(Fire)

www.firerecords.com

Originally released in 2000, Chore of Enchantment, Giant Sand's 11^th studio album, comes with quite a back story. A confluence of events behind the scenes led to delays, re-recordings, multiple producers and a protracted record/release schedule. (For the full story, check out our recent feature.) After all the tragedy and triumph, however, all that's left is the music, which is presented here with a new remaster and bonus tracks.

Chore has gained a reputation as the band's greatest record, and while that's debatable, there's no denying it's a remarkable achievement and was at the time a step forward. Jazzy, languid, even mellow, with arrangements revolving around acoustic guitar and piano, Chore doesn't have the immediate punch of other Sand landmarks like Center of the Universe and The Love Songs - its pleasures take time to sink in. But sink in they will - given the chance they deserve, the beautiful "Punishing Sun," "Bottom Line Man" and "Temptation of Egg" beguile in a way Howe Gelb had never quite managed before. Elsewhere, the exceptionally accessible "Shiver" stands as one of those shining pop moments Gelb pulls out of nowhere, while "Satellite" lustily returns to the Neil Young-esque squall that usually peppers Sand LPs.

The original record ended with "Shrine," a lovely, unaccompanied Dobro solo by Gelb's late friend Rainer Ptacek. This edition adds another disk's worth of bonus tracks taken from the album's various recording sessions, many of which were self-released by Gelb as The Rock Opera Years. Some of these cuts equal or better the officially released versions - "Astonished (In Tucson)" boasts a soulfulness that gives it an edge, while "Punishing Sun (In Tucson)" puts that already great song through a very different arrangement and comes up with a new winner. With its leisurely folk rock groove, loose singing, jazz piano stabs and rusty nail guitar solo, "Hard On Things" sounds almost like a Giant Sand primer - maybe its very quintessence led to it being left off what was shaping up to be the next step in Sand's evolution. At any rate, the inclusion of these cuts only enhances the strength of Chore of Enchantment, affirming this remarkable record's status as one of Giant Sand's greatest achievements.

DOWNLOAD: "Shiver," "Astonished (In Tucson)," "Punishing Sun" (both versions), "Hard On Things," "Satellite" MICHAEL TOLAND