One of Maida Vale 4’s brilliant, arcane recordings.
It would be safe to say John Peel championed Smog. Bill Callahan recorded three Peel Sessions, the first in November 94, then again in October 97 and finally this one in December 2001. Peel regularly played Smog tracks on his show – there’s a wonderful upload on YouTube of Peel introducing ‘Dress Sexy at My Funeral’ from the album ‘Dongs of Sevotion’ and this session has been available on the channel for a good few years.
Until 2004, the John Peel Sessions were recorded in studio MV4. The sessions allowed bands to gain radio exposure, and for musicians and groups to try out new material, play covers not normally included on their albums, while experimenting with different keys and sounds. The format became standardised as a single session in the studio with a staff producer and engineer, during which the artists would record four songs.
In December 2001 Smog were on tour promoting the ‘Rain on Lens’ album and made a stop at the BBC. More than two decades later Drag City Records have released on vinyl (and digitally) the session’s four tracks Callahan, Jessica Billey, Mike Saenz and Jim White recorded. Together in a foreign land, tour-hardened, they somehow conjured up something special on first takes and with no overdubs. Belated credit must go to producer Simon Askew and engineer Nike Fountain for recording such a powerful session. Callahan explained that the foreignness of Maida Vale, the very British, milk-in-tea aura encouraged the band to express their U.S. credentials, “Dale Coopers with our black coffee”.
There’s a hedonistic version of ‘Dirty Pants’ from the ‘Rain on Lens’ album, a world-weary cover of Lou Reed’s ‘Jesus’, and a magnificent, messy and quite disturbing, version of ‘Cold Discovery’ from that same ‘Dongs of Sevotion’ album. But the highlight is a beautiful cover of Stevie Nicks’ ‘Beautiful Child’ in a minor key. It is seven minutes of gloriously layered, unsurpassed, meandering melancholy.
Of another time and place for sure. But these recordings stand the test of time.
