Purge & Slouch
1993 studio album by Giant Sand
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Purge & Slouch is an album by the American band Giant Sand, released in 1993 through the German label Brake Out Records.[1] It was released by Restless Records the following year.[2][3] The band supported the album with a UK tour.[4] Frontman Howe Gelb referred to the music as "smash jazz".[5]
| Purge & Slouch | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1993 | |||
| Genre | Folk rock | |||
| Label | Brake Out Restless | |||
| Producer | Howe Gelb, Harvey Moltz, John Convertino | |||
| Giant Sand chronology | ||||
| ||||
Production
Giant Sand made the album in order to satisfy its contractual obligations to Restless.[6] It was recorded at a house in the Tucson area; Gelb allegedly taped his vocals and guitar playing while lounging on a couch.[7] The band improvised most of the music, which they had a difficult reproducing in a live setting.[4] Susan Cowsill and Vicki Peterson sang on "Corridor".[8] Rainer Ptacek played guitar on many of the tracks; Malcolm Burn contributed on bass.[9] "Dock of the Bay" is a cover of the Otis Redding song.[9] "Santana, Castanada & You" [sic] refers to two Carlos, Carlos Santana and Carlos Castaneda.[10] Gelb later acknowledged the informality and low stakes of the sessions, saying the he enjoyed what many journalists criticized.[11] Stromausfall, the band's next album, released in a press run of 2,000 copies, included music recorded during the same sessions.[12]
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [13] |
| Robert Christgau |  [14] |
| New York Daily News | [15] |
| Rolling Stone | [8] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 7/10[16] |
| USA Today | [17] |
| The Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music | [18] |
USA Today called the album "charmingly tattered", noting that "Gelb mixes a half-dozen genres with his off-kilter sensibilities to produce addictive countrified folk-rock."[17] Rolling Stone advised: "The debate among cultists who've supported Gelb for more than a decade is whether such albums reveal a dismaying lack of craft or are works of disjointed brilliance. Make no mistake: Purge and Slouch is lazy."[8] The Press-Telegram said that "Gelb gets into some maddeningly introverted desert-jazz mumbling musings on occasion, but the disc's got some great high points scattered throughout".[19]
The Arizona Daily Star praised the "slight country lopes, lazy blues shouts, unvarnished honky-tonk jams and the occasional bout of impatient guitar skronking."[9] Trouser Press opined that "much jam-session tomfoolery ensues, with the sole reward being a chance to hear Arizona legend Al Perry scrabble out some proto-garage licks on 'Slander'."[20] LA Weekly called the album "ragged-edged, tumultuous, inward and poetic".[21] The New York Daily News stated that "Gelb has given his rundown, dusty music an unrushed allure and made a sound as expansive as a desert sky."[15]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Slander" | |
| 2. | "Bender" | |
| 3. | "Swamp Thing" | |
| 4. | "Santana, Castanada & You" | |
| 5. | "Blue Lit Rope" | |
| 6. | "Overture (Part 1)" | |
| 7. | "Rice Road Rumba" | |
| 8. | "Corridor" | |
| 9. | "Slice & Dice Blues" | |
| 10. | "High Lonesome Curl" | |
| 11. | "New Carjack City Blues" | |
| 12. | "Owed Ode" | |
| 13. | "Overture, Pt. 2" | |
| 14. | "Here on the Planet" | |
| 15. | "Elevator Music" | |
| 16. | "Song for the Accountants" | |
| 17. | "Dock of the Bay" | |
| 18. | "Tripping Moon" | |
| 19. | "Thin Lizzy Tribute/Personality Flaws/Last Word Jonny" | |
| 20. | "Bed of Nails" | |
| 21. | "Dance of Cicadas" |