The Holy Grail: Bill Callahan’s "Smog" Dec. 10, 2001 Peel Session

“This one to me is a time capsule more than most any of my recordings", says Bill Callahan of this 2001 BBC radio session. Recorded with the Smog touring band of Jim White (Dirty Three), Jessica Billey, and Mike Saenz, the four tunes here - including covers of Stevie Nicks and The Velvet Underground - are standout examples of what made us all fall head over heels for Smog in the first place. - Flying Out

December 2001, Maida Vale: Bill Callahan’s “Smog” perform with demonstrative zeal for their British witness at the BBC, shimmering and hissing with a Lynchian vibe of U.S. darkness in the invariable shadows of the fallen towers. Callahan & band (Jessica Billey, Mike Saenz and Jim White) cover Stevie Nicks, Lou Reed and Smog with grey, ashen resolve and tour-torn flexibility, amassing a bruised, plaintive essence of humanity with their efforts.

“This one to me is a time capsule more than most any of my recordings. All music is a time trapped in time that preaches timelessness -– preaching either convincingly or not. But with a radio session such as this, there is a different aspect. It’s all live, all first take, no overdubs. Also I think having the BBC engineers at the controls, with their own aesthetic, not one I am bringing to the studio, that makes it more encapsulated -- “remember that day we did that?” The circumstances and the memory of the smell of the studio makes it stand out. So it’s more of a performance maybe than a usual recording, because the audience (engineer and producer) were foreign to us. British, milk in tea. So we gave them something to show them who WE were -– Dale Coopers with our black coffees.

Somebody said this EP is very Twin Peaksy. Not in a Badalamenti, torch-song way –- a deeper connection. I can see that.

Beautiful Child has been turned into a minor key song because, well, it really should have been one in the first place! Cold Discovery was a live staple then and some nights it could really catch fire. We got a pretty good one for BBC. Dirty Pants here is probably better than the LP version. And then there’s Jesus. Sweet, sweet Jesus. Here sounding like a deathbed plea shot through with visitations from the angel of mercy.”

Tracklist:

1. Beautiful Child
2. Cold Discovery
3. Dirty Pants
4. Jesus