Bill Callahan to Release Smog’s 2001 Peel Session, Shares “Beautiful Child”: Listen

Bill Callahan will release his 2001 Peel Session as Smog, on November 22, via Drag City. Recorded at the BBC’s Maida Vale studio for the late DJ John Peel, the EP is billed as The Holy Grail: Bill Callahan’s “Smog” Dec. 10, 2001 Peel Session. “Somebody said this EP is very Twin Peaksy,” Callahan said in press materials. “Not in a Badalamenti, torch-song way—a deeper connection. I can see that.” Listen to one of its four songs, “Beautiful Child,” below.

In the press release, Callahan added:

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.

Of each of the four tracks, he said:

“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.

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

01 Beautiful Child
02 Cold Discovery
03 Dirty Pants
04 Jesus