporating folk and jazz genre into the overall sound of the album, however, Ben and Jay go beyond just the author's words: the sound they create embodies and celebrates who Kerouac was and what he loved. This album may not be what most people were expecting (but then again, Ben Gibbard is constantly experimenting with his style and never really gives his DCFC following quite what they are expecting), but it stays true to the man to which it is attributed to, and it does so beautifully.

While it is Ben Gibbard, it sounds more like Eddie Veddar in "Into The Wild". Having said that I do say that this is a traveling album ment to be listened to while the leaves are falling in the Catskill Mountains in Upstate, NY. So get in your car and go enjoy the views while they last and let the words of Kerouac and the voice of Ben Gibbard set you free.