- Audio CD (10 Feb 2003)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: City Slang
- ASIN: B000088EG6
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Vinyl
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 75,456 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product details |
Track Listings
| 1. Sunken Waltz |
| 2. Quattro (World Drifts In) |
| 3. Stucco |
| 4. Black Heart |
| 5. Pepito |
| 6. Not Even Stevie Nicks |
| 7. Close Behind |
| 8. Woven Birds |
| 9. The Book And The Canal |
| 10. Attack El Robot! Attack! |
| 11. Across The Wire (Widescreen) |
| 12. Dub Latina |
| 13. Guero Canelo |
| 14. Whipping The Horses Eye |
| 15. Crumble |
| 16. No Doze |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
It takes time to digest this Feast of Wire. The melodic appeal of Calexico's fourth album is not instantaneous, these evocative sounds taking time with their bodily infusion. The studio manifestation of Calexico is centred around impressively multi-instrumental busybody Joey Burns and the more single-minded (but equally sensitive) percussion specialist John Convertino. The current road-band members are also on hand to contribute their own shadings, along with a strong contingent of string players and backing singers.
Recorded at home in Tucson, Arizona, all of the tunes are quite short, lending an episodic, soundtrack quality. The canvas is extremely broad, with horns and strings colouring the edges, while Burns tinkers about on accordion, organ, mandolin, melodica and synths. "Sunken Waltz" makes a modest opener, a traipsing ballad that's quickly overtaken by the rubberised bounce of "Quattro". "Black Heart" provides an early peak, its unearthly string arrangement backing a beautifully resigned Burns vocal. It's like an old 78 record, remixed last week, ending with a decelerated glide that crackles with electronic interference. "Attack El Robot! Attack!" is also rife with electro-roughage, blanketing its toytown guitar figures and brass fanfares. These instrumental vignettes have a habit of linking up the more reclined narrative-based songs. The more overtly Mexican material is saved until close to the finish, with the quavering trumpets and weeping violins of "Dub Latina" and "Guero Canelo" contributing to a more typically Calexico-ed sound, if such a thing is still possible. --Martin Longley
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I have always had a funny relationship with Calexico. I always find myself not liking them quite as much as I think that I should. I had the same problem with Echo & The Bunnymen and The Wedding Present.
I can listen to them and I do quite enjoy them but their songs seem to just, ever so slightly, miss the mark for me. Until this.
The feel is the same as previous albums - a kind of bleak desert scenario on the US/ Mexican border, a land inhabited by vultures and cactii with the occasional weathered cowboy wandering down a deserted street.
The songs, though, as individual works contain a new depth and richness of melody that has always been missing on previous albums. 'Sunken Waltz' is a traditional country song of the highest order. 'Not Even Stevie Nicks' reminds me slightly of Mercury Rev - and that is no bad thing either. With 16 tracks in all, some are links and the album is definitely meant to be listened too in its entirety. Enjoy the latin feel of 'Dub Latina' and the Jonathon Richmanesque 'Attack El Robot, Attack'. Shads of The Handsome Family add to the modern country ambience and the brooding darkness of 'No Doze' wraps up the best Calexico album to date.
Set up the Tequila, turn up the hi fi and enjoy. Modern Country just gets stronger and stronger.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I found Calexico's previous album "Hot Rail" full of potential but failing to arrive at the destination it promised. Consequently, I dithered over buying "Feast Of wire" but I'm very pleased I did. For me, this latest offering from the band, who's heart and soul reside in the cacti inhabited badlands of the desert states. Calexico have finally realised their earlier promise.
The album is an eclectic mix of lo-fi alt. country, spicey Mexican rythms together with a hint of conventional country music, but always with an added edge!
The sixteen tracks (excluding the three excellent bonus tracks on the limited edition version of the album) move on apace and are without a blemish. Although sounding quite different, I imagine this record as an alternative soundtrack to the Wim Wenders film Paris Texas.
All this after one listen!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This album should come with a sticker advising "Warning! This album is highly addictive."
This is the first Calexico album I have bought, but having heard a couple of tracks on radio, I decided to go ahead and buy it. It takes in a wide range of styles, from Mexican-infused waltzes to jazz, stopping off at lo-fi country and the sort of unclassifiable stuff you would expect to find on a Beck album. One aspect struck me straight away - the percussion. Just listen to the track "Whipping the Horse's Eyes", which involves a pedal steel and a cello playing a slow melody, but the percussion almost makes it danceable!
Almost half of the tracks are instrumentals, some of a minute or less in duration, which gives a soundtrack-like feel to the album, but it holds together better than most soundtrack albums.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
9/10. Feast of Wire
Calexico's sound inhabits the frontier badlands of the American Southwest, a cinematic multi-instumental brew that takes in jazz, alt-country, Mariachi, folk and electronics. Read more
Published on 24 Aug 2007 by Demob Happy
It's a cracker
I'd not heard their music before, and bought it in the hope of finding something original. That's what it is - brilliant, moody music from people who use a full range of sounds and... Read more
Published on 11 Nov 2006 by SS
Not bad, but there's no Crystal Frontier here
Don't get the wrong idea if I say that of the three Calexico albums I own, this is my least favourite. Read more
Published on 30 Aug 2003 by Andy Millward
'Americana' at its best
Listening to 'Feast of Wire' is the closest thing you will ever get to taking a road trip through America as Calexico offer up a moody, sultry and sun-drenched cruise along the... Read more
Published on 28 April 2003 by Mr. Gideon D. Brody
Album of the decade
Only got this album today and listened three times cause didn't quite believe what I'd just heard, truly a gem all the way through a mix of everything alternative country, latin... Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2003 by P. M. Dalton
Eccentric -- Eclectic -- Excellent!
Best new album I've heard in a while. Never heard of them before, but loved this album instantly.
Styles and influences all over the shop. Read more
Styles and influences all over the shop. Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2003 by E. L. Woodcock
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