Shearwater [Import]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Recorded in 1972, just after Carthy's first sojourn with Steeleye Span, this finds him fully exploring the modal possibilities of the guitar--at times it sounds like a mountain dulcimer--and also marks his first recordings of two songs that have become indelibly associated with him, the chilling ballads "Lord Randall" and "Famous Flower of Serving Men." Even though the latter last almost 10 minutes, with Carthy's sure touch it never seems long. The humorous songs like "I Was a Young Man" offer light relief to the epics, and Carthy is every bit as comfortable with them. That he continues to go from strength to strength is apparent. By now he's become completely individual and instantly recognizable, with exquisite taste in songs, and inspired technique par excellence. --Chris Nickson

Shearwater, Music, Martin Carthy, British Folk, Folk & Traditional, Pop

Palo Santo
Average customer rating:

Genius album deserved to be refurbished

Awesome

NOT satisfied...

Beautiful Repackaging job....BUT

Brilliant reimagining of a classic.

Palo Santo
Shearwater
Manufacturer: Matador Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The Reminder

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New Moon

ASIN: B000NQR842
Release Date: 2007-04-10

Tracks:

La Dame Et Lla Licorne
Red Sea,Black Sea
White Waves
Palo Santo
Seventy-Four,Seventy-Five
Nobody
Sing ,Little Birdie
Johnny Viola
Failed Queen
Hail, Mary
Going Is Song

Tracks:

My Only Boy
Every Hook,Every Eye
Special Rider Blues (Skip James)
Sing, Little Birdie
Palo Santo
Discontinuities
Red Sea,Black Sea
Failed Queen

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

Album 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:

Genius album deserved to be refurbished.......2007-06-11

Palo Santo is a remarkable album- the lyrics are amazing and the orchestrations are genius. I am a huge fan of shearwater and had fallen in love with the demo version of Red Sea, Black Sea on their website--but then I was terribly disappointed in the version on the first release of this album (on jagjaguar). It just didn't have the same power that the demo had- and I felt like it made the banjos sound too muted. This new release (on Matador) recaptures the essence of that song. I could listen to this album 10 times in a row and not get tired of it. They are an amazing band.

Awesome.......2007-05-04

Simply worth $12 just for the new Hail Mary version. ... and I thought the $12 I paid for the prior version was the bargain of 2006.

This is one of those rare albums that you will listen to - all the way through - for years to come. Joins the list of my all time favorites like:

Colour of Sping - Talk Talk
Laughing Stock - Talk Talk
Ghosts of the Great Highway - Sun Kill Moon
Pink Moon - Nick Drake
Winged Life - Shearwater

Thanks Jonathan.

NOT satisfied..........2007-05-04

...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.

Beautiful Repackaging job....BUT.......2007-05-03

The quality of this edition is the reason to BUY cds these days. The packaging is a total part of the listening experience.

BUT WHERE ARE THE LYRICS?!!
The whole reason to BUY a hard copy of the CD instead of cheapo compressed downloads.

Brilliant reimagining of a classic........2007-04-18

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!

Average customer rating:

Shallow
Top Offering of 2004
Terrific Album

Winged Life
Shearwater
Manufacturer: Misra Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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The Dissolving Room
Palo Santo
Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain
Overboard & Down
Horn of Plenty (w/Bonus Remixes)

ASIN: B0001HAIAO
Release Date: 2004-03-16

Tracks:

A Hush
My Good Deed
Whipping Boy
The Kind
A Makeover
St. Mary's Walk
Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine
(I've Got A) Right To Cry
The World In 1984
The Convert
Sealed
The Set Table

Customer Reviews:

Shallow.......2005-06-16

...but not in a bad way. In fact not as a negative description at all, but rather the way this melodic razor cuts. The perfect album to fall asleep or commit suicide to. Stunning and haunting. Meiburg's distant vocals, paired with Sheff's, creep out over lush and dreamlike landscapes of sound. I cannot seriously do this group justice in my pathetic, fan ravings.

Top Offering of 2004.......2004-09-17

Hands down one of the most beautifully crafted pieces of music you'll ever here this year, that is, if you choose to pick up a copy. Be sure not to loan this one out as you'll never get it back.
Amazing writing and studio performance, production guided by the amazing Matt Pence (centro matic).

Terrific Album.......2004-05-01

Though Okkervil River and Shearwater share band members (most noticeably singer-songwriters Will Sheff and Jonathan Meiburg), and the lyrics of both bands tend to sound a little like Raymond Carver stories (I'm not kidding), they differ sharply in tone. Okkervil River: Occasionally rollicking with patches of darkness and yearning. Shearwater: Drifting, damaged and picking up the pieces.

WINGED LIFE is something new. It's like Shearwater has picked-up the pieces and started to build. Still a very different band from Okkervil River, WINGED LIFE finds Shearwater exploring and expanding and generally developing into something new. Like a mopey guy who's finally managed to distill knowledge from his sadness, and move on (with a touch of melancholy) into an uncertain future.

Tracks:

Mulholland
Ella is the First Rider
Grey Lining
Angelina
Sung into the Street
Little Locket
Military Clothes
The Left Side
Not Tonight
If You Stay Sober
Long Ride
This Confiscated House

Album Description

Featuring sparse, mostly acoustic instrumentation (lightly augmented by piano, violin, pedal steel, accordion, banjo, cello, and glockenspiel), Shearwater's The Dissolving Room at times evokes musical forebears like Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen as well as indie songwriters like Belle and Sebastian, Smog's Bill Callahan, and Elliot Smith.

Intended as a late-night album in the vein of Drake's Pink Moon, The Dissolving Room showcases the songwriting talents of both Sheff (whose work with Okkervil River has been compared by reviewers to Will Oldham, the Magnetic Fields, and Lee Hazlewood) and Meiburg (who, with his distinctive falsetto, echoes Jeff Buckley and Thom Yorke) in terse, intimate songs about fall, hospitals, hummingbirds, and true crime.

Customer Reviews:

Great music for times when you need quiet.......2002-03-12

Lately I have been in great need for music that indulges my need for solitude, and this album really gives me what I need. It seems not to many people know about this album, but if you are prone to turning everything off and just listening to music then add this one to your plate. There are some string bass and I think cello accompaniments and I guess if you like Elliot Smith or The Rolling Stones "Ruby Tuesday" style music, you will like this...I am not good at comparing this band...they are not exactly like anybody else, but just to give you an idea about what I mean.

Cancerous love songs.......2001-11-24

These songs are so painful and true... His voice is so sweet and full of heartache... This is good stuff. But be warned- it might break your heart.

Finally Some Real Songwriting.......2001-11-02

This is Good Stuff. A little on the mellow side, but these folks can make music.

So beautiful, you'll get the chills!.......2001-05-07

This record is a stunning debut from two of Austin's most talented young songwriters. At once emotional and subdued, the songs float around themes of secret passions, unrest, and always the encroaching shadow of death. The arrangements are sparse and pure, and the lyrics are dreamy and poetic. Definitely check this out if you like Belle & Sebastian or Nick Drake....

Average customer rating:

Another side of the Black Sheep

Thieves
Shearwater
Manufacturer: Misra Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The Dissolving Room
Palo Santo
Overboard & Down
Julie Doiron/Okkervil River
High Expectations/Low Results

ASIN: B000777J8M
Release Date: 2005-02-01

Tracks:

I Can't Wait
You're The Coliseum
Mountain Laurel
There's A Mark Where You Were Breathing
Near A Garden

Customer Reviews:

Another side of the Black Sheep.......2006-04-20

If you are a fan of grant lee buffalo, sufjan stevens or obviously okkervil river you will enjoy this mini album. Its pace is slow to mid tempo (no arcade fire "lastest toughs" style songs here), but each of the five short songs are a joy to listen too. The highlight is "mountain laruel" a beautiful song, but all five are special songs, each with its own merits. I was nervous buying this album having no reviews to guide me, but after buying okkervil rivers "black sheep boy" and enjoying that so much, i decided to give "thieves" a go and will recommend as a treasure to cherish.

Average customer rating:

everybody makes mistakes, but none were made on this album

Everybody Makes Mistakes
Shearwater
Manufacturer: Misra Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

The Dissolving Room
Palo Santo
Overboard & Down
Julie Doiron/Okkervil River
Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain

ASIN: B00006JNDH
Release Date: 2002-10-01

Tracks:

An Accident
Well, Benjamin
Soon
Room For Mistakes
12:09
Mistakes
The Ice Covered Everything
You Took Your Mistakes Too Hard
Wreck
Safeway
All The Black Days 1
All The Black Days 2

Customer Reviews:

everybody makes mistakes, but none were made on this album.......2003-02-20

A fabulous collection of songs, each haunting and wonderful and ultimately, heart-breaking.

Average customer rating:

Shearwater has made it
The album to beat for best of 2006
My Favorite For The First Half of 2006
Stunning 4th Offering
By far their best release.

Palo Santo
Shearwater
Manufacturer: Misra Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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Yellow House
The Gulag Orkestar
The Letting Go
The Crane Wife
Sera Cahoone

ASIN: B000F3AJR6
Release Date: 2006-05-09

Tracks:

La Dame Et La Licome
Red Sea, Black Sea
White Waves
Palo Santo
Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five
Nobody
Sing, Little Birdie
Johnny Viola
Failed Queen
Hail, Mary
Going Is Song

Album Description

Their fourth album resembles the austere folk of previous Shearwater albums only incidentally. Thorny forests of static and distortion sprout up occasionally. The band also channels previously unheard influences. "They remain, in parts, as somber still as American Music Club, but now add more than a dash of 'Spirit Of Eden' Talk Talk and a whole heap of '70s FM pop. Soft rock chamber music if you will; like Devendra Banhart or Iron & Wine, Shearwater are capable of emotional resonance through the most brittle of arrangements. Stunning" - Uncut.

Customer Reviews:

Shearwater has made it.......2006-07-19

Until now, I've considered Shearwater just a side project of Okkervil River, good but not great. With this release, it begins to stand out on its own. The seeming directionlessness of earlier albums is replaced with a palpable sense of purpose in the instrumentals and vocals, without losing the original mellow, melancholic spirit of older releases. Definitely worth listening to.

The album to beat for best of 2006.......2006-07-10

Well, here it is already, the year halfway over, but by far, Shearwater is out of the gate this year and seemingly there are few bands in the race for what could be a slam-dunk for record of the year. Jonathan Meiburg has found the soul of Mark Hollis, consumed it whole, and regurgitated it into a stark beauty that we haven't heard in years. This album could actually be in the running for best of the decade. If you like Shearwater, you're going to love this album. If you've never heard of Shearwater, delve here and let it wash over you.

My Favorite For The First Half of 2006.......2006-06-20

This record has been getting great reviews, but it's a shame that it doesn't seem to be generating the response from the public that it deserves. Like past Shearwater albums it is a floaty, dreamy experience, but unlike past Shearwater albums it has a harder and dirtier edge - and the songs just seem more cohesive and focused.

This record symbolizes the rebirth of Shearwater, and you may as well listen to it now rather than five years down the line when someone does a retrospective on great underappreciated albums from the past.

Stunning 4th Offering .......2006-06-14

Shearwaters new effort "Palo Santo" brings to mind the solitude and beauty of the best moments of Talk Talk ( Laughing Stock,Spirit of Eden)taking the listener on a musical journey that, with a dedicated ear, will find one returning repeatedly. Meiburg is developing his own unique vocal style that begs comparisons with Darren Richard of Pinetop Seven, Glen Richards of Augie March and Jeff Buckley.
In this day and age of pre packaged cookie cutter offerings it's fresh, invigoriating and stimulating to know that there are still artist who care about what matters, the music.
Shearwater are one of those unique few who matter.

By far their best release........2006-05-13

By far their best release. Impressive vocals + complex instrumentals = one hell of a good record.

Average customer rating:

Shearwater
Martin Carthy
Manufacturer: Castle Us
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

British Folk | Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

General | Folk | Styles | Music

Traditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

General | Celtic | International | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Waiting for Angels
Penguin Eggs

ASIN: B0009Y26MM
Release Date: 2005-07-19

Tracks:

I Was a Young Man
Banks of Green Willow
Handsome Polly-O
Outlandish Knight
He Called for a Candle
John Blunt
Lord Randall
William Taylor
Famous Flowers of Serving Man
Betsy Bell and Mary Gray
False Lover Won Back [#][*]
King Henry [#][*]
Trindon Grange [#][*]

Album Description

Martin Carthy recorded "Shearwater" in 1971 for the British Pegasus label after just having left Steeleye Span. In addition to Carthy's driving and powerful guitar playing, the album also features his first experiments with overdubbing. Passionate love, jealousy, greed anger, the desire for revenge and remorse are all apparent in the songs, which also features Carthy's quintessential and epic "Famous Flower Of Serving Men" as well as a guest vocal performance by Steeleye Span's Maddy Prior on "Betsy Bell And Mary Gray."

This re-mastered edition of the album also features tracks recorded for a Radio One John Peel session from May 1972.

Shearwater: The Art of the Unplugged Guitar
Average customer rating:
Shearwater: The Art of the Unplugged Guitar
Pete Kennedy
Manufacturer: Red Distribution, in
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000008N0N
Release Date: 1995-06-13

Tracks:

Shearwater
Crystal River
Stony Man
Pink Noise
Cataqua
My Lagan Love
Spin
Morro Bay
Griot
Synapse
Conch
Clear

Average customer rating:

Shearwater
Martin Carthy
Manufacturer: Universal
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

British Folk | Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

General | Folk | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Celtic | International | Styles | Music

Folk | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000FDF160
Release Date: 2006-07-03

Tracks:

I Was a Young Man
Banks of Green Willow
Handsome Polly-O
Outlandish Knight
He Called for a Candle
John Blunt
Lord Randall
William Taylor
Famous Flowers of Serving Man
Betsy Bell and Mary Gray
False Lover Won Back [#][*]
King Henry [#][*]
Trindon Grange [#][*]

Album Description

Exclusive Japanese limited edition digitally remastered reissue of this 1972 album, packaged in a miniature LP sleeve. 10 tracks including 'I Was A Young Man', 'Outlandish Knight', 'Banks Of Green Willow' and more. Strange. 2006.

Album Details

Japanese Limited Edition Issue of the Album Classic in a Deluxe, Miniaturized LP Sleeve Replica of the Original Vinyl Album Artwork.

Average customer rating:

May the Beat Go On

Heartbeat From The Sea
Daisy Nell
Manufacturer: Shearwater Productions
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Folk | Styles | Music

General | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00006F2OF
Release Date: 2002-06-01

Tracks:

Heartbeat From the Sea
Adventure
Who Will Feed the People
Let Him Go On Mama
The Old Guitar
Schooner Lannon
Shearwater Jig
Morning Star
G D Times
Here She Comes Again
Capt. Stan
Ballad of Daisy Nell
This World is Not My Home

Album Description

"Heartbeat From the Sea" is mostly original songs, reflective of life on Cape Ann (the "other" Cape) that Daisy Nell & Capt Stan interpret through their music. The sound is a full folk band,"Crabgrass", slightly bluegrass in feeling, and maintains the musical integrity and singabilty that is their trademark. Though local in flavor, Daisy and Stan's music is full of universal themes that emerge to embrace a broader audience. This album is recorded live and maintains the warmth of a firesdie concert.

Customer Reviews:

May the Beat Go On.......2007-03-09

Daisy Nell & Capt Stan are not well known outside New England, but their music should be enjoyable to any folk music fan, especially those with a little salt water in their blood. Like most recordings, some songs are better than others. I especially liked "Adventure," the story of the Cape Ann schooner of that name. I wish there was a song that good about every historic sailing vessel. Daisy's song about Stan, and his song about her are also interesting. Keep it up guys; we need you. Just one question: why do you use that funky reddish headsail on the Shearwater?(back cover photo)

Music Album:

Music Album