John Williamson previews a visit to Britain by the 'best obscureband' in the US It is a measure of the stature of Howe Gelb as asongwriter that it is virtually impossible to put an exact figure onthe number of albums he has released since 1980, when, along withDave Seeger and the late Rainer Ptacek, he formed the GiantSandworms.
A rough tally of his work shows that Giant Sandworms releasedthree albums, he has released two solo albums, and four under theguise of the Band of Blacky Ranchette. The bulk of his work has beenas Giant Sand, whose Chore of Enchantment album is their eighteenthalbum in 15 years, and there has still been time for the band tocollaborate with Lisa Germano on the OP8 album, Slush, which wasvoted one of the 100 best albums of the nineties by Spin magazine.
Gelb also has two solo albums pending, including an ambient pianorecord, on his own Ow Om Recordings, while he also talks of a newband, Ton, he has formed with his neighbour and former Bob Dylandrummer, Winston Watson.
However, it is not only Gelb who has been productive, though, andto prove that being a Giant Sand completist must be one of the mostexpensive occupations in the world, the band's bassist (Joey Burns)and drummer, John Convertino, have formed their own successfuloffshoot, Calexio, who are about to release their fifth album, aswell as being part of Friends of Dean Martinez, who released analbum on Sub Pop in 1997.
While Giant Sand have always been held in high regard, theirrecord sales have for much of their career reduced them to the"cult" ghetto, allowing Rolling Stone magazine to patronise them as"America's best obscure band". It is perhaps surprising that afteryears of indifference it is the offshoot projects that have focusedattention on their overlooked talents.
OP8, in particular their cover version of Lee Hazelwood's Sand,troubled mainstream radio programmers, while Calexio are hittingthese shores in May to headline a show at the Queen Elizabeth Hallin London. It also sets the scene for Chore of Enchantment to becomeGiant Sand's most successful album to date, although the omens havenot always been good. Indeed, the three-year gap between this andits predecessor is the longest Giant Sand fans have ever had to waitfor a new release.
"I was putting together an album for my friend Rainer, who diedof brain cancer," said Gelb by way of explanation for a delay thatwould be normal by many artists' standards. "I did this co-production thing with Robert Plant, who became friendly with Raineras well, and we got Jimmy Page, Emmylou Harris, Victoria Wil-liams,and Evan Dando to name a few. Then we did the OP8 record of course,and then John and Joey did most of the work on the Bill Janovitzrecord. I played on two songs on that as well. Being a dad is a full-time job, too, and I'm playing on other people's records as well,like Broken Girl on Sub Pop. There's been plenty of stuff we've beendoing."
The success of the OP8 record looked to open up new avenues forthe next Giant Sand release, thanks to the connection with RichardBranson's V2 label. Indeed, it looked as if for the first time intheir history Giant Sand were about to be afforded a simultaneousinternational release for Chore of Enchantment. At least, until V2changed its mind, a decision which Gelb announced to frustrated fanson the band's website: "V2 Records has decided to drop all thingsGiant Sand. Hard to say if that's a problem or not. Now we willnever know."
It would appear that it has not been a problem. Initially, theband took to selling a batch of 500 promo copies of the album, whichhad been manufactured by V2, through the internet and at gigs. Abatch of 70, which found their way to the Rough Trade Shop inLondon, sold out in two days, while at gigs in Canada last autumn,they left a box of the CDs on the stage and a box in which punterscould leave their $12. Shortly afterwards, a series of deals werearranged, meaning that the album has been released on Thrill JockeyRecords in the US and Loose Records in the UK.
Agood thing this is too, for Chore of Enchantment is adistillation of the best component parts of the many other GiantSand records, something that may be down to the imaginative choiceof producers. It was recorded in three parts - in New York withKevin Salem, at home in Tucson with P J Harvey collaborator JohnParish, and in Memphis with Jim Dickinson.
The latter's involvement in the Stones' Sticky Fingers albumsealed his involvement, as Gelb told Dolomite magazine: "It is themost perfectly produced record ever," he said, "and part of the funwas hearing Jim's take on how some of it happened. He told us howwhen Gram Parsons didn't show up to play piano on Wild Horses, theyasked him to.
"Memphis was an experience for us. Every place has its rub-offtendencies. That's what we do, we reflect, and when we were there weate a lot of Miss Purdy's Fried Chicken."
The proper release of Chore of Enchantment sees the three bandmembers in Europe for the best part of six months, meaning thatGiant Sand, Howe Gelb, and Calexio are all performing shows, with anultra-rare Gelb solo show in Glasgow the Scottish ration for themeantime. Tellingly, his enthusiasm for playing small clubs aroundAmerica and Europe has not been diminished in the last 15 years.
"We have done a few festivals and things, where you can neverhear anything," he says. "It never sounds right. It's always morefun in smaller clubs. As depressing as it can be if you think 'we'vebeen doing this for 10, 15 years and still don't play to more than100 people', the sound can be extraordinary.
"We never rehearse, and every tour goes through a metamorphosisfrom the beginning to the end. We have no set list. Sometimes I'llthink 'oh, these great old songs I forgot about, let's do them' orthe sound on stage will be so good that I completely make somethingup."
A real alternative to "alternative country", Gelb has more causenow than ever to be positive about the future of his multifariousprojects having produced a truly great record in Chore ofEnchantment, which also serves as an awesome tribute to RainerPtacek.
- Howe Gelb plays the 13th Note in Glasgow on May 12
No comments:
Post a Comment