[This photo from the July 11, 2011 Music Hall of Williamsburg show by Dana (distortion) Yavin for BrooklynVegan.com]
The inimitable troubadour Bill Callahan (who recorded through much of the 90s and half the last decade as Smog) graced us with two nights in New York, his first since his excellent June 14, 2009 Northside Festival show at Music Hall of Williamsburg back in 2009. We caught the second of the two nights of this year, at Bowery Ballroom, which as usual proved an ideal showcase for Callahan’s graceful, classic songs. With songs that scan more like free verse than typical verse-chorus-verse structures, Callahan’s style demands rapt attention, and that is what he got from the Tuesday night crowd. Drawing heavily from his latest record, this year’s Apocalypse, as well as his 2009 solo record Sometimes I Wish I Were An Eagle, Callahan gave us over 100 minutes of perfection, delivered by a different trio of musicians compared to the group he had at his disposal in 2009 that featured a string player. In this configuration, many songs drifted into psychedelic guitar jams that gave them a more sweeping scope (see the epic “Drover” mid-set, or the massive “Say Valley Maker” for example), giving the Bowery show a harder rock edge. Callahan also gave us some hard-to-deny Smog tunes, even taking requests from the crowd, with that “Say Valley Maker” probably being my personal favorite.
As a special treat, this post is a “double-header” of the Bowery show and the 2009 Music Hall of Williamsburg show, which has not appeared on the site before. I recorded the Bowery set from our usual spot in the venue, but using tiny DPA omnidirectional mics that captured the full sound of the room. The Music Hall set was recorded up front near the stage with a mobile rig. Both are excellent, though the edge on sound quality clearly goes to the Bowery show. The tracking and mastering on the MHOW show is also not quite as good. Enjoy!
Stream “Say Valley Maker [Smog]” from the 2011 Bowery show:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/B7014BillCallahan2011/11 Say Valley Maker.mp3]
Stream “Bowery” from the 2009 Music Hall show:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/B7014BillCallahan2011/20 bowery.mp3]
2011 BOWERY SHOW
Direct download of the MP3 files of the 2011 show [2011 MP3s]
Direct download of the FLAC files of the 2011 show [2011 FLACs]
2009 MUSIC HALL SHOW
Direct download of the MP3 files of the 2009 show [HERE]
Direct download of the 24-bit FLAC files of the 2009 show [HERE]
PLEASE DO NOT REPOST THE DIRECT LINKS
Email nyctaper if the FLAC links have expired
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BOWERY BALLROOM 2011 SHOW
Bill Callahan
2011-07-12
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA
An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com
Equipment: DPA 4061>Church Audio CA9200>Sony PCM-M10 (24/44.1)
Position: Mics 2′ split at soundboard, slightly LOC on balcony
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (EQ, set fades, tracking, amplify and balance, hard limit peaks and audience noise, parallel compression)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Tracks [Total Time 1:45:47]
01 Riding For the Feeling
02 Baby’s Breath
03 Eid Ma Clack Shaw
04 One Fine Morning
05 Too Many Birds
06 [banter]
07 Universal Applicant
08 Drover
09 Our Anniversary
10 America!
11 Say Valley Maker [Smog]>
12 Let Me See the Colts [Smog]
13 [encore break]
14 River Guard [Smog]
15 Honeymoon Child
16 [crowd]
17 Sycamore
MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG 2009 SHOW
Bill Callahan
2009-06-14
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY
An acidjack master recording
SP-CMC-8 (AT U853 cardiod capsules w/ low sensitivity mod and adapter)>SPSB-10>R-09HR (24/48)>Audacity (tracking, amplify each channel to -0.1dB, cut down some crowd noise)>FLAC (level 8)
Tracks
01 our anniversary
02 diamond dancer
03 sycamore
04 bathysphere
05 crowd
06 too many birds
07 crowd
08 the wind and the dove
09 crowd
10 cold blooded old times
11 crowd
12 jim cain
13 crowd
14 eid ma clack shaw
15 rococo zephyr
16 all thoughts are prey to some beast
17 crowd
18 rock bottom riser
19 encore break
20 Bowery
21 crowd
22 say valley maker
23 let me see the colts
If you download these recordings from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Bill Callahan, visit his website, and purchase Apocalypse and his other official releases from Drag City [HERE]
[Bowery 2011 show photo by Dana (distortion) Yavin]
The Bowery recording sounds incredible! Haven’t had a chance to listen to the MHOW show yet, but an outstanding job nonetheless.
I think omni’s in the Bowery are a perfect match if the crowd isn’t too raucous.
Holy smokes. An embarrassment of riches. Saw BC and band in Chicago on July 3. Amazing set. Great to have a document. Incredible job here, guys.