Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog

[LemonMelon]

Shepherd's Dog will be that great album that you need. I highly, highly recommend it. In fact, I have a track from it on my Desert Island list.

Called it. Holy crap, this was a great album. It merges the very best of Kiss Each Other Clean with the I&W sound we all know and love. I dunno how anyone was taken by surprise by the former when Shepherd's Dog exists; his progression has been logical and fulfilling. Shepherd's Dog strikes the best balance though, I think, exemplified by the excellent Resurrection Fern > Boy With A Coin transition.

Gotta say, my least favorite album of his is the one I always heard was the best: in spite of its strong songwriting, Our Endless Numbered Days lacks the ramshackle charm of Creek Drank The Cradle yet doesn't expand beyond pleasant folk. It's good, but that's it.

 

[iron yuppie]

Called it. Holy crap, this was a great album. It merges the very best of Kiss Each Other Clean with the I&W sound we all know and love. I dunno how anyone was taken by surprise by the former when Shepherd's Dog exists; his progression has been logical and fulfilling. Shepherd's Dog strikes the best balance though, I think, exemplified by the excellent Resurrection Fern > Boy With A Coin transition.

Gotta say, my least favorite album of his is the one I always heard was the best: in spite of its strong songwriting, Our Endless Numbered Days lacks the ramshackle charm of Creek Drank The Cradle yet doesn't expand beyond pleasant folk. It's good, but that's it.

Great, I'm glad that you enjoyed it. And I agree with you about Numbered Days as well. Looking back now, 2007 was a damn good year for music: In Rainbows, Raising Sand, Shepherd's Dog, Boxer, and Springsteen's Magic are all brilliant.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

This album is 10 years old today! God, I feel old...

Anyhow, Sam has made available a 8-track acoustic set of songs from Shepherd's Dog that were recorded shortly after the album was finished. They are free for the next 24 hours:

bit.ly/shepherdsdog

 

[corianderstem]

Managed to totally miss the news that he was coming to Seattle this week, and tickets are sold out. Very bummed about it. I'll keep an eye on StubHub up through the last minute, but right now the decent seats are over $70. I need to be responsible and not drop more $$ on concert tickets, but if prices drop at the last minute, I might.

There are a bunch of balcony seats available for cheaper, but while I love this venue, it's only worth it on the lower level. The upper balcony at The Moore is ridiculously steep and it freaks me out to be up there.