Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar - One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur

In honor of Jack Kerouac and the forthcoming documentary about his novel, Big Sur, Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard and Son Volt's Jay Farrar collaborated on this gem of an album which consists of Kerouac's own words put to music. Musically, the album is incredibly alt-country in nature which is new territory for Mr. Gibbard, but very familiar terrain for Farrar.

I am a big fan of just about anything that Ben Gibbard does, but I admit that I had my reservations about this album. I'm not a Son Volt fan at all, and I was hesitant about how Gibbard's vocals would fit in with country-based music. Suffice it to say, I was very pleased. For me, the litmus test of how good an album is is how it plays in the car. I commute to work nearly every day and for me, if an album sounds good in the car with the landscape rushing past, then it is a truly good album. I find it rather fitting that songs based on Jack Kerouac's lyrics should sound so good coming from the speakers in my Civic as I'm driving down the interstate.

Tracklisting:
1. California Zephyr
2. Low Life Kingdom
3. City and Sur (Willamine)
4. All In One
5. Breath Our Iodine
6. These Roads Don't Move
7. Big Sur
8. One Fast Move or I'm Gone
9. Final Horrors
10. Sea Engines
11. The Void
12. San Francisco