'The Inner Flame' was originally conceived and released back in 1997, as both a tribute and benefit album to acclaimed singer-songwriter and Giant Sand founder Rainer Ptacek in order to fund the medical bills needed to treat the cancer to which he succumbed later that year. Fire Records is now reissuing the complete collection of Ptacek's recordings beginning, fittingly, with this various artists compilation, now updated with added tracks recorded after the original release, along with the original '97 recordings, many of which featured Ptacek himself. A quick glance at the legends who have contributed to this [...]
Tribute records don't come much better than this, either in terms of the music being celebrated or in the inspiration the assembled musicians obviously felt. There was a time in the '90s when it seemed like tribute albums were all the rage. What could be easier than asking popular alternative acts of the day to show their appreciation for an influential group or artist from the past such as Led Zeppelin or John Lennon? Why, the money practically printed itself. Somewhat more rare, and standing on more sombre ground, however, were the benefit discs. 1993 gave us the still [...]
Fire Records are reissuing the complete works of Rainer Ptacek , the much beloved slide guitarist from Tucson, Arizona, who originated Giant Sand's sound from the band's inception, as well as creating many remarkable recordings as a solo artist and with his own band, Das Combo , before succumbing to brain cancer on November 12 1997. The reissues start with The Inner Flame , a compilation of accomplished and remarkably diverse artists who were brought together to honour Rainer's inspirational work, featuring talents such as Robert Plant & Jimmy Page, Emmylou [...]
howdy! on may 28 fire records is reissuing the complete works of rainer ptacek, a tuscon based guitar player who teamed up with howe gelb in the late 70s to form giant sand, but at the time i believe they were actually called giant sandworms. sadly, rainer died from a brain cancer in 1997, but his legacy, of course lives on, and hopefully these reissues will get some people to listen to his stuff. for more information on the reissues, including the awesome artists that contributed along the way, visit here - the fire records site. the [...]
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