Will Oldham v Bill Callahan

Jason Molina would have to be in the poll too

Like the dude a lot but he seems...second string?

Anyway that poll would be good

seems like we are afraid to start the poll for some reason

Wire readers might see it?

haven't had the time to read this yet, but:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2014/07/01/songwriters/

I just tried to, yeesh, don't bother.

I thought this was really good - https://pitchfork.com/news/bill-callahan-bonnie-prince-billy-and-matt-sweeney-cover-hank-williams-jr-listen/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIPYAnjnh4M

<3

Had a horrible feeling that they were going to do an ‘ironic‘ version of it...but it’s absolutely wonderful

Bill MacKay is awesome

the guitar sounds incredible on this

Yeah, that's MacKay!

I like his albums with Ryley Walker

so great

it's not really possible to do an "ironic" version of Dan, they are miles ahead of anyone else in irony

I guess I don't know why you'd assume they would do an ironic version to begin with

the song arrived on the same day that tom scharpling promised to dedicate his whole show to telling people why the dan is bad

ugh ffs scharpling

this cover is really excellent btw

I kinda want Callahan and McKay to join Superwolf for the next album.

I think I'd prefer it if Will sang the lead vox? Bill has all the range of a parents-basement Astrud Gilberto fanatic.

MacKay really saves this cover.

(that's not to say that Donald had incredible range, yet he understood the limitations of his gift which he then built songs around, as ambitious as he was at the time)

Weirdly I guess I'm the only one who really doesn't like the guitar on this - it sounds like a mess to me.

I mean some of it sounds good but all the different layers together sound bad

Bill's vocal is good enough and I like the part where Will comes in on harmony

I mean really this sounds like a fucking mixed level guitar class playthrough

I get nothing out of Oldham while I like a good handful of smog records so it’s gotta be bill

I don’t know the original song, but I agree w/ man alive re: the guitar playing in that track.

I'm a fan of both McKay and Callahan (indifferent about Bonnie), but this cover is horrendous and really showcases the limits of Callahan's voice

It sounds like there is one good acoustic track, which I assume is McKay, but then there is some real awfulness layered on top, like that sloppy delay electric. But also a fair number of clashy notes and rhythmic ideas in the multiple acoustic tracks. The background "ooohs" are also terrible and take away from it. It's an extraordinarily harmonically and rhythmically nuanced song and extremely hard to cover for that reason. A laid-back, vaguely bossaish cover of it is a nice concept but Bill is the wrong guy to do it and there's a lot of bad, amateurish stuff stepping all over it here.

Ah guys. I love this, but any Bill/Steely combo was going to make me happy since those are two Big Musics for me.

those are two Big Musics for me.

Same. I honestly really like Bill’s vocals on this — his voice sounds great over these kinds of chords. But I’m also in the camp that thinks all the guitars here sound like a mess. I made a mono version using only what’s in the left channel and I find it a lot more palatable. Oldham’s vocals are less prominent too, which is fine with me.

there are so many of these covers now! I'm keeping a playlist since it doesn't seem to exist anywhere

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7EoNfsSBILMQ9vpxq9KIWv

Oldham's stomping take on "Our Anniversary" is great

Thanks Simon!

A Bill Callahan playlist in here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012h6l

I must admit I'm putting it here so I can find it again.

oh this is interesting. his mixtape starts at 1:06, by the way

Oldham and Callahan's collaboration is a big disappointment, nothing of what I love about either artist is on display. Everything just sounded very basic rock music. And I was excited to hear it.

I’ve had the opposite reaction! I’m a much bigger fan of Callahan, and this album takes him a bit off of the slow and steady path he had been sticking to. I’ve already listened to it mire than his last couple albums combined. “That Night in Santiago” is a stunner.

"The Wild Kindness" felt like a full-on Drag City tribute to Berman and was especially moving for that reason. I liked "Deacon Blues" as well.

*puts on Roberts Evans voice* Was every tribute paid their due by lifelong indie artists? No. Did I put "Our Anniversary" on my year end list? You bet your ass I did.

Oldham and Callahan's collaboration is a big disappointment, nothing of what I love about either artist is on display. Everything just sounded very basic rock music. And I was excited to hear it.

Wow, I don't hear very much "basic rock music" on this album at all.