Bill Callahan - The Holy Grail: Bill Callahan'S "Smog" Dec. 10, 2001 Peel Session

Released: 22/11/24

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.
- Bill, 2024