[.ca] Our Endless Numbered Days

From Amazon.com:
Florida's brilliant singer-songwriter Sam Beam expands Iron & Wine from solo project to a gaggle of friends and family on slide guitar, percussion, and backing vocals on his second album. Fans need not worry--the hushed immediacy and rich melodies remain the focus--but new flavors abound. For instance, the strange "Cinder And Smoke" sounds like a collaboration (with banjos of course) between America, Robert Wyatt and Low. Meanwhile, "On Your Wings," "Free Until They Cut Me Down," and "Teeth in the Grass" showcase a brooding, earthy, Southern-rock-on-laudanum side that the band had previously only demonstrated in concert. It's rare when an artist who's become known for bedroom recordings makes the transition to the studio to produce work that's better-- Daniel Johnston, Lou Barlow, and Liz Phair all made their defining moments crouched above a cassette recorder at home. But Beam is the exception to the rule, as he has easily bested himself on the second Iron & Wine album. --Mike McGonigal

solid, but over-rated:
I see the Wine and Iron fan club members did most of the reviews here -- telling us little about the disc except that they are ga-ga for Sam (end of rant). That said, this is a solid effort, even if pretentious and drearily monotonous at times... If you want better intimate singer-songwriter stuff, I suggest early Bruce Cockburn (and not because he is from Ontario - Ottawa/Toronto). Cheers.

My kind of music:
not much that hasn't already been said about this- without a doubt one of the top albums of the year. Sam is amazing in so many ways. Practically every song is terrific... what a follow up to another album that was a revalation. See Sam and co. in concert if possible, such a good show.

A chunk of pre-plunged vomit lodged in the throat of God:
I don't know who this guy is. I don't care. What I do know is that he's trendy, that trendy people listen to him even though they might not like him, and that his hip, trendy music has apparently made a great impression on the dozen or so fanzines and indie-rock websites that are written by, read by, and purchased by the same 200 or so people who go to his concerts, buy his records, and shop for clothing and other material goods while listening to his trendy music play. That makes him a cult band. If he is a band at all. I don't think he's a band, I think he's a talentless joke. He strums obtuse chords on a guitar, breathes deeply into the microphone, ripping off Mojave 3 at every turn, praying they either think this is flattering or don't have a lawyer, and looks depressed and ugly in all of his press photo shoots, each of which basically shows him in the same pose, clothing, background scenario, and facial expression. His music tries pretty hard to be important, but ends up being supremely annoying and irrelevant. Unfortunately, this guy and his army of imitators (we're talking fifth-generation Nick Drake wanna-bees by now) have hijacked the entire moribund "singer-songwriter" genre and turned it into a sad theatrical display, a boiling cauldron of musical diarrhea with trite and oh-so-forlorn lyrics to match. If you have purchased this album and actually like it, then I do not ever want anything to do with you for the rest of my life, and I sincerely home I never have to encounter you in any way for eternity.

come on, harold:
quiet is the new loud, don't you know.

This is the meaning of spirit.:
More in line with Nick Drake than Johnny Cash in the country section, here's some more dreary slide guitars, vaguely optimistic finger picking, and guttered vocals to tread the emo-country line, joining Blanche in making 2004 the year country finally realizes its power. Though not quite as precise as Pink Moon, the lyrics and overdubbed vocals of Sam Beam drag you through the mud before the rain falls, taking you through an experience before catharsis can be attained and showing us that, although things may not turn out the way we want them, though we may not remember every sunset, we will grow from them regardless. This CD will bum you out yet, hopefully, help reaffirm your life. The trials and tests of your life can make you stronger and can kill you only if you let them. The beautiful and powerful people of this world don't exist as we do. These people who can bounce from one gorgeous girl or boyfriend to another and/or never have to worry about food or shelter will never have to rely on themselves; they are never abandoned. And when the world ends, and it will, they will end with it. The strugglers, rejects, social retards, the meek cannot as we live out our endless numbered days in search of truth and true love. This is the meaning of spirit.

• On Your Wings
• Naked As We Came
• Cinder And Smoke
• Sunset Soon Forgotten
• Teeth In The Grass
• Love And Some Verses
• Radio War
• Each Coming Night
• Free Until They Cut Me Down
• Fever Dream
• Sodom, South Georgia
• Passing Afternoon