''Chore of Enchantment'' is a studio album by the

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

Giant Sand Giant Sand is an American musical group from Tucson, Arizona, United States. Its most constant member is singer-songwriter Howe Gelb. The group started as Giant Sandworms in the late 1970s post-punk and paisley underground scenes. They later s ...

. It was released in March 2000 by

Thrill Jockey Thrill Jockey is an American independent record label established by former Atlantic Records A&R representative Bettina Richards and based in Chicago. History Richards started the label in 1992 with $35,000 of family and personal capital, while ...

Reception

The British music journalism publication ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' praised the album's "raw but tender empathy in songs full of unexpected departures".

Legacy

The album was included in the book ''

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...

''.

Track listing

All tracks were written by

Howe Gelb Howe Gelb (born October 22, 1956, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer based in Tucson, Arizona. Projects Gelb's approach to music is collaborative and he has recorded with a number of s ...

. # "Overture" – 0:48 # "(Well) Dusted (For the Millennium)" – 3:47 # "Punishing Sun" – 3:13 # "X-Tra Wide" – 3:27 # "1972" – 1:03 # "Temptation of Egg" – 3:41 # "Raw" – 3:29 # "Wolfy" – 4:25 # "Shiver" – 4:00 # "Dirty from the Rain" – 3:34 # "Astonished (In Memphis)" – 5:32 # "No Reply" – 4:34 # "Satellite" – 6:48 # "Bottom Line Man" – 4:41 # "Way to End the Day" – 4:47 # "Shrine" – 2:04

Personnel

– guitar, piano, vocals *

John Convertino Calexico is a Tucson, Arizona-based Americana, Tex-Mex, indie rock band. The band's two main members, Joey Burns and John Convertino, first played together in Los Angeles as part of the group Giant Sand. They have recorded a number of albums on Q ...

– drums *Joey Burns – bass guitar, cello, guitar, backing vocals *

Juliana Hatfield Juliana Hatfield (born July 27, 1967) is an American musician and singer-songwriter from the Boston area, formerly of the indie rock bands Blake Babies, Some Girls (band), Some Girls, and The Lemonheads. She also fronted her own band, The Julia ...

– backing vocals (6) *Sofie Albertsen Gelb – backing vocals (9, 15) *

Jim Dickinson James Luther Dickinson (November 15, 1941 – August 15, 2009) was an American record producer, pianist, and singer who fronted, among others, the band Mud Boy and the Neutrons, based in Memphis, Tennessee. Biography Dickinson was born in Lit ...

– mellotron (2), piano, organ (11) *

John Parish John Parish (born 11 April 1959) is an English musician, songwriter, composer and record producer. Parish is best known for his work with singer-songwriter PJ Harvey. He has also worked with such artists as Eels, Aldous Harding, Tracy Chapma ...

– piano, pump organ (15), door shutter (16) *Kevin Salem – guitar (3), acoustic guitar (4), mellotron (9) *Susan Marshall-Powell – backing vocals (4, 11) *Jackie Johnson – backing vocals (4, 11) *William Brown – backing vocals (4) *Rich Mercurio – drums (4, 9) *John Abbey – bass guitar (4, 8, 12) *Rob Arthur – mellotron (4), organ (9, 12) *Nick Luca – piano (5) *Neil Harry – pedal steel (7) *Alan Bezozi – drum loop (8) *Scott Loder – bass guitar (9) *

David Mansfield David Mansfield (born September 13, 1956) is an American musician and composer. Mansfield was raised in Leonia, New Jersey. His father, Newton Mansfield was a first violinist in the New York Philharmonic. David played guitar, pedal steel guitar ...

– pedal steel (9, 12), banjo (9) *Lydia Kavanaugh – backing vocals (12) *Paula Brown – bass guitar, backing vocals (13) *

Rainer Ptacek Rainer Ptacek, also known mononymously as Rainer (June 7, 1951 – November 12, 1997), was a German-American guitarist and singer-songwriter based in Tucson, Arizona for much of his adult life. His guitar technique, which incorporated slide, f ...

– slide guitar (16)

References

External links

''Chore of Enchantment''
at

2000 albums Giant Sand albums Albums produced by John Parish Thrill Jockey albums Fire Records (UK) albums Albums produced by Jim Dickinson {{2000s-alt-rock-album-stub