The Handsome Family (Rennie and Brett Sparks) can't ever seem to find it in them to pair lyrics like "When automatic sinks in airports no longer see your hands/Your great journey has begun" with music that reflects their desperate urban majesty.
Last Days of Wonder, their seventh full-length collection of Midwest gothic country songs, does push the envelope a tad further than their previous six releases, as Brett has invented a myriad of new ways to manipulate his trusty home computer into a limitless extension of his own creativity, but even a musical saw can lose its backwoods luster when it's being hauled on the caboose of a three-chord train to midtempo Americanaville.
That said, the Handsome Family's adherence to highly literate contemporary heartbreak within an old-timey framework is what made them stand out from the crowded sea of young Gram Parsons converts in the first place -- actually, they've always seemed more late-period Johnny Cash than Parsons -- so they've more than earned the right to rest on their laurels a bit, but one can't help but think that just a little bit more spice might have elevated all of these beautiful ideas out of the trappings of their now painfully insular song structures.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Your Great JourneyBrett Sparks, Rennie Sparks | The Handsome Family | Play | 03:13 | 7 MB | 18 MB |
| 2 | Tesla's Hotel RoomBrett Sparks, Rennie Sparks | The Handsome Family | Play | 03:57 | 9 MB | 22 MB |
| 3 | These Golden JewelsBrett Sparks, Rennie Sparks | The Handsome Family | Play | 03:32 | 8 MB | 18 MB |
| 4 | After We Shot the GrizzlyBrett Sparks, Rennie Sparks | The Handsome Family | Play | 03:33 | 8 MB | 19 MB |
| 5 | Flapping Your Broken WingsBrett Sparks, Rennie Sparks | The Handsome Family | Play | 03:46 | 8 MB | 24 MB |
| 6 | Beautiful WilliamBrett Sparks, Rennie Sparks | The Handsome Family | Play | 04:22 | 10 MB | 24 MB |
| 7 | All the Time in AirportsBrett Sparks, Rennie Sparks | The Handsome Family | Play | 03:43 | 8 MB | 22 MB |
| 8 | White LightsBrett Sparks, Rennie Sparks | The Handsome Family | Play | 03:36 | 8 MB | 18 MB |
| 9 | Bowling Alley BarBrett Sparks, Rennie Sparks | The Handsome Family | Play | 02:52 | 6 MB | 17 MB |
| 10 | Hunter GreenBrett Sparks, Rennie Sparks | The Handsome Family | Play | 04:29 | 10 MB | 25 MB |
| 11 | Our Blue SkyBrett Sparks, Rennie Sparks | The Handsome Family | Play | 02:59 | 6 MB | 18 MB |
| 12 | Somewhere Else to BeBrett Sparks, Rennie Sparks | The Handsome Family | Play | 03:23 | 7 MB | 20 MB |
| 43 mins | 99 MB | |||||
| 43 mins | 251 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Coulter | Musical Saw |
| 2 | David Gutierrez | Guitar |
| 3 | The Handsome Family | Primary Artist |
| 4 | Sheila Sachs | Design Associate |
| 5 | Roger Seibel | Mastering |
| 6 | Brett Sparks | Composer, Engineer, Instrumentation |
| 7 | Darrell Sparks | Vocal Harmony |
| 8 | Rennie Sparks | Art Compiler, Autoharp, Banjo, Composer, Ukulele, Vocals |
The Handsome Family
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |