GIANT SAND Ballad Of A Thin Line Man LP ZIPPO 1986 UK orig ZONG 013 HOWE GELB
€
18
$
21
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Description
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GIANT SAND
Giant Sand was the primary outlet for the stylistic curveballs and sun-damaged songcraft
of Howe Gelb, a Pennsylvania-born singer/guitarist who formed the four-piece Giant Sandworms
after relocating to Tuscon, Arizona in the mid-'70s. After releasing the EP Will Wallow
and Roam After the Ruin in 1980, Gelb fired everyone but bassist Scott Gerber
(although founding guitarist Rainer Ptacek returned to the fold many times in the future)
and started over as simply Giant Sand, essentially a one-man band backed
by a revolving cast of players. The first Giant Sand LP, 1985's Valley of Rain, earned
Gelb comparisons to Neil Young for his reedy vocals and country-flavored, grungy
guitar aesthetic; like Young, Gelb also proved to be a restless creative spirit
BALLAD OF A THIN LINE MANtracklisting
Side A: THIN LINE MAN - ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER*
GRAVEYARD - BODY OF WATER - LAST LEGS
*written by Bob Dylan
Side B: YOU CAN'T PUT YOUR ARMS AROUND A MEMORY** - A HARD MAN TO GET TO KNOW
WHO AM I? - THE CHILL OUTSIDE - DESPERATE MAN
**written by Johnny Thunders
1986 LP ZIPPO RECORDS ZONG 013MADE IN ENGLAND ORIGINAL PRESSING
SINGLE COVER + COMPANY INSERT
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Barcode: 5 014757 430138
LABEL: ZIPPO - WHITE LABEL w/LOGO on TOP - BLACK TEXT
Label Code: none
Catalog on cover: (spine & rear) ZONG 013
Catalog on label: ZONG 013 (ZONG 013-A) / ZONG 013 (ZONG 013-B)
Matrix / Runout (Side A, Etched): ZONG-013-A-1 A PORKY PRIME CUT. Ll MT.1 DAMONT
Matrix / Runout (Side B, Etched): ZONG-013-B2 MT.1 DAMONT V (ilegible)
On labels: rim text reads "All rights......prohibited"
? 1986 Black Sand Records
© 1986 Demon Records Ltd.
On Back Cover: Produced by Eric Westfall and Giant Sand
grading
RECORD EX but (please, read above description)
SLEEVE NEAR EX but (please, see pictures and read above description)
Howe Gelb was still sorting out what he was doing with Giant Sand when the band recorded its second album, 1986's Ballad of a Thin Line Man, but while it's still rooted in the same sort of rough-and-tumble neo-paisley underground rock as the group's debut, Valley of Rain (released earlier the same year), it sounds a bit more like what Giant Sand would become than its predecessor. The opening cuts ("Thin Line Man" and a hot-wired cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower") set the mood with their frantic guitar bashing, their dramatic dynamics ("Thin Line Man" features a dramatic dubwise passage at the midpoint and "Watchtower" opens with a little more than a minute of fiddle scrapings and guitar atmospherics), and Gelb's tough but quizzical songwriting and vocals. But the ambling acoustic tone of "Graveyard" and "Who Am I?," the loopy piano plunking on "Last Legs," and the folk-rock undercurrents of "The Chill Outside" offer clues that Gelb had musical ambitions that flowed in several different directions at once. The addition of Paul Jean Brown gave Giant Sand a two-guitar lineup on these sessions (though Rainer Ptacek, Gelb's finest guitar foil, had yet to go into the studio with the band), and the raucous tone of Gelb and Brown's guitar duels makes the band's rock gestures significantly more exciting. And bassist Scott Garber and drummer Tom Larkins are a more solid and muscular rhythm section their second time out, even if these sessions still sound a touch chaotic. And while two high-profile covers are featured here -- "All Along the Watchtower" and Johnny Thunders' "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" -- this album is still a very clear reflection of Gelb's musical mind and personality, and he fills both songs with his own spirit. Ballad of a Thin Line Man documents a band that hadn't yet reached greatness, but was well on its way to something special...(AllMusic)
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