The Creek Drank the Cradle

Iron & Wine - The Creek Drank the Cradle

The Creek Drank the Cradle
List Price: $13.98
Our Price: $6.10
You Save: $7.88 (56%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.44 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Listen soundtracks from this album



(Click here)
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store

CD Details

Artist: Iron & Wine
Brand: IRON & WINE
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2002-09-24
Music Label: Sub Pop
Soundtracks:
  1. Lion's Mane
  2. Bird Stealing Bread
  3. Faded From The Winter
  4. Promising Light
  5. The Rooster Moans
  6. Upward Over The Mountain
  7. Southern Anthem
  8. An Angry Blade
  9. Weary Memory
  10. Promise What You Will
  11. Muddy Hymnal

Music reviews of The Creek Drank the Cradle

Music Review: Junkmedia Review - Best new artist of 2002
Rating: 5 Stars

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce the Best New Artist of 2002: Sam Beam, the one-man band who makes up Iron & Wine. I know, I know, the whole "Best New Artist" thing doesn't hold much weight these days. After all, if you know your pop music history, most performers who are crowned with such a superlative usually fall short before long. But Iron & Wine's debut album, The Creek Drank The Cradle, is worthy of any superlative you can throw its way.

Beam's music was brought to Sub Pop's attention by the Ugly Casanova himself, Modest Mouse frontman and lately Sub Pop's A&R guy Isaac Brock, whose taste is turning out to be the most trustworthy in indie rock. The last band he suggested the label sign was a little Albuquerque, New Mexico, band called the Shins, who, as you may recall, released Junkmedia's favorite album of 2001. So when Isaac recommends something, we all ought to lend him our collective ear.

Now, have you ever seen a big, full Pink Moon (a la Nick Drake) rising over the Mississippi Delta? Try to picture it. That's what Iron & Wine is the sonic equivalent of. With its whispered vocals, bluesy slide guitar work and beautiful vocal harmonies, The Creek Drank The Cradle sees Beam creating a minor masterpiece with extremely limited resources.

The entire record was recorded on 4-track in Beam's home in Miami, Florida, meaning that tape hiss and room noise are a constant presence throughout. But the sound is remarkably intimate and warm, like a distant radio station you have to hold your ear up to the speaker to hear. Beam's day job is teaching film to college students, and it's evident in his song arrangements: he uses sounds like a film editor uses images. A banjo here, a menacing slide guitar figure there, it all conjures up a striking mood of melancholy and reflection.

The centerpiece of the album is "Upward Over The Mountain," a long, meditative number that is at once impossibly sad and still somehow hopeful. "Mother, don't worry, I've got a coat and some friends on the corner," Beam sings in his most fragile voice. "So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten / Sons are like birds flying always over the mountain." Unlike most self-obsessed bedroom pop auteurs, Beam's vision manages to be both private and expansive at the same time. Listen to the celestial vocals on "Southern Anthem," another standout cut: Iron & Wine's predominant mood may be one shrouded in darkness, but some sunshine does break through the clouds.

So even if the promise shown by this debut is proved false by future releases, it doesn't matter. The Creek Drank The Cradle is a gem of an album all on its own. And Iron & Wine will still be the best new artist of 2002.

Tyler Wilcox
Junkmedia Review

More The Creek Drank the Cradle free music reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Description of The Creek Drank the Cradle

Debut album featuring Samuel Beam, they have been on the road with Ugly Casanova (Modest Mouse) and are described as intimate American Gothic style portraits & landscapes. Sub Pop. 2002.
Iron & Wine is Sam Beam, a back-porch Florida singer-songwriter whose sad little songs pack a helluva wallop. Beam's immediately likable tunes paint such clear pictures that songs like "Southern Anthem" and "Muddy Hymnal" are more akin to short stories by Raymond Carver and Flannery O'Connor than to your average pop ditty. Recorded in his living room on a vintage four-track, The Creek Drank the Cradle co-stars cassette hiss, ambient room sound, and Beam himself. A stripped-down, one-man band, Beam contributes delicious Delta-flavored slide guitar, passable banjo, and deliriously beautiful harmonizing. Beam isn't just a songwriter the equal of Will Oldham and Leonard Cohen (really--and it'll be a surprise if folks don't immediately start covering him), the boy can sing. His melt-in-your-head-but-not-in-your-ears voice is instantly recognizable and will certainly please fans of Nick Drake, Lou Barlow, and Elliott Smith. --Mike McGonigal

Alternative Rock CDs

Music Genres
Bestsellers in Alternative Rock CDs
Maniacal Laughter ImageBouncing Souls - Maniacal Laughter
Release date: 1996-01-26; Music CD
Best price: $30.00
Parallel Lines ImageBlondie - Parallel Lines
Release date: 1994-07-29; Music CD
Best price: $149.98
L.A. Woman ImageDoors - L.A. Woman
Release date: 1993-04-09; Music CD
Best price: $99.99
Phallus Dei ImageAmon Duul - Phallus Dei
Release date: 1997-04-08; Music CD
Price in other shops: $18.98
Melrose ImageTangerine Dream - Melrose
Release date: 1990-10-02; Music CD
Best price: $74.98
Private Music of Tangerine Dream ImageTangerine Dream - Private Music of Tangerine Dream
Release date: 1992-11-10; Music CD
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops: $11.98
Ska Explosion [VHS] ImageSka Explosion [VHS]
Cleopatra; Release date: 1995-02-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops: $16.98
Little Earthquakes [VHS] ImageLittle Earthquakes [VHS]
Atlantic / Wea; Release date: 1992-11-10; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops: $16.98
Exile ImageExile
by Geoffrey Oryema
Music CD
Best price: $4.95
Louder Than Live [VHS] ImageSoundgarden - Louder Than Live [VHS]
A&M Video; Release date: 1991-07-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $192.68
Similar CDs
Oh, Inverted World ImageShins - Oh, Inverted World
SHINS; Release date: 2001-06-19; Music CD
Best price: $5.74
Price in other shops: $14.98
Fleet Foxes ImageFleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
FLEET FOXES; Release date: 2008-06-03; Music CD
Best price: $8.82
Price in other shops: $13.98
In the Reins ImageCalexico, Iron & Wine - In the Reins
IRON & WINE/CALEXICO; Release date: 2005-09-13; Music CD
Best price: $5.43
Price in other shops: $9.98
Sea & The Rhythm ImageIron & Wine - Sea & The Rhythm
IRON & WINE; Release date: 2003-09-09; Music CD
Best price: $6.64
Price in other shops: $8.98
Woman King ImageIron & Wine - Woman King
IRON & WINE; Release date: 2005-02-22; Music CD
Best price: $5.16
Price in other shops: $8.98
Kiss Each Other Clean ImageIron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
Release date: 2011-01-25; Music CD
Best price: $7.50
Price in other shops: $13.99
For Emma, Forever Ago ImageBon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Baker & Taylor; Release date: 2008-02-19; Music CD
Best price: $9.72
Price in other shops: $14.98
The Shepherd's Dog ImageIron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
Release date: 2007-09-25; Music CD
Best price: $9.18
Price in other shops: $15.98
Around the Well ImageIron & Wine - Around the Well
IRON & WINE; Release date: 2009-05-19; Music CD
Best price: $6.02
Price in other shops: $14.98
Our Endless Numbered Days ImageIron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
IRON & WINE; Release date: 2004-03-23; Music CD
Best price: $6.09
Price in other shops: $14.98
Compare prices and find music notes for more than one million Music CD titles