Product Description
Iron and Wine's last release (not including the collaborative In the Reins EP which featured songs by Iron and Wine's Sam Beam and performances by both Iron and Wine and Calexico together) was 2005's Woman King, a 6-song EP which distinguished itself from its predecessors with a deepening integration of spiraling, dense opuses with intimate confessionals. On The Shepherd's Dog this integration is complete. Sam Beam has confessed to finding spiritual inspiration in Tom Waits' pièce de résistance, Swordfishtrombones, an album with which Waits upended his previous strategies and forged a new musical language for himself. Recorded by Sam with the assistance of longtime producer Brian Deck and engineer Colin Studebaker, The Shepherd's Dog succeeds in accomplishing a similar cathartic recasting of the artist's intentions. The arrangements here are kaleidoscopic and rich. "White Tooth Man" rocks with a desperate, menacing intensity while "Boy with a Coin", the album's first single, is darkly playful with a handclap hook tumbling under its cascading melody. The whole album breathes. Its seductive rhythms percolate and undulate, from the Psych-Bhangra-redux of "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car" to the album's last dance a waltz "Flightless Bird, American Mouth". Compositionally, it is Iron and Wine's most ambitious and accomplished recording to date. It's also the most satisfying.

Amazon.com
Following a one-record hiatus to collaborate with Tucson collective Calexico on 2005's In The Reins, Iron & Wine (Sam Beam, that is) recoils to the earnestness and intimacy that embodied his first two records, his cerebral words and phrases tunneled beneath an orchestra of guitar, banjo, keyboards, and strings. More definitive than ever, the rhythm and percussion complement Beam's voice, a lulling, almost eerie tone that occasionally recalls John Lennon's early solo work, especially on delicate tracks like the bluesy "Wolves (Songs of the Shepherd's Dog" and "Carousel," with its veiled references to Iraq. Those raised on the lo-fi routine of Beam's earlier work will find rawness and sanctity in the more upbeat selections: The CSN folk-rock of "House by the Sea" and "Boy with a Coin" and the atmospheric beauty of "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car" and Shepherd's best song, "Lovesong of the Buzzard." With an organ swirling about and a slide guitar adding gentle flourishes, Beam concedes that "no one is the savior they would like to be," without realizing that, when it comes to fluent music and pristine storytelling, perhaps he is. --Scott Holter More from Iron & Wine Our Endless Numbered Days The Creek Drank the Cradle In the Reins, with Calexico Woman King The Sea & the Rhythm

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 74 reviews)

The lyric sheet sucks by Mekkins (Out There)

3 Stars
September 28, 2009
This is my first Iron and Wine album and I thought it a solid 4-star effort. That said, I'm taking one star away because of the thoroughly annoying lyric sheet. Sam Beam has a soft whispery voice and on some tracks it's been slightly distorted so being able to read the lyrics is almost a must with this album. Instead of including a booklet with a song on each page, they decided to get cute and put the lyrics on a single sheet of paper that folds out into a small poster with the cover art on one side and the lyrics on the other. Some songs have to be read one way, then you have to turn the sheet upsidedown or sideways to read the lyrics for a different song. I'm sure whoever came up with this design thought they were being super clever and creative but ... NOT. Do you know how difficult it is to read a line of text 16 inches long and then find the start of the next line? It took less than a minute before I threw the thing down in disgust. I'll put the CD in my computer and look the lyrics up online. So I like the music but, please, knock off the silly stuff. Include a lyric sheet that's readable.

Good solid stuff... almost completely smooth transitions by Michael T. Cassera (Hoboken, NJ)

4 Stars
September 02, 2009
Ok so I read most of the reviews on the site and have to agree with most of them even the negative ones share some true thoughts. First off the album is ridiculously smooth and creates a mellowness anyway its played. I am addicted to this album for walks to work and any sunny day outside... Sam's voice does get overshawdowed (over produced?) by some of the instruments on a view tracks but thats about it.. This album could easily ranked one of the best of 2007 and i wouldn't have a problem with it. It is a favorite of mine right now and i have recommended it to everyone i know that will appreciate a quality album, especially the ones who say "Iron and Wine" who are they?

Objectively, how can anyone not rate this 5 stars... by Ryan (SC)

5 Stars
August 21, 2009
... Ok so I realize we all have different tastes in music but this album is simply phenomenal. Everytime I hear Resurrection Fern or Flightless Bird I find that I have to pause for the entire song just to take it in. The beautiful melodies in Sam Beam's songs coupled with lyrics that paint such a vivid portayal of life (particularly in the American Southeast) immediately transport me to the rural backroads of the South Carolina lowcountry. Having such a specific and immediate response to these songs is something that doesn't happen often and there are only a few records I own (i.e., Lucinda Williams' 'Car Wheels on a Gravel Road' and Son Volt's 'Trace') where I can close my eyes and visualize the lyrics almost as if I was there. I also love Beam's earlier work, 'The Creek Drank the Cradle' and 'Our Endless Numbered Days' for this same reason and don't think the greater production and added instruments on 'The Shepherd's Dog' detract in any way from its charm. Quite the opposite, really. I think this album warrants greater attention and more repeated listens than his earlier work to capture the detail. Easily 5 stars.

If music has the power to heal... by Scooter (Tampa, FL USA)

5 Stars
May 05, 2009
...then this album is some of the best medicine. Although I don't think this collection of artistically layered music is for everyone, I do feel that everyone should give it a listen...and not just once. It has no real standout songs, but the album has a cumulative effect on the listener and by the end you have taken a journey. It may be a different journey for different people, but it is a journey that will leave your heart full.

terrible melodies good arrangements by Phibess (London. UK)

1 Stars
April 10, 2009
Ok here's the deal - this album should have been instrumental. I mean, c'mon if you're going to sing a song you need to be able to compose a decent melody. The lyrics on the album are OK, the production/instrumentation is mostly interesting although sometimes suffers from being overproduced - what ruins this album for me are the terribly banal and repetitive melodies - I mean the guy writes a melody on the rhythm base/rhythmic underlay and unfortunately has no talent to build up/develop a theme. Sorry.:(

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	Our Endless Numbered Days by Iron & Wine Listening to Our Endless Numbered Days makes plain Sam's deft touch with words and melody; one that allows him to turn out stories about love, loss, faith, or the lack of it that are at once personal and universal, set to music that is sweetly haunting and timeless.
	The Creek Drank the Cradle by Iron & Wine 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.
	Woman King by Iron & Wine This Latest Release is Striking Both for Its Broadened Palette and Its Thematic Focus on Female Characters Both Archetypal and Personal.
	Around the Well by Iron & Wine This double CD/triple LP collects songs ranging from out-of-print to never-before-released and spans Iron And Wine's earliest sessions which yielded the band's debut (2002's "The Creek Drank The Cradle") through material recorded for 2007's "The Shepherd's Dog". The double disc is broken into two sections. The first is an assortment of hushed home recordings, unedited and raw, and the second highlights moments captured in the studio with the help of other musicians, friends, and engineers.
	In the Reins by Calexico, Iron & Wine Three years ago, Iron And Wine's Sam Beam entertained the idea of recording with Calexico founding members Joey Burns and John Convertino as the backing band for what would have become his debut record. Due to unavoidable situations, that recording didn't happen. Finally, after much acclaim for both bands, recording for "In The Reins" took place in December of 2004. It's a collaborative affair that features seven Sam originals with the backing of the full Calexico band and vocals by Joey Burns....