Palo Santo [EXTRA TRACKS]

Shearwater

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 10, 2007)
• Original Release Date: April 10, 2007
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Extra tracks
• Label: Matador Records
• ASIN: B000NQR842
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #87,122 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Once a side project of the woefully underappreciated Okkervil River, Shearwater's Palo Santo staggered enough listeners upon its initial 2006 release that singer and bandleader Jonathan Meiburg re-recorded much of the album for this expanded edition. The band has created a far more vivid, upfront, intense aural experience in the re-make. "Nobody" is still a brittle, eerie whisper (like the title track) with a wafting haze behind the guitar and voice, and "Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five" sports a ringing piano behind Meiburg's voice and a horn chart that recalls Neutral Milk Hotel. The most staggering moments find Meiburg going off the rails, bellowing where he once sang warm, yearning high-arcs—particularly in the album's stark opening moments and during "Hail, Mary," with its rush of electric pianos and hard-vamping thwacks as the singer barks across the top. Now Meiburg and Will Sheff need to balance their time--and their electric pianos, guitars, banjos, glockenspiels, and assorted scrabbling sounds between their magnificent other band, Okkervil River, and this tremendous ensemble. --Andrew Bartlett

Product Description
Austin's Shearwater debut on Matador with a completely refurbished edition of their critically acclaimed 2006 album. They re-recorded five of the eleven tracks and added new cover art, deluxe packaging in the form of a gatefold digipak inside an O-card, plus a bonus CD containing eight additional tracks, all for the price of one CD. The music is a soaring, vast, multi-instrumental song-cycle. The vocals and songwriting recall bands as diverse as Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry and late Talk Talk, but this is unabashedly rock music, anchored by Thor Harris's mighty Bonhamesque drums. "Almost impossibly majestic and beautiful" - #1 CD of 2006, Stephen Thompson, NPR.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant reimagining of a classic., April 17, 2007

By	C. Gadbois (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'll admit, when I heard that Shearwater was planning to not only remaster and rerelease "Palo Santo" as part of their new deal with Matador Records, but also re-record half of the album, I was apprehensive, to put it mildly. The original was an undeniable classic, unlike anything I've heard in a long time..."OK Computer" was probably the last record that affected me in a similar way.

But then I read comments from Jonathan Meiburg (composer and vocalist on all 11 tracks) stating their reasoning for revisiting the album, and it did make sense, given the dissatisfaction the band had with the original recordings, not to mention the apparent serious mastering problems. And now that I hear the new version, I know I'll probably never listen to the original again. The new recordings ("La Dame", "Red Sea", "Seventy Four", "Johnny Viola", and "Hail, Mary") are so much more powerful than their year-old counterparts, and the other 6 tracks take on a whole new dimension now that they've been properly mastered. The instrumentation is so much clearer and more spacious now...the songs breathe in a way they weren't allowed to before. For me, the most dramatic improvement comes in the form of Thor Harris' Bonham-esque drumming...the drum sound is HUGE now.

I loved this record before, but now it's well into my all-time favorites list. Do yourself a favor and pick up this record now!

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars NOT satisfied..., May 3, 2007

By	Thomas Spachtholz "rumble fish" (bavaria, germany) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

...sorry folks, but in MY opinion the original recording of the album is by FAR superior to this remake (I do own both versions). This is the clinical though better sounding version with a superfluous bonus disc, while the original is the organical natural thing. The rough edges have been flattened but for no good, thank god no one ever thought of doing such a heretic thing to "in the aeroplane over the sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel.
Just listen to the harsh beauty, the totally dissonant organ of HAIL MARY and compare it to the shallow new version on this disc.
Besides, the original cover artwork totally visualises the cold fragility of palo santo, whereas that cute parrot on the FOC of the new version is nice but represents nothing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OK, Computer Like-and that's saying something!!!, January 2, 2008

By	S. ODonnell "LISTEN UP!!!" (West Chester, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I remember the exact place and moment I heard the sounds of OK Computer for the first time...and that rush of euphoria which overcame me, the uncontrolable chills that ran across my arms listening to it. I will never forget that moment I realized I would be comparing all bands to the bar that Radio Head set. If you are reading this, and you can relate, or perhaps shared in this experience I am talking about here...then prepare yourself for that same type of musical journey. This is not a Radio Head wanna be band! In fact, they are not similar instrumentally-they just posess equal talent. Can I give a better compliment? And this is why Shearwater's Palo Santo did to me those very same things OK Computer did to me. Shearwater has put out something magical here-this album is a utopia of beauty and musical genius. Without question, this band is the most underappreciated band in the music industry today. Get this album, no matter the investment, and you will never regret it.