hq vinyl reissue. 'ballad of a thin line man' was originally released in 1986 and is the second giant sand reissue from fire records. it features the popular single 'thin line man' and the addition of paula jean brown, who would become howe's wife, as a guitartist. 'giant sand is a mood,' says howe of giant sands, as if trying to offer a low-key explanation for his dizzying array of artistic exploration that includes a back-catalogue of some 40 albums as a singer, band-leader and producer. after growing up in pennsylvania in the 1970's, it wasn't until he moved to tuscon, arizona that he met his musical soul mate, the guitarist rainer ptaceck. the two formed giant sandworms and issued only a handful of recordings before the worms were put to rest: since then, giant sand have released 24 albums - an impressive haul when considering howe's equally prolific output under other projects including black ranchette and arizona amp and alternator as well as his solo releases.