Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
List Price:
Our Price: $9.99
You Save: $5.99 (37%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $8.00 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Music CD Cover
Artist: Iron & WineEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2007-09-25
Music Label: Sub Pop
Soundtracks:
- Pagan Angel And A Borrowed Car
- White Tooth Man
- Lovesong Of The Buzzard
- Carousel
- House By The Sea
- Innocent Bones
- Wolves (Song Of The Shepherd's Dog)
- Resurrection Fern
- Boy With A Coin
- Devil Never Sleeps, The
- Peace Beneath The City
- Flightless Bird, American Mouth
Free Music Notes for The Shepherd's Dog
Free Music Review: I'm just a fat housecat...
Hit: 5 Stars
So the first thing I heard off of this album was "The Devil Never Sleeps", performed on David Letterman, and my initial kneejerk reaction was "Oh no, he's changed his sound, he's gone electric, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!". This is perhaps a horribly stupid reaction, especially when it's so misleading. Not that I didn't like the song, nor do I fear change, it's just that this jazzy, full-band, more rock-oriented song is a far cry from the intimate "one guy with an acoustic guitar" style for which Mr. Sam Beam is so well-known and so damn good at. But despite that, I said ok, I'll give the new album a shot.
Fortunately, the album, while perhaps a bit more diverse than past efforts, still maintained the overall acoustic Americana-drenched folk I really just can't get enough of. It's all there, the wispy, cozy vocals, the soothing and creative guitar melodies, and the entrancingly poetic lyrics. There are songs like "White Tooth Man", "House by the Sea", and "Boy with a Coin", which boast interesting and unusual vocal lines, as well as songs like "Resurrection Fern" and "Flightless Bird, American Mouth", which have that perfect inescapable melodicism Beam does like nobody else. Then there's the aforementioned "The Devil Never Sleeps", which stands out stylistically, with its electric guitars and jazzy piano licks, but still fits in. To borrow a phrase from a friend, it's as welcome as it is out of place.
Overall, there's not a bad song on here. Some might lament that Beam has moved away from the whole stripped-down lo-fi thing, but I say hey, no big deal. He's polished and diversified his sound while still staying true to his roots, and if you ask me, there's definitely nothing wrong with that.
In short, I'm more than satisfied. Even better, I am delighted to have recently found out that Sam is now living in Austin. If I see him around, I'll be sure to congratulate him on a job well done (and maybe convince him to do a show at Hanover's :).
Anyway, yeah, pick this up. It is very very good.
The Shepherd's Dog Poster
Following a one-record hiatus to collaborate with Tucson collective Calexico on 2005's In The Reins, Iron & Wine (Sam Beam, that is) recoils to the earnestness and intimacy that embodied his first two records, his cerebral words and phrases tunneled beneath an orchestra of guitar, banjo, keyboards, and strings. More definitive than ever, the rhythm and percussion complement Beam's voice, a lulling, almost eerie tone that occasionally recalls John Lennon's early solo work, especially on delicate tracks like the bluesy "Wolves (Songs of the Shepherd's Dog" and "Carousel," with its veiled references to Iraq. Those raised on the lo-fi routine of Beam's earlier work will find rawness and sanctity in the more upbeat selections: The CSN folk-rock of "House by the Sea" and "Boy with a Coin" and the atmospheric beauty of "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car" and Shepherd's best song, "Lovesong of the Buzzard." With an organ swirling about and a slide guitar adding gentle flourishes, Beam concedes that "no one is the savior they would like to be," without realizing that, when it comes to fluent music and pristine storytelling, perhaps he is. --Scott HolterMore from Iron & Wine
| | | | | |
Iron and Wine's last release (not including the collaborative In the Reins EP which featured songs by Iron and Wine's Sam Beam and performances by both Iron and Wine and Calexico together) was 2005's Woman King, a 6-song EP which distinguished itself from its predecessors with a deepening integration of spiraling, dense opuses with intimate confessionals. On The Shepherd's Dog this integration is complete. Sam Beam has confessed to finding spiritual inspiration in Tom Waits' pi?ce de r?sistance, Swordfishtrombones, an album with which Waits upended his previous strategies and forged a new musical language for himself. Recorded by Sam with the assistance of longtime producer Brian Deck and engineer Colin Studebaker, The Shepherd's Dog succeeds in accomplishing a similar cathartic recasting of the artist's intentions. The arrangements here are kaleidoscopic and rich. "White Tooth Man" rocks with a desperate, menacing intensity while "Boy with a Coin", the album's first single, is darkly playful with a handclap hook tumbling under its cascading melody. The whole album breathes. Its seductive rhythms percolate and undulate, from the Psych-Bhangra-redux of "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car" to the album's last dance a waltz "Flightless Bird, American Mouth". Compositionally, it is Iron and Wine's most ambitious and accomplished recording to date. It's also the most satisfying.
Iron and Wine's last release (not including the collaborative In the Reins EP which featured songs by Iron and Wine's Sam Beam and performances by both Iron and Wine and Calexico together) was 2005's Woman King, a 6-song EP which distinguished itself from its predecessors with a deepening integration of spiraling, dense opuses with intimate confessionals. On The Shepherd's Dog this integration is complete. Sam Beam has confessed to finding spiritual inspiration in Tom Waits' pi?ce de r?sistance, Swordfishtrombones, an album with which Waits upended his previous strategies and forged a new musical language for himself. Recorded by Sam with the assistance of longtime producer Brian Deck and engineer Colin Studebaker, The Shepherd's Dog succeeds in accomplishing a similar cathartic recasting of the artist's intentions. The arrangements here are kaleidoscopic and rich.
Alternative Rock Music CDs
Music Genres
Top music charts in Best Albums of 2007
Feist - The ReminderRelease date: 2007-05-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.87
Price in other shops:
Amy Winehouse - Back to BlackRelease date: 2007-03-13; Music CD
Best price: $7.91
Price in other shops:
Bj?rk - VoltaRelease date: 2007-05-08; Music CD
Best price: $6.39
Price in other shops:
Rilo Kiley - Under the BlacklightRelease date: 2007-08-21; Music CD
Best price: $9.78
Price in other shops:
The Shins - Wincing the Night AwayRelease date: 2007-01-23; Music CD
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops:
Arcade Fire - Neon BibleRelease date: 2007-03-06; Music CD
Best price: $8.10
Price in other shops:
Band of Horses - Cease to BeginRelease date: 2007-10-09; Music CD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
The New Pornographers - ChallengersRelease date: 2007-08-21; Music CD
Best price: $7.59
Price in other shops:
Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's DogRelease date: 2007-09-25; Music CD
Best price: $9.50
Price in other shops:
Radiohead - In RainbowsRelease date: 2008-01-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.65
Price in other shops:
Top Rated Albums
Radiohead - In RainbowsRelease date: 2008-01-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.65
Price in other shops:
Beirut - The Flying Club CupRelease date: 2007-10-09; Music CD
Best price: $8.56
Price in other shops:
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga GaRelease date: 2007-07-10; Music CD
Best price: $10.77
Price in other shops:
Okkervil River - The Stage NamesRelease date: 2007-08-07; Music CD
Best price: $9.95
Price in other shops:
The National - BoxerRelease date: 2007-05-22; Music CD
Best price: $6.58
Price in other shops:
The New Pornographers - ChallengersRelease date: 2007-08-21; Music CD
Best price: $7.59
Price in other shops:
Jos? Gonz?lez - In Our NatureRelease date: 2007-09-25; Music CD
Best price: $10.72
Price in other shops:
Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder CanyonRelease date: 2007-09-25; Music CD
Best price: $10.48
Price in other shops:
Iron & Wine - Boy with a CoinRelease date: 2007-07-10; Music CD
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
Band of Horses - Cease to BeginRelease date: 2007-10-09; Music CD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops: