Chore of Enchantment [Import]

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Japanese edition of the alternative country-rock act's 2000 release with four exclusive bonus tracks, 'Music Arcade', 'Astonished' (In Tuscon), 'Punishing Sun' (In Tuscon) and 'Vanishing Point'. Standard jewel case.

Tracks:

Overture
(Well) Dusted (For The Millennium)
Punishing Sun
X-Tra Wide
1972
Temptation Of Egg
Raw
Wolfy
Shiver
Dirty From The Rain
Astonished (In Memphis)
No Reply
Satellite
Bottom Line Man
Way To End The Day
Shrine

Amazon.com's Best of 2000

Howie Gelb tinkers with Giant Sand like a mechanic restoring a classic jalopy in the back barn. With an eclectic mixed bag of spare parts (Neil Young, Percy Sledge, and Lou Reed with a bit of John Cale thrown in) he presides over the revolving-door collective Giant Sand with a lot of elbow grease, much inspired love, and a kind of whacked genius. Though his talent has always been apparent, until Chore of Enchantment, he's never hit on all cylinders. But he's racing now. Chore is replete with top-notch, desert-fried, soul-infused tunes. --Tod Nelson

Amazon.com

Howe Gelb's revolving-door band Giant Sand started out as a gritty twang-rock project for the beer-and-barbecue set. Still steeped in desert mystery, Gelb's wise and wizardly ways have evolved over the past 15 years to the point where his songs manage to conjure up images of Neil Young, Brian Wilson, and Tom Waits comingling inside of a warm pair of speakers. The result is thaumaturgical--not quite Picasso for the blind but just as bumpy and as fun to touch as braille. Chore of Enchantment's relaxed juggling of rock, country, psychedelia, and experimentalism is chameleon-like without being forced and beautiful without even trying. The variety of sounds suggests Gelb's closest contemporaries to be Yo La Tengo, who also spent 15 years moving from a so-so debut to sonic seniority. --Jason Josephes

Customer Reviews:

May be Giant Sand's best album.......2006-11-29

Old Pueblo music guru Howie Gelb has crafted a series of intriguing, cutting-edge albums with his group Giant Sand; "Chore of Enchantment" may be his best. It's hard to classify his music, but it does come across as a beguiling mixture of country and classic 1960s rock and roll (Think of Brian Wilson for example, but searching for the beauty of the Sonoran desert instead of nubile Californian girls.). When I lived in Tucson, Giant Sand was the hidden secret that had been lurking around, almost unnoticed for years, while The Mollys soared, trekked out from the Old Pueblo and conquered the world with their beguiling mixture of Mexican Norteno music, Celtic, bluegrass, country, folk and rock and roll. Without question both Giant Sand and The Mollys were among the best reasons why Tucson became a leading center of progressive, cutting edge country/folk/rock and roll; a position which Tucson still occupies thanks to Giant Sand's popular offshoot, Calexico. If you're a diehard fan of country and bluegrass music from Brooklyn, NY who thinks that Brooklyn is now the next new thing in bluegrass, country and folk music, then I strongly advise you to hear the excellent albums made by Tucson's best bands, and if you are objective, then you'll agree with me that Tucson remains light years ahead of anything being crafted now by musicians in Brooklyn's still nascent bluegrass/country/folk music scene.

not country music.......2006-11-26

People seem to think this is country music, but it's not. Well, maybe it is sometimes. I believe anyone with a creative taste for music will find something to like about this album. It's not ordinary music, and it's something you will probably treasure for a long time.

To Echo "A Christmas Story" -- 4 Plus, Plus, Plus, Plus.......2004-02-03

There is no pigeon hole that works for Chore of Enchantment. Despite the back cover CD case photo, it is a galaxy away from bubby country. Nor is it a whole lot closer to alt-country, not with snatches of opera and instruments that -- on the Dusted cut alone -- include mellotron, cello, sitar guitar and a 78 rpm crackling sound. Chief Sand man Howie Gelb offers vocals that are more spoken word than sung, a unipolar Leonard Cohen, perhaps. Or, as he sings on Satellite, "you can get Leonard Nimoy/To play the part of Leonard Cohen." And then there are those lyrics: "Dusted's home is a hamster wheel...", or "you make your way here/With some extra wide turns...." or "the spine waits to feel the shiver/But right now deals with a great lack of it." And then, out of the blue, come a fully realized yearning love song, Astonish; a classic stay or move on snapshot, Dirty from the Rain; and Way to End the Day, a lament to the daily grind and the daily glory.

In the end, I really don't know what to make of Chore of Enchantment, except this -- every time I play it I think, "How come I haven't listened to this for a while?" and then do so constantly for weeks.

Yawn.......2002-05-30

I bought Chore of Enchantment because an alleged friend, knowing of my love for Pavement, thought I would be similarly fond of this cd. Not even close, Giant Sand takes pretention to a new level and to quote Spinal Tap "is swimming in a sea of bad poetry and retarded sexuality." Coming to a used CD bin at a shoppe near you.

Abrasive sounds molded into a masterpiece.......2002-05-20

I bought this CD after being turned onto Calexico, hoping to find more of the same sound, and I was fortunate to trip upon the massive talent of Giant Sand. I can't believe they were able to mold this motley collection of abrasive sounds into an album I am sure I will listen to for a long time.

Tracks:

Overture
(Well) Dusted (For the Millennium)
Punishing Sun
X-Tra Wide
1972
Temptation of Egg
Raw
Wolfy
Shiver
Dirty from the Rain
Astonished (In Memphis)
No Reply
Satellite
Bottom Line Man
Way to End the Day
Shrine

Album Description

Japanese edition of the alternative country-rock act's 2000 release with four exclusive bonus tracks, 'Music Arcade', 'Astonished' (In Tuscon), 'Punishing Sun' (In Tuscon) and 'Vanishing Point'. Standard jewel case.

Album Details

Japanese Version featuring a Bonus Track.

Music:

Music

music

Music

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1944-The Red Cross Concert

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Winter Kolednica: Seasonal Carols From Slovenia

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World Tour 1990 [Live]

Yo Te Recuerdo: Linea Azul, Vol. 3

Charles Ives: Symphony No. 2 / Orchestral Set No. 2

Loving You