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Giant Giant Sand - "Tucson (Deluxe Edition)" Released: 17 Dec 2012
In 2012, Fire Records announced a digital deluxe version of Giant Giant Sand's recent epic LP, Tucson. Featuring additional versions of the album tracks such as "Undiscovered Country" and "Lost Love" from the mixing desk of John Parish.
When Howe Gelb regrouped, enlarged and magnified his idea with the newest version of past ensembles, calling it (appropriately enough) GIANT GIANT SAND, he created the breath-taking country rock opera 'Tucson', named as a sort of homage to the town he's called home for forty years.
GIANT GIANT SAND brings together six musicians from Denmark (who have been a part of past incarnations of Giant Sand), with the addition of six new musicians from Howe Gelb's native Tucson making their Giant Sand debuts, including Brian Lopez, Gabriel Sulivan and Jon Villa who bring their Mexi-Ameri-can heritage to the album with a permeating spirit and cumbia attack.
The inspiration for assembling these collaborators (or cast if you will) was the nagging notion of a country rock opera forming there somewhere.
Taking place in the town of Tucson , the story revolves around a "semi grizzled man with overt boyish naïveté" who sets off to escape his hometown and embarks on a life-changing road trip; eschewing all his worldly goods and leaving his girlfriend, imprisoned at the Mexican border, finding love at a train station saloon and dreading the end of the world. The album is a dusty work of art, conjuring eroding images of the desert and confused rivers across a cactus-strewn landscape.
* * *
Fire Records have recently completed a series of reissues to mark the 25th Anniversary of Giant Sand by releasing all sixteen albums by the group. Formed in 1983 by Howe Gelb and his reinvented "older brother" Rainer Ptacek, Giant Sand were pioneers in forging a particular strain of Americana and Desert Rock. Although Rainer died in 1997 from brain cancer, he continues to leave his imprint on Howe's recording from the day they met. In turn, Howe Gelb remained influential in the careers of the likes of Grandaddy, M Ward and brought together the duo of John Convertino and Joey Burns of Calexico when they were Giant Sand's rhythm section.
Howe Gelb has also enjoyed a prolific solo career, with fourteen albums all to be reissued by Fire later this year. The most recent solo project is entitled, Alegrias, by 'Howe Gelb and A Band of Gypsies', was recorded on a rooftop in Cordoba, Spain, during the last several years. The band is a collection of Andalucian Gypsies featuring guitarist extraordinaire Raimundo Amador, that is, quite frankly, stunning. The solo album just before, 'Sno Angel Like You, featured a full Canadian Baptist gospel choir was heralded as a career high receiving a 5 star review from Mojo.
When Howe Gelb regrouped, enlarged and magnified his idea with the newest version of past ensembles, calling it (appropriately enough) GIANT GIANT SAND, he created the breath-taking country rock opera 'Tucson', named as a sort of homage to the town he's called home for forty years.
GIANT GIANT SAND brings together six musicians from Denmark (who have been a part of past incarnations of Giant Sand), with the addition of six new musicians from Howe Gelb's native Tucson making their Giant Sand debuts, including Brian Lopez, Gabriel Sulivan and Jon Villa who bring their Mexi-Ameri-can heritage to the album with a permeating spirit and cumbia attack.
The inspiration for assembling these collaborators (or cast if you will) was the nagging notion of a country rock opera forming there somewhere.
Taking place in the town of Tucson , the story revolves around a "semi grizzled man with overt boyish naïveté" who sets off to escape his hometown and embarks on a life-changing road trip; eschewing all his worldly goods and leaving his girlfriend, imprisoned at the Mexican border, finding love at a train station saloon and dreading the end of the world. The album is a dusty work of art, conjuring eroding images of the desert and confused rivers across a cactus-strewn landscape.
* * *
Fire Records have recently completed a series of reissues to mark the 25th Anniversary of Giant Sand by releasing all sixteen albums by the group. Formed in 1983 by Howe Gelb and his reinvented "older brother" Rainer Ptacek, Giant Sand were pioneers in forging a particular strain of Americana and Desert Rock. Although Rainer died in 1997 from brain cancer, he continues to leave his imprint on Howe's recording from the day they met. In turn, Howe Gelb remained influential in the careers of the likes of Grandaddy, M Ward and brought together the duo of John Convertino and Joey Burns of Calexico when they were Giant Sand's rhythm section.
Howe Gelb has also enjoyed a prolific solo career, with fourteen albums all to be reissued by Fire later this year. The most recent solo project is entitled, Alegrias, by 'Howe Gelb and A Band of Gypsies', was recorded on a rooftop in Cordoba, Spain, during the last several years. The band is a collection of Andalucian Gypsies featuring guitarist extraordinaire Raimundo Amador, that is, quite frankly, stunning. The solo album just before, 'Sno Angel Like You, featured a full Canadian Baptist gospel choir was heralded as a career high receiving a 5 star review from Mojo.