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The Creek Drank the Cradle
 
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The Creek Drank the Cradle

~ Iron & Wine
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
Price: £8.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Audio CD (10 Feb 2003)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Sub Pop
  • ASIN: B00006J402
  • Other Editions: Vinyl
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 9,807 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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1. Lion's Mane
2. Bird Stealing Bread
3. Faded From The Winter
4. Promising Light
5. Rooster Moans
6. Upward Over The Mountain
7. Southern Anthem
8. Angry Blade
9. Weary Memory
10. Promise What You Will
11. Muddy Hymnal

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Iron & Wine is Sam Beam, a back-porch Florida singer-songwriter whose sad little songs pack a helluva wallop. Recorded in his living room on a vintage four-track, The Creek Drank the Cradle co-stars cassette hiss, ambient room sound and Beam himself. Beam's immediately likable tunes paint such clear pictures that songs like "Southern Anthem" and "Muddy Hymnal" are more akin to short stories by Raymond Carver and Flannery O'Connor than to your average pop ditty. A stripped-down one-man band, Beam contributes delicious Delta-flavoured slide guitar, passable banjo and deliriously beautiful harmonising. Beam isn't just a songwriter the equal of Will Oldham and Leonard Cohen (really--and it'll be a surprise if people don't immediately start covering him): the boy can sing. His melt-in-your-head-but-not-in-your-ears voice is instantly recognisable and will certainly please fans of Nick Drake, Lou Barlow and Elliott Smith. --Mike McGonigal


CD Description

One of the most lauded albums of 2002, THE CREEK DRANK THE CRADLE has the ability to stun with its spare beauty. Under the alias of Iron & Wine, Floridian singer/songwriter Sam Beam unveils a rustic 11-song debut here that brings to mind aSouthern Gothic Nick Drake. Recorded solely by Beam at home, the disc features minimal instrumentation (primarily acoustic guitar) and a lo-fi sound that's used to striking effect. This bare-bones setting spotlights Beam's high, clear, often-whispered vocals and his evocative lyrics, which conjure up thieving birds, daunting mountains, and melancholy church-goers.
"Lion's Mane" immediately draws listeners close with its intricate, finger-picked guitar and quiet singing, as if Beam were sharing a secret. "Promising Light" seems to move in entrancingly slow motion as it ponders the nature oflove, while "The Rooster Moans" saunters into gritty, foreboding bluegrass territory. The record's rural atmosphere is remarkably consistent; Beam's is an achingly sincere voice with plenty of dark, backwoods stories to tell. Although the Iron & Wine sound would be expanded on subsequent releases, the template of Beam's aesthetic is fully in place here, making it an undeniably important album.

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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Stripped-down, introspective magic, 10 Feb 2003
By Mr. M. J. Hulme - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
Interestingly, Sub Pop seem to be reinventing themselves from label of all things grunge-rock to a new, mellow, "two guitars on the front porch " affair. But then, Sub Pop were always one step head of the game. This collection of songs by Sam Beam consists of stripped down, acoustic guitar affairs, with slide guitar and banjo making an appearance to add extra layers of mystery. It's a million miles away from the noisy excesses of grunge, and very special.

Beam sings laconically, as though he's half asleep, in a voice reminiscent of the more fragile moments from Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse. In fact, these songs would have slotted seamlessly onto the more lo-fi moments of 'Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot,' Sparklehorse's excellent first album. No drums, just guitar and hushed vocals. Some strange magic is at work here - this is excellent, intimate stuff, transporting you to a mythical part of America in the same way as Gillian Welch's 'Time (The Revelator)' - timeless, haunting, and magical. Beam crafts songs that dig at the twisted heart of middle America; disturbing, but wonderfully well-drawn portraits of small-town life. This will be up there in the "2003 album of the year" stakes for sure.

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Pearl of a Debut!, 11 April 2004
By Juan Mobili (Valley Cottage, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
What a beautiful, beautiful album! It has been quite a while, with the exception of Damien Rice's and Teitur's debuts, than a first CD offered such creative consistency. Sam Beam, the man behind Iron and Wine, has achieved a work of such unassuming depth that is impossible not to grow impatient for a second recording. Song after song, he manages to convey moods that are at once tender and full of existential pain, without ever indulging on the way too common tendency in young songwriters to put music to their private diaries, nor indulging on the kind of over-instrumentation that not-so-young performers indulge in to make up for the lack of richness in their work. I don't think there's a single weak tune here, actually some of his lesser tunes could be the jewels in CDs by most of his contemporaries. To some he might remind you of Will Oldham, a likely mentor, yet his work has already a feel of its own. This Americana stripped from clichés, bringing together longing, sweetness and the lingering sense of someone reflecting on life without a 'an ax to grind' (this is the difference between poetry and a personal journal). I was tempted to name the great songs but after typing the name of the first four, and realizing that the fifth song will be next, I deleted them. Every song is worthwhile, and adds to the hue of emotions he's so able to articulate. In some ways, it is my opinion, he may remind you of Nick Drake, in his capacity to write of sadness so beautifully that it can almost embrace you, like joy.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Creek Drank The Cradle, 29 Dec 2007
By Spider Monkey (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
'The Creek Drank The Cradle' is the sweet, melodic album written, performed, produced and recorded at home by Sam Beam. One reviewer here gave this CD a low star rating (which is entirely his prerogative) because of the poor recording quality, but I tend to feel that this element actually adds to the album. The raw, stripped back nature of the recording compliments the songs perfectly. The feel of one man and his guitar, sat in his living room, is completely captivating. The songs are spare and yet hold you spellbound throughout. A simple, beautiful album that is great to sit back to and let your cares slip away. Highly recommended. If you like this, check out 'The Pull' by Kreg Viesselman, another beautiful album of a similar ilk.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars nice vibe
The best new artist in this sphere of music is Nick Worrall. Google him and get his debut album for FREE. Incredible.
Published 14 months ago by hermitcooper

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice songs, shame about the recording
I bought this on the back of having heard (and really liked) some Iron and Wine songs in films, etc. Read more
Published on 6 Jul 2007 by Confounder

5.0 out of 5 stars just for chillin'
This album starts off a lot like you'd want an album to begin when you either have a severe hangover or have an ear ache from the noise pollution that can some times be called new... Read more
Published on 23 Aug 2005

5.0 out of 5 stars better than kings of convenience
Iron & Wine sounds a bit like the kings of convenience, but oh, is it even better? Yes, actually quite a bit. Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2005 by Soren Gilsaa

4.0 out of 5 stars Not So Muddy Hymnals
Hot on the heels of Bonnie Prince Billy's "Master and Everyone" comes an album with titles like "the Rooster Moans" and "Muddy Hymnal", lovingly packaged with intimate etchings... Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2003 by degrant

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