bill callahan (post-smog)

i wonder if it's a double album or shorter songs

― na (NA), Thursday, May 2, 2019 7:38 AM (fifty-five minutes ago)

double album dropping june 14.

— Bill Callahan (@BillCallaman) May 2, 2019

so sounds like relatively shorter songs but not like 1-2 minute songs

lol it’s true the drag city site has UK
xp

18. Lonesome Valley

This is probably a studio version of Woody Guthrie's 'Lonesome Valley', which he's been playing live.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ49BRoV5WI

song lengths here https://www.dragcity.com/products/shepherd-in-a-sheepskin-vest

strange reading BC use the word "dropping" to describe an album release

that said, looking forward to this

That's an interesting chord sub (rel minor?) in that cover.

https://pitchfork.com/features/profile/bill-callahan-shepherd-in-a-sheepskin-vest-interview/

this (Shepherd) feels like the best thing he's done since Woke on a Whaleheart. after Dream River (bland as) i'd lost all enthusiasm for S'Bill Call-ogg'han. Shepherd's an excellent recording, the playing is loose and colorful (variety of instrumentation), and it's got great feel. this has got to be the most playful/relaxed Callahan record, ever. still rooting for Berman, but new smog is undeniably good

its excellent and a nice change of pace from the last 2.

Have been wondering what Bill's 90s electric guitar was for over 20 years now - anyone know? It got stolen after Dongs Of Sevotion - he's playing it on the front cover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqT2djn-m2Q&t=3m56s

Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqT2djn-m2Q

I was pretty surprised at the absence of "Shepard" from most year end lists (including ILM). Maybe everyone only had room for one Drag City baritone on their 2019 ballot, and Berman's sadness was more compelling than Callahan's happiness?

as a Calla-fan I found it pretty boring

Been a fan for a long time, and I think it's a great album.

i'm not sure what that guitar is! for a second i thought it was a parker fly but i'm guessing it's some random cheap guitar

I've discovered it's a Fender Performer from 1985/86.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Performer

https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--VJL4Jfb9--/a_exif,c_limit,e_unsharp_mask:80,f_auto,fl_progressive,g_south,h_620,q_90,w_620/v1525635683/pqz2cgkf6ezjmlks0uaa.jpg

I remember he said in an interview he had used it on every album up to Dongs. I kind of want one now.

Bill Callahan has announced the release of new album Gold Record, his first since last year's Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest.

The album, Callahan's seventh since abandoning the Smog moniker, and eighteenth in total, will be released on September 4 via Drag City.

One single from the record will be released every Monday between now and the album's release date.

01 Pigeons
02 Another Song
03 35
04 Protest Song
05 The Mackenzies
06 Let’s Move to the Country
07 Breakfast
08 Cowboy
09 Ry Cooder
10 As I Wander

new album "gold record" coming in september: https://exclaim.ca/music/article/bill_callahan_returns_with_new_lp_gold_record

has a new version of let's move to the country on it
xpost

you beat me by 39 seconds
excited for this even though i could never get into shepherd in a sheepskin vest

Always happy for new Callahan. I liked Shepherd okay, but I was a little baffled about that particular one being the one to gain wider traction, since I found it to be second-tier among his "Bill Callahan" records.

dear lord that cover art

lol thought that was a pt cruiser for a second

i need to go back to SIASV but i think it was just too long and too pastoral for me

so i'm encouraged by this being a 10-track album

agreed on both counts

Great news! I love Shepherd personally, can’t wait to hear what he comes up with next.

That cover though. It’s so bad it has to be intentional :)

i need to go back to SIASV but i think it was just too long and too pastoral for me

idk, it's an impression based on a memory of something i haven't listened to in about a year so probably not the right description. i remember it being pleasant but not connecting with it. some overwritten songs, some arranagements i didn't care for? who knows. like i said i need to go back to it.

he really has a lot of ugly album covers.

Too ‘happy’, perhaps?

yes, I'm glad he's happy but that record was terrible. i've no interest in happy BC.

I'll listen to this to hear the new version of let's move to the country.

I allowed him one happy record, and genuinely think it’s good, but yeah happy isn’t his raison d’etre

has a new version of let's move to the country on it

maybe he ought to get into the deal of self-covering sad songs to flip them, like will oldham

i listened to some of shepherd this afternoon. it doesn't bother me that it's happy. i think it's mostly the song structures - instead of verses and choruses, a lot of the songs are strings of parts that don't repeat. this isn't inherently bad, but combined with the arrangements, it's further down what i'll call a "jazz-folk" road (probably not the best descriptor) that i don't really care for. and since there are so many songs, not having many real choruses makes for a long album with few parts that stick in my head. it feels part of a trend from apocalypse to dream river to shepherd, with my enjoyment declining with each album. but i still love BC and hold out hope for GOLD RECORD.

shepherd was also hurt by not having matt kinsey shredding over it

and again i only listened to maybe 1/4 of the album so it's likely i'm misremembering it as a whole

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQp3nZe6kI4&

Like that a lot, but I fear that if the whole album is at that tempo, it will struggle to hold my attention much like the last one did.

props for shoehorning "plenipotentiary" in there

I laughed at both the bracketing quotes

I could be cool w/ a whole album at this tempo, I think I've drifted away for the last couple records for the reasons NA states above...the structures and melodic lacking /geir

i liked this song more than anything i can remember from shepherd. i think i never listened to the whole thing which is kinda crazy given how much i like so many of his records.
should i know/ expect some context for the johnny cash thing at the beginning?

he really has a lot of ugly album covers.

Yeah what was he thinking with that Apocalypse cover

https://i.imgur.com/WQ5xFN8.jpg

Psyched about the new album, love the song Pigeons! Not loving Shepherd as much as I should, feel kinda weird and guilty about it. Hmm

I love the "Sometimes ..." artwork and the cat/power "Knock Knock" image makes me chuckle. But, yeah.

Welcome back Rizzx!

I like Pigeons a lot, it's very much in the same vein as Shepherd tbf. I'm surprised so many of you didn't get into Shepherd. It's long but bobs by so nicely.

Dream River + the dub versions (especially the dub verions) have been my lockdown jam.

Hey thanks Bateau!

Sadly, the new song is more of the same, and not in a good way. It's like he is writing the same song, with the same arrangements over and over again..

More attention to interesting melodies at least will be welcome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ3rR3JOVfQ

why can't the album cover art be one of these cool drawings in the videos ?

nice