Trace each step Giant Sand took with each album. Each imprint is different: some more distorted than others, some are gnarled, some are bigger, and there are even some that are smaller. But most importantly, every Giant Sand album points in a different direction... until now. Is All Over... The Map is a very different Giant Sand album; it's a reflection of past Sand albums with a Howe-Gelb-solo-album aim.
Nevertheless, Gelb manages to bring Giant Sand a slight step forward with such a finely well-put and uniform album. "Classico" sets the album off on the right foot, a very well collected alternative-country song, with a restrained yet catchy pulse. Then the material completely turns around and explores early Giant Sand sound, complete with thick fuzz-guitars and early '90s desert-rat jams; while "Cracklin Water" (a remake of the OP8 song) and "Remote" offer a taste of the more somber Sand sound.
By the time you hit "Drab," the material takes another turn, stumbling into the likes of Gelb's Lull (Some Piano), Confluence, and the more prominent The Listener sounds. And here's a treat; Gelb's daughter makes another appearance on a Sand record (after a ten year or so hiatus) on the charming Sex Pistols cover/Gelb rant: "Anarchistic Bolshevistic Cowboy Bundle."
For new listeners, this is the most accessible Sand album to date, but for veteran Sand nuts, this may be... well, just different. Right away the absence of Joey and John (the previous rhythm section and leaders of Calexico) is noticeable: the new rhythm section (collected from Gelb's The Listener sessions) offers a very minimal and solid texture to the Giant Sand sound. And Gelb reciprocates by constructing songs with vision and clear reflection. In the once twisted world of Giant Sand, this was unheard of. In the now twisted world we live in, this is more than exceptional.
1. Classico
2. NYC of Time
3. Remote
4. Flying around the Sun at Remarkable Speed
5. Cracklin Water
6. Rag
7. Miss
8. Drab
9. Fool
10. Les Forcats Innocents
11. Napoli
12. Hood (View from a Heidelburg Hotel)
13. A Classico Reprise
14. Anarchistic Bolshevistic Cowboy Bundle
15. Ploy
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