My fifth favorite album of 2002 is the last one on the list I didn’t hear the year it came out. I discovered Josh Rouse in 2005 after the release of his best album, Nashville, and as I am wont to do, immediately bought up everything else he’d ever recorded.
Under Cold Blue Stars is Rouse’s third album and his first fully realized work. It’s a loose concept album about a couple in the 50s, based in part on Rouse’s parents.
Rouse is a master of pop melancholy — that’s the reason I love him so — and this record gives him ample opportunity to paint sweetly sad portraits of everyday life.
Following this couple through early love, family life, betrayals and reconciliations, Under Cold Blue Stars is oblique enough to never feel like a storybook but cohesive enough to feel like an emotional journey.
The sorry look in your eye
It doesn’t mean a thing
So long, we shared beds
Now it comes to an end
With such a saddened eye
‘Cause I’ve heard stories
Ugly stories that no one can deny
They were true
They were true
While I was away
You were workin’ every day
Or so it seemed
Phone calls, regrets
Everyone placed bets on odds
I couldn’t see
‘Cause I’ve heard stories
Ugly stories that no one can deny
And I’ve heard stories
Ugly stories that no one can deny
They were true, they were true
They were true, they were true
Believe in your doubts
Because I found out
You can never trust in anyone
And here in the south, I call you out
You can never trust in anyone
It’s not for all
Next time, you’re in town
Don’t bother coming around
You’re not welcome anymore
Unfair, so unkind
To have wasted my time
On such a silly dream
‘Cause I’ve heard stories
Ugly stories that no one can deny
And I’ve heard stories
Ugly stories that no one can deny
They were true, they were true
They were true, they were true
Meet Me In Montauk 
Interesting idea for a concept album.