Don't Put Those Houses There
I know that Howe Gelb has a huge fanbase and has made countless albums under countless pseudonyms, but I haven't heard any of them apart from the very early ones. Don't know why - maybe it just seems like such a daunting task to plough through them all, or maybe I'm just no longer interested in hearing anything new. Hell, I doubt that I'll live long enough to hear all the albums I've already got again, without trying to get into new stuff.
Anyway, I first heard Giant Sand on the John Peel show some time around 1985 - he played 'October Anywhere' and it made enough of an impression on me to remember the artist name. A few nights later he played 'Artists' and that made me go out and buy the first album (Valley Of Rain). I liked it a lot, and then a few months later bought the second album (Ballad Of A Thin Line Man) and the Blacky Ranchette album that came out at the same time.
Listening to them again now, after gawd nose how many years, I still really like the GS albums and I don't know why I didn't stick with Howe after that - but presumably something else came up instead.
The Blacky Ranchette album (Heartland) is still available, but these two aren't.
Shame.
Oh - and if anyone thinks I *should* investigate more of the Gelbster, and can point me to a good starting point for the rest of his career, I'll go there.
Cheers m'dears
L7ers
Giant Sand - Valley Of Rain
01 - Down On Town & Love's No Answer
02 - Black Venetian Blind
03 - Curse Of A Thousand Flames
04 - Artists
05 - Man Of Want
06 - Valley Of Rain
07 - Tumble And Tear
08 - October Anywhere
09 - Barrio
10 - Death, Dying And Channel Five
11 - Torture Of Love
Giant Sand - Ballad Of A Thin Line Man
01 - Thin Line Man
02 - All Along The Watchtower
03 - Graveyard
04 - Body Of Water
05 - Last Legs
06 - You Can't Put Your Arms Round A Memory
07 - A Hard Man To Get To Know
08 - Who Am I
09 - The Chill Outside
10 - Desperate Man
posted by Witchseason at 11:18 am
4 Comments:
I absolutely loved Howe's last album -'Sno Angel, I think. It's got a gospel choir, which could be a godawful cliche. Instead, he uses it like I've never heard before, like a point/counterpoint argument to both his words and his dry singing style. This is an album people will come back to in 20 years and wonder why the hell we were all going potty over fuckin' Babyshambles.
howegelb.com
myspace giant sand
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Greetings. I just found your blog. I noticed your 4AD posts. Great job with the missing Xmal record. Needless to say, I have the other two, as well as the complete recorded works of the Cocteau Twins, Wolfgang Press, Dead Can Dance, The Birthday Party and Bauhaus just to name a few... I did nothing but buy 4AD records for about two years straight back in the late 80s and early 90s. I'll post some of my favourite rarities in the near future and give you a link. Blog on!
The latest album "ProVisions" (2008) is brilliant. My wristband review-o-matic sez 9 out of 10. Start there & work back.
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