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NickS (WA)'s avatar

"I feel I could write a post the size of Texas about it"

I appreciate this post, and am still working my way through the music, but my first introduction to Bill Callahan was Gil Scott-Heron's excellent cover of "I'm New Here" the title track from his late in life comeback album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV_astp3BjM

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Michael K. Fell's avatar

Another deep dive that has introduced me to newer material by Callahan I have yet to explore. I will no doubt return to it as I investigate the work you discuss that I am unfamiliar with and this new live LP. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and the obvious labor of love this piece has been.

My favorite song by Smog is "Truth Serum" from his 'Supper' album. I love the sense of play, yet there is also a profoundness in the questions he asks throughout the tune. But that is going back now. I haven't kept up with his discography, but the albums I own I really enjoy. I think I told you this before, but I discovered Callahan via an early Flaming Lips EP from 1994 called 'Providing Needles For Your Balloons.' On it, they do a Callahan song called "Chosen One." At the time, I was a big Lips fan, and if they liked Callahan, I needed to check him out. 

I also really like your section on rhyme. It made me think of the wonderful song by Love, "Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark and Hilldale," where Arthur Lee never mentions the rhyming word but instead leaves it unsaid, allowing our mind to fill in the blanks. 

And I completely understand what you mean by voice being a huge part of the experience. Callahan's deep baritone adds a huge texture to his often gentle music (the tracks I listened to in your post were more electric, but his voice still dominates and resonates). I feel the same way about Mark Lanegan's voice that reeks of whisky, cigarettes, pain, and a life filled with trauma and addiction. Lanegan's voice becomes the passport that transports us to his (and our) dark and uncomfortable spaces. I don't know as much about Callahan's life as I do Lanegan's, but I agree it is deep but more gentle and soothing. 

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