Customer Reviews

Spoke

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is not the lush cinematic Calexico of the other albums, This is much more folksier and gritty, and for that it stands alone in its sound. The framework is there for what would come later but there is no pedal steel or horns. All in all it is great, and Id also suggest Commited soundtrack or the Road Map cd from the bands website for a similar sound.

I have all of Calexico's full-length CDs and they're all excellent. Hard to nominate a single CD as their best, but if I were forced to, Spoke would be it.

How do these guys do it? How do they assemble such magic from such simple parts?

This IS Calexico's first album, Philip W. Black Light (their 2nd release) is a great album, but I prefer the lo-fi charm of the more soft-spoken tunes that make 'Spoke' Calexico's best album.

I have to agree with all of these reviewers, save for the one who didn't like this release. This is a beautiful concoction of thoughtful-western-meets-tearful-traditional-Mexican beauties, worth listening to repeatedly. It doesn't jump out at you, but lures you in gently like a curious whisper. Everyone I played this CD for loved it and promptly went out to buy it. I suggest you do the same.

After loving "Black Light" and finding that almost everyone I played it for felt the same, I was disappointed in "Spoke." It comes across more as a thrown together release of material the guys hadn't finished working on than the evocative, cool step beyond that it is perhaps intended to be. You can easily find other music in this genre that surpasses this cd, but it's still worthwhile if you're a dedicated Calexico fan.

After loving the first Calexico cd and finding that almost everyone I played it for felt the same, I was disappointed in "Spoke." It comes across more as a thrown together release of material the guys hadn't finished working on than the evocative, cool step beyond that it is perhaps intended to be. You can easily find other music in this genre that surpasses this cd, but it's still worthwhile if you're a dedicated Calexico fan.

This is a spaghetti western lo fi arizona chili beauty. The sound of a dirt road, a canteen, and some peyote bottons, transplanted to your barstool or the platform of your subway station. This album is near perfect. You will not stop listening, and if you do, you're stupid.