Giant Giant Sand – Tucson

Clocking in at well over an hour and with 19 tracks Howe Gelb’s latest Giant Sand album, Tucson, is far too long and lacking in substance to be included among the best of the  band’s stellar back catalogue.

The album’s label as a ‘country rock opera’ starts the alarm bells ringing, as this low-key and lengthy release pays homage to Tucson, where Gelb has lived for the last four decades, and revolves around the life of “a semi-grizzled man with overt boyish naivete” according to the press release.

There are nice flourishes, such as the horns and slide guitar on Forever and a Day and the party atmosphere on Caranito, but on too many tracks there is a lack of the inventive, soulful music Gelb has become renowned for on his excellent recent solo albums, such as last year’s Howe Gelb and A Band Of Gypsies album Alegrías or the best of the Giant Sand back catalogue.

Calling the band Giant Giant Sand may seem like a nice twist as he has assembled a larger than usual line up, of Giant Sand’s regular Sandanavian contingent  as well the likes of Brian Lopez, Gabriel Sullivan and Jon Villa. However, this large group fail to give the songs life. Too many are lacklustre and there’s no killer single that all great Giant Sand albums have.

Tucson is a pleasant enough listen as background music but lacks the wow factor that Gelb usually excels at.

6/10

by Joe Lepper

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