Bill Callahan- sometimes i wish we were an eagle

his best album

inclined toward "the wind and the dove"

i am a child of linger on
i peer through the window gone

Definitely his peak. I don't even know. Not one that isn't great.

Not his best but

Jim Cain
Eid Ma Clack Shaw
Too Many Birds
My Friend

All top notch. Will probably go for Too Many Birds.

Particularly fond of the bookends. Jim Cain v. Faith/Void.

i like apocalypse more ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A River Ain't Too Much vs. Eagle the best Bill albums IMO.

i think my fave here is "jim cain" but i haven't listened to this for a while

Hard not to go Jim Cain cuz it's easily top tier and also just gets me excited for everything to come.

A River Ain't Too Much vs. Eagle the best Bill albums IMO.

― circa1916, Wednesday, June 24, 2015 5:55 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

vs Dream River

i love him to death but i dunno, i haven't really felt attached and drawn back to any album since 'river'

'eid ma' is fun

went with "All Thoughts are Prey to Some Beast" today, but any song minus "My Friend" and "Invocation" on another day

had to stop listening to "All Thoughts are Prey to Some Beast" in the car because it just pulls you in to the point of distraction

i had an ill-starred relationship with a lover i used to listen to smog with, she liked to call me 'my friend', maybe kinda to define the relationship downward, who can say, so callahan's 'my friend' quickly became kinda rrrrrrrrrr

my friend-zoned in smoggergate

i think this is his peak melodically, and almost every lyric is kind of novel and devastating. not that he ever isn't in that mode but there's so much of it here

Apocalypse is peaker imo. It's apocalype or a river ain't too much to love fighting for the top spot.

He has about 6 best albums tho.

Too Many Birds. had such personal heaviness w/this album I assumed I thought it was a masterpiece because it saved my life, kinda nice to hear others say it rules

If...
If you...
If you could...
If you could only...
If you could only stop...
If you could only stop your...
If you could only stop your heart...
If you could only stop your heart beat...
If you could only stop your heart beat for...
If you could only stop your heart beat for one heart...
If you could only stop your heart beat for one heart beat.

He has about 6 best albums tho.

― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Wednesday, June 24, 2015 10:30 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ty jed; correct response to anybody slinging around casual/definite best album advocacy is to draw swords, take umbrage, throw down, play supper, &c

& hey i am voting #all #thoughts here. it's really wild to hear him play it solo, & to understand how elemental a frame the guitar part is, like as elemental as red apple falls, as brutal as song. the guy whose name i forget - brian? - who did the arrangements for this record did everything based on done-&-dusted recordings he hadn't heard afaik, & i don't know maybe this is standard but it's wild how rich & flush it is as a record on account of his work.

also really key to remember this era as a real apex of #bc #looks, long haired wilderness bill maybe second only to bill-shaving-on-the-inner-of-knock-knock in the inspirational role model stakes

http://res.cloudinary.com/bombmagazine/image/upload/q_50/v1412267060/callahan_02_body.jpg

his best album

voted too many birds

are we not an eagle

#bc #looks

http://edvarie.com/Chris-Taylor

Very heavy memories of coming downstairs after an embarrassingly excessive night of drinking and putting on coffee and turning on the turntable and lying on the couch and sinking into a dark but hopeful mystic haze to this album. 😔

Love is the king of the beasts
And when it gets hungry it must kill to eat
Love is the king of the beasts
A lion walking down city streets

but prob "too many birds' because i used to play it while watching purple martin's roost at sunset and it was one of the best things ever.

http://mountainx.com/arts/art-news/striking_as_ever_bill_callahan_returns_to_the_grey_eagle/

i much prefer 1) river aint too much to love; 2) apocalypse; and 3) dream river over eagle in the new callahan era (which i think everyone agrees started with river?). (river ain't and apocalypse are tied in my mind). i might even like woke on a whaleheart more than eagle.

any way i think here it is probably jim cain for me.

not totally sure why but eagle and supper are companion albums in my mind, the way each album flows seems of the same spirit

you mad with those rankings. whaleheart's probably his worst album.

also since rain on lens in 2001 we have received a new callahan album every two years, it is now time bill!!

eagle seems a little overwrought sometimes, too many instruments, i still really like it though! think i just prefer callahan when he is a little more sparse. also i think matt kinsey is such a welcome addition and i really hope he sticks around on future albums

whaleheart's great. so much fun. sounds super wild. it's such a gift to have such distinct, far-out processing of smog at a peak, combing a bunch of his best songs into this weird synthetic package. it's the best realisation of the part of smog that's informed by loving the upsetters & fleetwood mac, like it's an '80s record, without that being something accomplished by like chorus guitar & smothering everything in synths.

i love Whaleheart but don't really get the production claims about it. doesn't sound that far off from all his other albums to me.

all his albums since A River Ain't have been amazing, can't really rank them. Supper is a smidge behind.

Yeah I couldn't pick a best but SIWWWAE is definitely up there. I went with "Too Many Birds." Woke on a Whaleheart is easily my least favorite of the latter-day Callahan albums but it also has "Sycamore" which is classic.

it sounds p wild

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-udha3z_EI

i think the era split, for-sure starting with a river, cf marcos, is kinda useful even just to stop any attempt to smush such different kinds of records together. supper is unique & kinda holy in his catalogue though. i think when smog was whatever smog was, then - weird inscrutable maybe misanthropic edgy guy, please see prologues to terse interviews from this period for more descriptors - supper was a really perfect distillation of that, like he's just so in control, & it brings out his really incredible timing & storytelling, & it's a super cohesive ~record~, &c.

you all should go listen to whaleheart!, sycamore is like ... the thing on it that might've been smuggled out of other smog records. honeymoon child & day & diamond dancer on. there was also this great b-side from the same time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeW8OkUN1DM

I def need to listen to it again, I remember though not being a fan of Neil Michael Hagerty's production. Feel like it sounds colder than the rest of the Callahan/Smog albums.

i think probably what we should do at this stage is lock this thread, & also lock ilx, & everybody should go listen to it, develop Hot Contrarian Opinions, & then we should hold an e-sauna scored by spurned smog songs.

sycamore is defintely a classic

also i really love the wheel

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i really love "taken" thank you schlump, wish that it was on the album it would've fit so perfectly

there is nothing particularly noteworthy about the whaleheart production

the righteous fuckin grooves on the other hand

I relistened to WOAW (pretty good, still one of my least fave BC albums) and now I'm on Apocalypse and I'm going down a "fuck this guys is a genius" rabbit hole

apocalypse is really stunning

all thoughts are prey to some beast

it sounds so much like "all thoughts are prey to zombies!" at times

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i love him to death but i dunno, i haven't really felt attached and drawn back to any album since 'river'

― j., Thursday, June 25, 2015 1:05 AM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this, but only because River is such an indisputable fucking masterpiece

Eid Ma Clack Shaw.

zupoven del baum

his best album (3)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

For real? This could be my least favorite track on here. all you corny indie fuxxors

Really? I don't have anything to say other than verteppy vin seigneur, go fally rag da.

I voted for it because it is funny and wise and amazing.

I'm sad that My Friend and Faith/Void got not votes because they are both awesome.

Oh, I really loathe "Faith / Void" (and I pretty much love 85% of the music this guy's made since the very first Smog album)

lol if you like callahan and you don't dig eid ma clack shaw you are FRONTING. not my favorite on this album but an easy top 3 from it

this top 4 makes sense to me

haha I am definitely fronting a little, I have enjoyed that tune from time to time but yea it is not my favorite, also faith/void is great easily my 3rd or 4th favorite on here

concur that faith/void slays

I loved "eid ma" as the lead single from this record -- it was sort of a great first thing to hear

http://fuckinrecordreviews.tumblr.com/post/126828416215/slow-metal-percussion-all-physical-tortured

Anyone know where I can download Smog shows 1992-1998?

Missed the poll but Rococo Zephyr and Eid Ma Clack Shaw are unbelievable. The rest is also lovely but those two songs are everything.

(i put god away)