| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| lichenman |
Posted - 04/05/2006 : 20:50:05
Have any of you guys heard a band called Giant Sand? I got my hands on a copy of a 'greatest hits' cd released in 1985. Many songs sound so similar to Pixies and FB in so many different ways. From vocals to music and lyrics to tone this stuff must have influenced FB's work, but I have never heard anyone mention this connection. Please let me know if anyone else has heard this stuff. I have loved the Pixies and FB for so long, but I'm worried that Frank my fall from his throne as father of alternitive music.
lichenman |
| 20 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| two reelers |
Posted - 04/24/2006 : 09:08:10
FB & giant sand - i don't think so.
howe's songs sound no way like frank's song, imo. they have more melody and do not so much rely on chord changes. also, the topics of the songs are quite different - more personal stuff & more humour in giant sand. howe is also a fantastic guitar player (of melodies). while FB was always a songwriter & a rock musician, howe is more of a songwriter with a broader and overall more relaxed musical background (rock/western/a lot of jazz). and mostly, howe doesn't really care much about the recording quality or something i would like to call "tightness" of a song.
but especially the dog in the sand album & SMYT, also some songs from honeycomb, have a very similiar sound & feel to giant sand. when i playd "st. francis" to my girlfriend, she asked "oh, this is giant sand, isn't it?" the same with an acoustic live recording of the "shrimp" song.
i think a real difference is in the lyrics or topics of the songs. the variety frank covers so easily & beuatifully, is reached by nobody else, imo. also, in most of frank songs, one always feels the tendency to move on (i guess this is what other call "dynamics"). howe is just more mellow.
I joined the cult of Souled American / 'cause they are a damn' fine band |
| lichenman |
Posted - 04/23/2006 : 20:25:12
I just don't understand how the connection between the two bands has never been made. Even if the "best of" cd was released in 1992, much of the stuff from 1985 sounds so much like some pixies and frank black songs that ther emust be some sort of ripping off.
lichenman |
| Holy Fingers |
Posted - 04/20/2006 : 15:59:01
Great interview. I've never heard Frank act like such a jackass. Honestly, he sounds like he might have 'sent some smoke up'.
 "When you've done something right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all" |
| stymie |
Posted - 04/11/2006 : 12:23:59
What? |
| flk |
Posted - 04/10/2006 : 23:45:32
"Giant Sand" is a great band. The best of album you mentioned was released in 2001. Joe Burns and John Convertino left the Band in 2002 due to the fact, that their side project "Calexico" became more successful than Giant Sand ever was.
You can download some really good live stuff at http://www.giantsand.com in the download section. I really love "Giant Sand Live at Marburg, Germany on 1996-02-03".
However, Howe Gelb continued "Giant Sand" without Convertino/Burns and has recently released a very interesting solo album. In my opinion itīs his best solo work so far.
Over the years thereīs been lots of side projects like "op8", "friends of dean martinez" or "the band of blacky ranchette"
flk |
| VoVat |
Posted - 04/08/2006 : 13:22:49
quote:
Patented not just in the US, but in Europe...although, there's some guy in Russia who thinks he invented indie rock before I did, so we got this little battle going on...me and Sergee, that's his name.
Prokofiev?
"If you doze much longer, then life turns to dreaming. If you doze much longer, then dreams turn to nightmares." |
| Carl |
Posted - 04/06/2006 : 05:15:23
I first heard about Howie Gelb and Giant Sand a good few years ago, in a book I got called Big Noises-Rock Guitar In The 1990s. Their music in used in some film that I saw a while ago, can't remember what-checking them out on the IMDB, I've found that they have a song called Return Of The Big Red Guitar on the soundtrack to the 1991 movie Zandalee, but I haven't seen that. Howie Gelb has a new album out, apparently.
 pas de dutchie! |
| pixiestu |
Posted - 04/06/2006 : 05:05:17
About the Pixies breaking up: "We were all locked in a room and beat the shit out of each other".
Classic Frank 
"The arc of triumph" |
| Ziggy |
Posted - 04/06/2006 : 02:42:07
Great interview! |
| Gustav |
Posted - 04/06/2006 : 02:15:58
quote:
Originally posted by IceCream
quote:
Originally posted by Erebus
Can't comment on Giant Sand, but the topic title puts me in mind of a something I read a long time ago. Apparently Frank was queried about who he is, to which he facetiously replied something like "You know alternative music? Well, I invented it." Does anybody have the exact quote on that?
The interview used to be on the FTP. I think it was an interview with vPro radio (Bill Goodman may've uploaded it). It was really weird. But yeah, Frank said something like, "Indie Rock? I invented indie rock. I invented it; It's all mine. I have a patent on it, in fact. people don't realize i've made BILLIONS from my indie rock patent. Patented not just in the US, but in Europe...although, there's some guy in Russia who thinks he invented indie rock before I did, so we got this little battle going on...me and Sergee, that's his name."
here's the interview, http://3voor12.vpro.nl/3voor12/magazines/news/index.jsp?portals=2534202&magazines=17111595&news=3981782 |
| darwin |
Posted - 04/06/2006 : 00:53:38
Lichenman, watch out for the hungry Caribou. |
| vilainde |
Posted - 04/06/2006 : 00:16:47
By the way, the first Giant Sand album was released in 1985, so I doubt they put out a "Greatest Hits" the same year.
Denis
I love Guitar Wolf from the Erath! |
| Steak n Sabre |
Posted - 04/06/2006 : 00:08:03
Sinatra was alternative back in the day, as well as Ptolemy...
 The Cult of Frank : Gimme Gimme Gimme...I Need Some More |
| Apesy |
Posted - 04/06/2006 : 00:02:34
Howe Gelb's latest solo album is spec-TAC-ular, by the way. Needs more love.
-=Apesy |
| Cult_Of_Frank |
Posted - 04/05/2006 : 23:12:24
Cool, I may have to check them out...
"If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominos will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate." |
| Johnny Yen |
Posted - 04/05/2006 : 22:43:49
Giant Sand is a feckin' incredible band. Howe gelb is a genius. I'm just not sure what kind of a genius. That older stuff definetly rocks hard. I always have wondered how a GiantSand/Frank project would come out, but GS is a little too loose. Frank seems to like stuff packaged up nicely. but, I've got almost all of both gentlemen's cds.
|
| IceCream |
Posted - 04/05/2006 : 22:39:28
quote:
Originally posted by Erebus
Can't comment on Giant Sand, but the topic title puts me in mind of a something I read a long time ago. Apparently Frank was queried about who he is, to which he facetiously replied something like "You know alternative music? Well, I invented it." Does anybody have the exact quote on that?
The interview used to be on the FTP. I think it was an interview with vPro radio (Bill Goodman may've uploaded it). It was really weird. But yeah, Frank said something like, "Indie Rock? I invented indie rock. I invented it; It's all mine. I have a patent on it, in fact. people don't realize i've made BILLIONS from my indie rock patent. Patented not just in the US, but in Europe...although, there's some guy in Russia who thinks he invented indie rock before I did, so we got this little battle going on...me and Sergee, that's his name." |
| Cult_Of_Frank |
Posted - 04/05/2006 : 21:50:34
Hahaha, very funny, would love to see that original quote.
"If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominos will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate." |
| BLT |
Posted - 04/05/2006 : 21:50:24
There's a line like that in the film Detour. She asks him if he knows how to use the telephone and he says, "I invented it."
If Frank said it, he probably meant it as a wry comment on the stupidity of the label.
 Does anyone remember laughter? |
| Erebus |
Posted - 04/05/2006 : 21:37:47
Can't comment on Giant Sand, but the topic title puts me in mind of a something I read a long time ago. Apparently Frank was queried about who he is, to which he facetiously replied something like "You know alternative music? Well, I invented it." Does anybody have the exact quote on that? |
