There was a good few years when he was great and he and Will Oldham were right at the top of my record collection. I mentioned it in another thread recently that a collaboration between them would be like a holy grail back then. But last yearās record was just boring. having said that I still really like him and have persevered with the BC records despite the diminishing returns, but rarely choose to listen to anything after A Riverā¦. (which I still think is his best) after an initial attempt hoping the new ones will be a return to form.
Generally very good live, enjoyed the Hoxton Hall show a few years ago. Was great at Green Man as the sun was setting with Joanna in the wings. In fact can only think of one dud show Iāve seen him do (at the Faversham in Leeds, and that was entirely the venues fault for having a big long bar down the side of the venue and being completely ill suited to quiet music).
Heās a 5 for his best, of course but probably a 4 overall. ( And If pressed Iād probably take Will Oldham if I could only take one of them to the desert island. )
Donāt think Iāve seen this linked in the thread yet, love this b-side from the River Aināt era:
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Bill is definitely top tier for me. Apocalypse / Dream River and Red Apple Falls were major discoveries for me at university, and Iāve gradually expanded my range of albums since then. Still got a few Iāve not even heard yet, which feels good: treats I can save for later!
Heās a fantastic vocalist, which is partly down to his lovely voice, but also in the way he inhabits his songs and drops in little expressive details and emphases to his singing, eg the percussive noises in Drover. Itās a voice you can really listen closely to and get lost in.
Great songwriter, one who really nails that tricky territory between songs and poetry. You know that thing where great song lyrics sound crap spoken or written? Or when good poetry is crammed into a song structure and sounds awkward? He avoids both of those pitfalls somehow. Lots of his songs take ages to piece together the whole thread of, but all the individual lines are still really nice too. Brilliant dry humour in a lot of his stuff too.
Only saw him live the once, at Leeds Irish Centre circa Dream River, and thought he was great. Probably wouldnāt be much cop for anyone coming to him cold and not knowing the songs though.
Big 5. Will probably be sprinkling lyrical treats here and there for the rest of the thread.
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I, to this day, regularly ask friends to give me a āWhoopā, then a āHollerā, and then I lose them when I ask for a āFuck all, yāallā.
Except itās actually āHootā and āHelloā, so I look like an idiot
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Too long but had its moments imo
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Thanks - not my proudest moment.
Somehow ended up in the posh chalets near artists at the Dirty Three curated ATP, too many soya milk White Russianās was the main culprit in the whole thing
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Smog just came on in the cafe Iām sat in as I read this thread.
Iāll go 4.
Was outstanding live when I saw him in Manchester, but very dull at EOTR festival.
His solo stuff up to Dream River is exceptional. And Knock Knock is a classic.
Big fan of that B-Sides collection too.
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What a performance he put on that weekend though. Felt like the perfect hangover cure. His set and David Pajoās. Magical.
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Red Apple Falls is fantastic, itās one of the Jim OāRourke produced ones too, has him playing hurdy-gurdy and piano and such.
I like I Was A Stranger so much I named my first tape Worse Than A Stranger.
Just wonderful. Definitely one of my favourite ATPs looking back
A friend was in contact with Warren Ellis prior to the whole announcement and revealed his wish list (he got most of it) and I remember thinking it was like a whoās who of all my favourite artists at the time.
I didnāt go to many ATPs, but that was a special one.
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Yeah, that is actually pretty good. Some pretty big Delilah vibes to it.
On paper it was my favourite ATP (and D3 are my favourite band). But I actually found it a bit stressful having so many bands I wanted to see, and felt a bit exhausted by the running around to try and cram everything in. With hindsight should have picked and choosed a bit more and spent more time getting bladdered in the chalet, as usual.
really, really obviously the latterā¦
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This is one of my favourite songs I think
Thereās a little Belfast indie record label called No Dancing thatās presumably named after this song. They also used to run a Sunday night āclubā of the same name when I was at uni where they DJd exactly this type of music in a pub on Sunday nights and me and my friend used to go along a lot. Always thought the name No Dancing was just a reference to it being a DJ night full of miserable music with everyone sitting down, didnāt hear the Smog song until a few years later and it clicked into place.
After years away they brought back the No Dancing nights in a different venue on a monthly basis a little while ago but Covid hit shortly after. Hope it makes another comeback.
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No one has posted Bathysphere yet. Strange, moving, deep and silly. Nothing else Iāve heard grabs me as hard, but the sun is out and I finished work early so he can have a 4.
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5/5, thanks for playing. Tune.
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take it up with some stoners from 2010
I really do miss the edge he used to have as Smog.
there was some threat on the fringes of the songs, out of shot, some tragedy maybe, and that ever-presentā¦ I suppose Iād say āpost-traumatically reserved surrealismā?
the minimalism in the music, the way his words were like a semi-articulate witnessās reconstruction of events, and his delivery sounding almost stilted?
likeā¦ somewhere between the incongruous attempts to emote of the emotionally stunted, and the quavering curled-lip deadpan of a serial liar on the wind-up, but actually painfully sincere underneath?
at his best, he was keyed into the absurdity of life like nobody else, and he was masterful in evoking with the precision of what he did and didnāt say
please can you tell the one who got it wrong that he got it wrong
when he was closest to true vulnerability <3
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