From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Best CD

September 21 2005

Needle Bed by John Ralston
www.john-ralston.com

In a year that saw the release of some fine albums, Needle Bed is still head and shoulders above the rest. After his band Legends of Rodeo registered a blip on the mainstream-music radar by getting signed to a major label, the group ran into serious problems and disintegrated. Ralston recorded this album in the wake of that implosion, and the palpable heartache of Needle Bed pays testimony to the singer-songwriter's state of mind. Perhaps it was just the emotional set of circumstances that allowed Ralston to come up with such a touching work, but we'll take it any way we can get it. Needle Bed is a masterpiece.