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On Free’s, the oddly titled penultimate song on Bill Callahan’s Apocalypse, the singer ponders what it means to "to be free in bad times… and good". Ultimately (despite some misgivings) he seems to embrace his own freedom, or at least recognise it. Because while this record draws from a sparser palette than 2009’s sun-cracked opus Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle – and even though it’s called Apocalypse, and is the latest from a singer renowned for his subversive outlook – it isn’t a bleak or downcast affair. Instead it plays out like a grand old Western, wherein Callahan contemplates his role and heritage against an untrammelled American landscape of the kind that constitutes its rich cover art.
That artwork is a painting by the artist Paul Ryan, though the apocalypse evoked over the course of these seven songs is for the most part Callahan’s own: sitting in a hotel room listening to old recordings he’s made, a flickering television on mute, revelation (not Revelation) colouring his thoughts. This vignette is relayed to the listener in the gorgeous Riding for the Feeling, which could feasibly be interpreted as a paean to the instinctive – his personal rejection of the cerebral. Forty minutes in length, each song winds itself into new and unexpected terrain, whether it’s the sense of grace about the opening Drover gradually spinning into urgent climax, or the hesitant finger-picked shapes of Baby’s Breath faltering and accelerating in accordance with Callahan’s dry, assured delivery.
Yet as Apocalypse wears on – through the wry, funky strut of America! ("I watch David Letterman / In Australia / Oh America!") and unhurried passages of Universal Applicant – it becomes more streamlined. It’s a progression felt most palpably in Riding…, and a completely earned, natural one at that. By the time he’s wrapping things up with the languid One Fine Morning, stabs of piano sit alongside lines like "When the earth turns cold, and the earth turns black / Will I feel you riding on my back?", but the effect is never jarring. Rather, Callahan has gifted us perhaps his most subversive set to date: an album less about apocalypse and ruin than it is upheaval of the positive variety, and one of the most contented and rewarding of his career.
--James Skinner
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Product Description
CD
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Apocalypse is a further refinement of Bill Callahan's special songwriting gift, with songs taking on - according to Bill in a recent interview - an 'expressionist' form. His lyrics are as strange and funny as ever (see 'America'). This also seems to be something of a concept album, with recurring motifs. It's a grower, too, and gets better with each play. Highly recommended.
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
In some ways "Apocalypse" is less accessible than a few of his other
albums. For most parts it's a stripped down affair, it's occasionally
distorted, and the arrangements are not as gorgeous as those on his
last release "Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle" or "A River Ain't
Much To Love", but after a few listens it grows on you, and I think
this holds togheter really well as an album.
A couple of the songs are jazzier than anything he has done before,
for instance "Universal Applicant" and "Bee's", with the flute parts.
Others have those surprising and unusual transitions that Callahan
handles so well; a small change of tempo, an unexpected twist,
a sigh, a whisper,"a couple of hoots, a hello and a f##k all y'all"!
He is one of very few artists that can make something quiet hit
hard, and make sparse arrangements sound like a full orchestra.
"Drover" is one of the standouts, it's the sound of the west
with an acoustic strum and climbing strings. This is a terrain
Calexico has visited a few times, but the prairie has never felt
this close. Nature, as on many of his greatest albums and songs,
is a felt presence on "Apocalypse"; rivers, deserts, horses,
cattle, valleys and mountains.
And as usual he delivers some incredibly clever and funny one
liners, among the grievous parts and the poetry.
The album closer, "One Fine Morning", is a STUNNING song.
One of the most hypnotic and beautiful things he has done.
Togheter with "Baby's Breath", "Riding For The Feeling", "America!... Read more ›
albums. For most parts it's a stripped down affair, it's occasionally
distorted, and the arrangements are not as gorgeous as those on his
last release "Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle" or "A River Ain't
Much To Love", but after a few listens it grows on you, and I think
this holds togheter really well as an album.
A couple of the songs are jazzier than anything he has done before,
for instance "Universal Applicant" and "Bee's", with the flute parts.
Others have those surprising and unusual transitions that Callahan
handles so well; a small change of tempo, an unexpected twist,
a sigh, a whisper,"a couple of hoots, a hello and a f##k all y'all"!
He is one of very few artists that can make something quiet hit
hard, and make sparse arrangements sound like a full orchestra.
"Drover" is one of the standouts, it's the sound of the west
with an acoustic strum and climbing strings. This is a terrain
Calexico has visited a few times, but the prairie has never felt
this close. Nature, as on many of his greatest albums and songs,
is a felt presence on "Apocalypse"; rivers, deserts, horses,
cattle, valleys and mountains.
And as usual he delivers some incredibly clever and funny one
liners, among the grievous parts and the poetry.
The album closer, "One Fine Morning", is a STUNNING song.
One of the most hypnotic and beautiful things he has done.
Togheter with "Baby's Breath", "Riding For The Feeling", "America!... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By q_fdb
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Repeated listening makes this record blossom. Some call the instrumentation sparse, but every single note of every single instrument sounds like it has meaning. For me, it's an incredibly rich album. The lyrics and Callahan's singing are equally compelling. I hardly ever pay attention to the words & meaning of a song, but this album makes me want to understand what it's about. After many listens I still don't fully grasp it, but like the great bedtime stories your parents might have told during your childhood, this record is a tale I want to hear again the second the last note has ended. In short, an amazing record.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By jhock
Format:Audio CD
IMAGINE COHEN CROSSED WITH BONNIE PRINCE BILLY AND YOU'RE THERE.THE LANGUOR OF THE SONG'S MEANS THIS ALBUM IS VERY MUCH OF A CREEPER.THE INSIDIOUS QUALITY GRADUALLY GRIPS AND MEANS YOU RETURN TIME AND AGAIN.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Pj Beirne
Format:MP3 Download|Amazon Verified Purchase
Cant believe there is only a single review of this fine album so far. I agree with most of what the previous reviewer says. It is a grower but all the better for that and the melodies do perforate through after a few listens. Loved the cowboy/western landscape setting for the first and last songs (Drover and One Fine Morning) which book end a wonderful album. Dont believe it is all cowboy based though as these are the only two tracks that are related to that. If there is a theme it is the title. More about gigantic personal upheavals in life than four horsemen rampaging across a prairie. I feel I will still be playing this for a long time to come. Check out 'Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle' which is one of the albums of the 21st century.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Man Without a Soul
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I haven't got much to add to the positive reviews already posted except to say that this is a more typical Callahan release in that whereas 'Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle' was incredibly consistent 'Apocalypse' definitely has a few towering standouts. Chief among these has to be my favourite song released so far this year - 'Riding for the Feeling'. This track has to go down as one of Bill's all time greatest, subtle but with a powerful kick, you'll keep returning to this cut.
'Drover' and 'Baby's Breath' are also excellent and while nothing here is misplaced these songs can't help but stand out from the pack. 'America!' is knowingly goofy in that way Callahan so expertly judges and is a welcome diversion on an otherwise very understated set.
Long time Callahan/Smog fans will lap this album up, any new fans acquired from 'Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle' might find 'Apocalypse' less instantly rewarding but should persevere.
'Drover' and 'Baby's Breath' are also excellent and while nothing here is misplaced these songs can't help but stand out from the pack. 'America!' is knowingly goofy in that way Callahan so expertly judges and is a welcome diversion on an otherwise very understated set.
Long time Callahan/Smog fans will lap this album up, any new fans acquired from 'Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle' might find 'Apocalypse' less instantly rewarding but should persevere.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By john d
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have not listened to this cd as it was a gift for Christmas but the recipient was very pleased with it.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Ziramen Tao
Format:Audio CD
Even if he tried I'd doubt Bill could let you down musically. This is amazing stuff with the excellent opener Drover. Bill Callahan is seriously ignored, hopefully by the wrong people.
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
the man
i sincerely believe bill callahan is the best of songwriters around nowadays. this album,and his previous effort 'sometimes i wish we were an eagle',are both amazing. Read more
Published on 25 May 2011 by dominoes
5.0 out of 5 stars
get off man im trying to type.....
this is a good album. it continues the recent broadening of the smog sound under his new moniker.
the sound is fuller, less sparse than previous, but the melody and voice... Read more
the sound is fuller, less sparse than previous, but the melody and voice... Read more
Published on 19 May 2011 by luvtodog. woofwoof.
5.0 out of 5 stars
He's back!
Fantastic! Mr Callahan's best work since he stopped being Smog. For a while I thought he might have lost his way a little, but this album is a clear sign that Bill Callahan still... Read more
Published on 7 May 2011 by Matan Lavi
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Album
This album is well worth checking out, the songs are quirky and unconventional and Bill Callahans voice is excellent, stand out track for me is Baby's Breath.
Published on 5 May 2011 by Black Douglas
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