Self-proclaiming itself as an 'alternative' album, my first impression was that this tape was going to be someone trying to pass off a decade old album as 'alternative' so a bunch of mall shopping teens would quickly pick it up and earn some quick sales for the artist. But once I put it in, all suspicious were quickly drawn to a halt. The album is most definitely alternative. Choosing to stay away from both metal-rock and cheesy pop tunes that were common in the 80's, it shapes itself with beautiful pop ballads.

The songs are well-crafted, and considering most of their ages, stand out well amongst other soft-rock/adult contemporary numbers of today. The one thing that I hated about this tape though was the song "Joseph." The line "he called me Joseph" repeats itself over and over again. Of course he called you Joseph, that's your name! I kept shouting that at the tape player, hoping it would stop annoying me, but it didn't. But once that song was over and another adult-pop number came on, my blood pressure began to lower and I was once again feeling relaxed.

No matter what year the songs were recorded in, rather it be 1985 or 1994, each song fits well together and seemed as if it was a piece of the puzzle that was needed to release this album. Maybe that's why the album took thirteen years to be released...Joseph had a gut feeling it was missing something. I'll give this tape a B-.

Jorn: Out to Every Nation

Joseph Arthur: Come To Where I'm From

[Issue Ten // July 1998]