Calexico - In The Reins (2005)

Artist...............: Calexico
Album................: In The Reins (with Iron And Wine)
Genre................: Folk Rock Country
Source...............: Cd
Year.................: 2005
Ripper...............: Exact Audio Copy
Codec................: FLAC
Information..........: TntVillage
Covers...............: Front
Total Size...........: 170 Mb


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Musical collaborations can be a dicey proposition. The blending of two styles and sounds can lead to

the cancellation of the aspects of each that make them interesting and unique in the first place,

which in turn leads to an inferior record. Iron & Wine and Calexico decided to tempt fate and hook up

in 2004 and In the Reins is the result. The record manages to blend the best aspects of the two

groups and comes off a winner in all respects. You get Iron & Wine's melodicism, emotional depth, and

literary grace backed by Calexico's desert-bleached C&W orchestral splendor. The record is probably

pitched more in the I&W camp as Iron & Wine's Sam Beam wrote all the songs and sings his moody

miniature portraits of desperation in a breathy, shivers-down-your-spine croon. Calexico color in his

compositions with pedal steels, vibraphone, and meandering trumpets, and lead them out of the insular

Florida swamp and into the wide-screen West. None of Beam's songs feel like between-album throwaways

and in fact a few rate among his best (the aching and staggeringly beautiful "Dead Man's Will," "He

Lays in the Reins."). They almost all sound wonderful; the wider range of musical colors opens up his

songs and brings in some moods and sounds you might not expect on an Iron & Wine record. Case in

point is "A History of Lovers," which comes equipped with a boogie beat, a glittering Vegas horn

section, and actually rocks out very convincingly. Calexico really pulls a rabbit out of the hat

there as Beam is about the last person in the music biz you would expect to rock out convincingly.

The only place where the pairing falters is on the slick and facile "Red Dust," which starts off as

an intimate blues ballad with just Beam and guitars, then shifts to a barroom bluesy stomp featuring

some very clichéd harp soloing. Luckily, it is a brief misstep that doesn't wreck an otherwise

excellent record. Fans of both bands will want to get In the Reins because it rates favorably with

their best work and on a couple of songs ("A History of Lovers," "Dead Man's Will") the sum of their

collaboration creates music greater than their parts. A rare and wonderful occurrence that; don't let

it slip past you.


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Tracklist
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01. He Lays in the Reins
02. Prison on Route 41
03. A History of Lovers
04. Red Dust
05. Sixteen, Maybe Less
06. Burn That Broken Bed
07. Dead Man's Will