Chore Of Enchantment

Realised through tragic circumstances, the passing of Rainer Ptacek and the birth of Calexico, it all came together at the end for Giant Sand. Arguably Giant Sand’s finest album, the fruits of an astounding story and the mesmerising high point of the 25th anniversary reissue series.

Howe Gelb, 2011….this is gonna be a tough one to put down on paper.

i’d rather just answer questions.

you can ask me anything about this album. go ahead. . . .
you there hiding behind the head with the wide brim hat, yes .. you. . . “what does the title mean ?” .. well it’s just the effort that it takes hanging on to the things that tend to enthral. The exhausting act of keeping happy.

… anyone else with a hand up .. yes ? .. you there facing the opposite way, what do you want to know ? “Why is the record so long?” .. well .. back then it still seemed like a good idea to make them longer than they needed to be .. .. it was actually a lot longer .. 2 albums worth … but we trimmed it down for the sake of atmosphere.

Anyone else ? is that it ? are we done here .. ? yes please .. . a little louder .. the girl with the little frog on the dog .. yes ? “why are there so many producers for just one record ?”.
.. very good question…lemme sit down for that one .. ok .. once upon a time I had a good friend named Rainer .. he was my reinvented older brother … met him when i was 19 .. decided to wait ’til he was free from his band to start a group with him .. that became this Giant Sand Band .. well .. one day he got brain cancer and life got real rough
.. he ended up dying 2 months before this record was made .. we were due to record it in the very same place he did his last recordings before he just could not play anymore .. that was a very tough time
..so when i went in there to the same place… I had a very hard time hearing things … my new friend John Parish and his friend ‘head’, were there to help get it done .. but I was not in great shape to hear well…after we recorded a lot of stuff there .. the record company requested we continue trying ….they just wanted at least one or two songs that were conducive to the day.. something that could maybe be played on a radio station .. songs with a beginning and an end, and hopefully some middle parts .. that didn’t seem like an unfair request.

.. we ended up in Memphis with Jim Dickinson after enough months passed to heal some.. but we still didn’t deliver the goods exactly… finally came out of my writer’s block . . . the only new song was ‘Shiver’, but John and Joe had to leave before we got the best take with John Parish at the controls .. and now finally new songs were coming out of me instantaneously, unfortunately, because of big label restraints and the ilk of label deals and the ills of the big business loop, he was only contracted to finish the song list I had initially given him .. damn .. ok .. but .. ok .. new songs are finally landing, but can’t finish ’em .. ok, eventually Kevin Salem called me…eventually ‘Chore Of Enchantment’ would be complete
…it had the stunning smoulder only Jim Dickinson could conjure up on “Astonished In Memphis”… it had that truly magic assembly of ” Temptation Of Egg” that only John Parish can hang his hat on .. and that wonderful optimism of Kevin Salem’s creative enthusiasm to connect so many fragments.

um
any other questions ?
“the voice at the end ?”