(Play It Again is a monthly playlist series for kids and adults alike. You can read more about what playlists should accomplish he….. no, here.)
Smog – Supper Ain’t Too Much To Love (a combination of A River Ain’t Too Much To Love and Supper)
In a strange way, Bill Callahan is the folk version of Robert Pollard. He’s been making music forever and several different names. Those releases have been a lot but his self-editing has not been a lot. Where the comparison to Pollard diverges is that Pollard’s work either soars or fails spectacularly and Callahan’s is either pretty good or boring.
Chalk that up to the difference between rock and folk, but it leads to the same issue. Recommending a single album of Callahan’s can be difficult because, while I adore his output, it is very much hit or miss. Of course, that’s where playlists come in, and that’s why you’re here.
Callahan’s final two albums as Smog (after these albums, he went by his own name) are a culmination of his music career. A River Ain’t Too Much To Love is the more measured of the two albums, providing both the most heartbreaking, moving songs and the most yawn-inducing. On the other hand, Supper is among his most accessible releases, providing some honest to god rock songs with honest to god up-tempo melodies.
These balance each other out perfectly in playlist form, with River providing the showcase moments to lift the ceiling on the playlist and Supper providing the catchier moments to raise the floor. As far as Bill Callahan primers go, this is about as good as it gets.
Callahan has one of my favorite nontraditional singing voices. The lows in his register are pulled down further by the gravity of his ominous lyrics. He writes love songs that sound like doomsday threats. He could write about his favorite color being hot pink and I would imagine hot pink streaked across encroaching storm clouds. The man deserves to be heard.
Bill Callahan – Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest (edited in half)
Released earlier this month, this album is a masterpiece hidden inside 34 minutes of filler. It’s never a great testament to self-editing when I have to cut out more from a single album than I was able to keep, but this is also usually the case when it comes to double albums. I’m sorry, Bill, but double albums are never a good idea. The times when it has worked (I can’t think of any but I’m sure at least one exists) are the exceptions rather than the rule.
But when I cut out literally half the songs, look at that! An amazing folk album lies in wait. And this remaining album is a weird and moving piece of art. Most of the songs feature just a guitar and that Callahan’s amazing voice, which really puts the pressure on his singing to carry the songs. And it puts pressure on his lyrics to carry as well. These songs deliver in both respects.
It’s interesting listening to this after listening to the Smog playlist included in this article because many of the songs call back to lyrics or phrases used on those final two Smog albums. But an entire decade has passed since then, so lines he sang back in 2005 came off as dark and foreboding but now feel weary and content. The cadence in his voice hasn’t changed, but years of gravity have pulled him down further so the threat is gone and maybe some of the sadness too. What remains is old dad energy, and hey, that’s it’s own kind of fun.