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long road to the hear and now or the story of the enchantment
started late in 1997. Some would say it started in Tucson in
the year of 1980 with the Giant Sandworms {Howe Gelb, Dave Seeger
(Naked Prey) and guitarist Rainer Ptacek}. It is true the start
was then and there, but this is the road to the enchantment
so, in 1997, we begin with a farewell. Howe's long term collaborator
and friend Rainer Ptacek was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Howe
spent the better part of the year putting together a benefit
album, "The Inner Flame," with Robert Plant, a devotee of Ptacek's
solo albums. In November Rainer Ptacek passed away. 1998's "Hisser"
was a deeply personal and intimate recording. The record was
a solo effort released on Gelb's OW OM records, distributed
by V2 records. Gelb's association with V2 began with OP8 ( the
Giant Sand trio of Gelb, Convertino and Burns joined by Lisa
Germano) and was intended to bloom with "Enchantment." The road,
as they say, is paved.
"Chore of Enchantment" was produced by John Parish, Jim
Dickinson and Kevin Salem in Tucson, Memphis and New York
respectively. Paradoxically the multiple locations, multiple
sessions, many guests and time in between resulted in Giant
Sand's most cohesive record to date. Gelb's lyrics have always
resulted from internal and elliptical logic that morphs the
personal into the universal, and reveals simple details to
be profound. The music is the fantastic soundtrack to the
listener's exploration and celestial wanderings. When it ends,
you want to jump back in and splash around some more. Enchantment
is the height of this masterful combination of lyrics and
music.
On "Dusted," when Gelb whispers, "Jesus might return, if
only a slight return," Burns' cello, Gelb's guitar, and Dickinson's
mellotron manage to convey the longing and the unfulfilled-
without words. The guitars of Gelb and Salem take one on a
desert drive in "Punishing Sun". "Temptation of Egg's" wurly
piano and Juliana Hatfield's girlish voices swirl and propel
this lusty romp. "Raw" and "Dirty from the Rain" and "Shiver"
recount loss, shame and joy with beauty, grace and delicate
detail. Dickinson brought in Susan Marshall-Powell and Jackie
Johnson, whose vocals combine with Gelb's guitar and Jim's
far away piano- to convey the wonder of the astonishment in
and by the "Astonished." In "No Reply" one is privy to a conversation
between friends who need no words to converse.
In Memphis or in Tucson, piano or guitar, aided by friends
or abetted without, the voice is unmistakably Gelb's. The
record is a symphony of sound by an orchestra of a few, a
journey to a "Shrine" made by the one who came to an end that
was the beginning of The Chore of Enchantment.
"When folks fall in love they are delivered to the unknown
Fools that never fall in love are in love with the safety
zone You can end up all crippled by the crazy seeds you've
sown Therein lies the crux of the sweet flux of such irresistible
moan"
- Howe Gelb "Bottom Line Man"
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