Bill Callahan - Dream River

this got mojo album of the year btw, which is surprising. i love smog but ive yet to hear the guys solo records yet

they are all solo records, really

also does anything else think the big extended cover of percy mayfield's "please send me someone to love" they've been doing on (every stop on?) this tour is kind of a mess? for one thing, bill cannot sell those lyrics at all. i mean, obviously it's kind of purposely a mess, almost a piss-taking thing where callahan "solos" on a blues number. but for that reason it's not much fun to listen to. i was kind of psyched when I heard he was doing this cover on the tour, b/c i'm a huge percy mayfield fan, but i was way disappointed.

i mean the earliest smog stuff is literally solo.

yeah, the idea of the "please send me someone to love" cover was better than its actuality...

well i think a lot of specialness of the original is in mayfield's delivery and while bill has many strengths as a singer he just can't pull it off with the same emotional dexterity. he should probably stay away from songs in the R&B tradition, it just reveals his limitations.

it's a mix of despondency and wry humor, and the way mayfield goes up and down his register, bill just can't compete. dig:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqg_h51y4cI

it's a nice gesture, though. i sometimes worry i'm the only one under 60 that remembers and loves that sort of postwar R&B.

i do worry that in a decade or two my enthusiasm for this stuff will be like people in the 1960s who dug turn-of-the-century record artists like nora bayes, i.e. totally marginal and weird.

well then i've got some bad news for ya, buddy

lol http://www.dragcity.com/products/have-fun-with-god

hmmm, i didn't listen to that dub single, was it good?

eh

it was kinda cool to hear but i didn't feel like it was totally worth revisiting

x-post a few posts up

it's a nice gesture, though. i sometimes worry i'm the only one under 60 that remembers and loves that sort of postwar R&B.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Thursday, November 28, 2013 8:56 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

A few of us do...But I understand the feeling

will buy this for the sleeve

http://exclaim.ca/images/bill21.jpg

ha that owns

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18866-bill-callahan-have-fun-with-god/

can someone shed some light on "I've got limitations/like Marvin Gaye"?

Thank christ "Sing" doesn't have a flute murdering it. Great song.

http://www.freep.com/article/20131009/ENT04/310090011/

http://rock.rapgenius.com/Bill-callahan-the-sing-lyrics#note-2415360

detroit free press my ass, stupid paywall

here ya go:

http://permanentsmile.tumblr.com/post/63760595214/bill-talks-songwriting-guitar-greatness-and-marvin

thanks Sufjan. i figured it was something like that but thought it may be a specific lyrical reference.

np. Since my partner would prefer not to hear Bill playing in our small apartment, side A of this record has become my every morning ritual. "The Sing" really is awesome, but I don't mind the flute on other tracks. I'm not sure that I prefer the flute, but I don't mind it.

love the flute

sufjan how attached are you to this partner

haha, very! I even enjoy a bit of music disagreement, though.

what's her Bill beef?

she thinks he "talk sings". she has vocal hangups. she's not into Mountain Goats or Silver Jews either. But she saw both Bill and MGs live with me, so I don't think she minds too much. I just give her veto privs so I can maintain my own veto privs. otherwise I'd be hearing THAO & THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN a lot more.

I also thing I overplayed A River Ain't Too Much To Love on a roadtrip to San Diego, and she's never quite forgiven me

he does sing talk, that is why he is great

beer.

thank you.

i guess one person's sing talk is another person's jazz flute

all sing talk is prey to some jazz flute

i think the jazz flute works BECAUSE of the sing talk.

is a "brain tree" a real type of tree? a medical term? I know braintree is a town. if you GIS it, you just get a bunch of clip art. it comes up in actual air as well.

also, nerve_pylon otm

all sing talk is prey to some jazz flute

omg

o.g.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAciq69W5Es

that's more of a talk talk thing

talk talk is into brain trees too

beer?

thank you

the only words i've said today

i haven't spent a lot of time with "have fun with god" but "ride my dub" is pretty great, those spacier middle tracks on "dream river" are better suited for the dub format than the folkier tracks that open and close the album

I love the cover painting. Apparently it's by someone named Paul Ryan. Can anyone link me to a page that actually is about that Paul Ryan and not one of the 500 other artist named Paul Ryan?

http://www.paulryan-artist.com/html/my-home.html - I think he is Australian. Really wonderful painter

I prefer his landscapes over the rest of his work though

yeah he's fucking amazing damn

love his workout photos