Recounting the ballads of thin line men

"With this incarnation of Giant Sand stripped to a trio, Gelb and Tommy Larkins (drums) and Thøger Lund (bass), that is exactly what Gelb goes for - a re-visioned version of mutant Americana that is one of his staples, keeping the rocking, uptempo element to the eleven tracks here. But then the number of tracks is also important to mention, as he drops a couple of tracks from the original version, adds "Reptilian" (the track that opens the album) from the original albums 25th-anniversary re-issue, and then changes the song order all over".

"Just as on Returns to Valley of Rain, Gelb's insistence on digging deep into his catalog rather than cutting new material is hard to fathom, but Ballad of a Thin Line Man at least finds him and his bandmates sounding great and feeling engaged with the material. After nearly 35 years, just about anything from Giant Sand is still worth hearing, and fans will enjoy this second go-round with these songs".

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