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Product Description
Album Description
"Shinebox" is back with a shorter title but five new songs. Max Johnston can also be found on the new and improved in a rollicking version of "Dooley" which showcases just why he's such a valuable addition to a band already chock fulla writing and playing goodness.
The Gourds are not only some of the most prolific songwriters in the music world today, but their ability to perform someone else's music, both making it their own and paying respect in the same breath, has found them dubbed "Austin's best band" by the Austin American Statesman.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Excuse me, but I'm gonna go off on one here. Fasten your seatbelts.
Why on earth are the Gourds not household names with the pretentious and po-faced music media like Mojo, the Independent and the Sunday Times? I thought those goons were meant to be "right on" and in touch with their hillbilly side? I thought it was cool to like tongue-in-cheek Americana? I thought they were all about creating a new fad by "discovering" new talent, and being all coy and dismissive of established acts?
Well those very silly and cloth-eared twits have missed one out with the Gourds. By buying this album - we, my friends; can create our own genre by making this brilliant band the new cult.
They are the closest thing to a cross between traditional bluegrass and The Band. Great songs, rustic arrangements, great singers a-plenty, unconventional instruments, inpenetrable lyrics , major noisemakers and generally perform with a smile on their faces. I'm convinced that is why the awful music media don't understand this great little band - they simply want to have a giggle and don't take themselves seriously. How can an introverted and snide music critic recommend a band that plays for a good time?
This is THE ALBUM TO START with the Gourds. Its a covers album, but its just great all the way through. Once you listened to their mandolin-driven version of Snoop Dogg's Gin & Juice you will be hooked. I have played this very track (LOUDLY) for my friends - and they don't believe it. Fantastic version, very silly, brilliant playing and brings a big smile to anyone who listens. And it rocks like a motherfather. Isn't that what great music is for? Just don't let out our secret to those stupid music critics.
Oh - and by the way. All the Gourds albums are great - bar none. Just a bit weird, a bit noisy and a bit of an acquired taste. Anyway, I've acquired it, and my case comes up next week.
Why on earth are the Gourds not household names with the pretentious and po-faced music media like Mojo, the Independent and the Sunday Times? I thought those goons were meant to be "right on" and in touch with their hillbilly side? I thought it was cool to like tongue-in-cheek Americana? I thought they were all about creating a new fad by "discovering" new talent, and being all coy and dismissive of established acts?
Well those very silly and cloth-eared twits have missed one out with the Gourds. By buying this album - we, my friends; can create our own genre by making this brilliant band the new cult.
They are the closest thing to a cross between traditional bluegrass and The Band. Great songs, rustic arrangements, great singers a-plenty, unconventional instruments, inpenetrable lyrics , major noisemakers and generally perform with a smile on their faces. I'm convinced that is why the awful music media don't understand this great little band - they simply want to have a giggle and don't take themselves seriously. How can an introverted and snide music critic recommend a band that plays for a good time?
This is THE ALBUM TO START with the Gourds. Its a covers album, but its just great all the way through. Once you listened to their mandolin-driven version of Snoop Dogg's Gin & Juice you will be hooked. I have played this very track (LOUDLY) for my friends - and they don't believe it. Fantastic version, very silly, brilliant playing and brings a big smile to anyone who listens. And it rocks like a motherfather. Isn't that what great music is for? Just don't let out our secret to those stupid music critics.
Oh - and by the way. All the Gourds albums are great - bar none. Just a bit weird, a bit noisy and a bit of an acquired taste. Anyway, I've acquired it, and my case comes up next week.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
yes the lead off track is a cover of snoop doggy doggs ode to his favourite tipple and it has to be perhaps the best cover version ever. snoops laid back drawl is transformed into a euphoric hill billy yodel and the g-funk backing is replaced with a torrent of shimmering mandolins.ecstatic stuff! if you like good country and you like rap (you're like me: a bit perverse)this song will really shizzzle your nizzle, as snoop would say. Question: i just wonder if he's heard it and what the hell he thinks!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
10 reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Something borrowed, something tried, something new
4 Jan 2002
Format:Audio CD
The buzz seems to be focused on the stunning, hilarious remake of Snoop Dogg's Gin and Juice, but there is much more here to catch the ear. For starters, the clever "Everbody's Missing the Sun" is a modern working and partying person's lament. And the live versions of songs you might already have such as "Lament," "Maria," or "Plaid Coat" showcase the Gourds cuttin' loose (of course, these guys are the epitome of loose).
Now if you have never heard the Gourds before, listen to the samples for their songs before you buy any of their CDs. Their Texas style Gonzo rock grass whatever the hell this style is might not be your thing. But I think the Gourds are America's greatest working band. They will try about anything, and their rendition of "Ziggy Stardust" zones in somewhere between tongue in cheek and serious.
It's not just the fine singin', guitar, B-3 organ, fiddle, banjo, slide, drums, and percussion that make this music so potent. It's the way it all comes together, sometimes unexpectedly (like a stew). You may not like the first taste, but you will keep at it and ultimately come back for more Gourds.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Killer alt.country tunes!
15 Mar 2002
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the best CD I've heard in years! The remake of Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice" is an underground classic. It's not just hilarious: It's damned fine bluegrass music. If it wasn't for the lyrics, you'd never know that it was originally a rap song about South Central L.A., but that's what makes it interesting and gives it depth. It's not about broken hearts and the usual dreary stuff that country songs are about. Who would think that some white boys from Austin could take that song, countrify it and make it a head-bobbing, foot-stomping, singing-out-loud joy to listen to? But they did. The rest of the CD is excellent, too, but I must admit: I bought it for "Gin and Juice," and I'm very happy I did. When I give this CD to friends, they're floored. One of them told me today that he can't stop playing it over and over again.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Among the most important bands in Americana today
9 Oct 2003
Format:Audio CD
I travelled 4 hours to see my first Gourds concert after having missed them here in Houston. Lemme tell ya, there ain't no finer live show for the lovers of classic texas country or progressive alt-country. Excepting the drummer, every one of the buggers plays at least one other instrument, and I think they play 3 apiece, but I was imbibing and dancing. Who knows. They are deliciously talented, musically tight and professional, and varied in their lyrical content. One of the songwriters is a staunch, small-town republican in the best of Texas' tradition and the other is a irreverently playful opportunist, wistful and surreal. Oh, it's good stuff. The Gin and Juice thing overshadows their talent and potential, but hey, it got them noticed. They don't have a bad album, but get dems good beeble or Cow Fish Foul or Pig first. This one save for when you've forgotten the damnable Gin and Juice and are jonesing for another fine album by the amazing and underappreciated Gourds. They're intellectuals with accordians and banjos, how much better does it get?
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