All the sudden I'm into Smog. I never was interested before, only barely heard of him as a boyfriend of Lisa Carver and via cat power covers. So I've order the whole back catalog from the library. Is there a "must-hear" record?
Oh man is this ever a question I can answer. My favorite albums of his are Wild Love and Julius Caesar. Both have great songs on them. Those are early. Knock Knock (which I've heard is about breaking up with Chan Marshall) is really great, and is followed by Dongs Of Sevotion, which has its moments. I would say that after that things become less interesting. The Doctor Came At Dawn, I don't think is particularly good. One of my favorite Smog songs, Ex-Con, is off Red Apple Falls- which is sort of blah in general. I am both super-into Smog and fully aware of how blah it can get. There's no must-hear album, nothing where song after song is great, but the four records I highlight as good have higher hit-to-miss ratios.
I'm also really excited for his book, which comes out this Tuesday.
The first time I heard smog, when I was a preschool teacher in NM, we were cleaning the classrooms and it was so mellow and lowdown I wasn't that into it, but when I heard it years later in NYC, I liked it quite a bit. I think it might be the kind of thing that grows on you.
I second Julius Caesar. I was lucky enough to marry into a nearly complete smog discography, and this is one that never fails to surprise me with its loveliness. I think Brian is right about songs having moments. I do like a lot of Red Apple Falls, though.
Thanks friends! I made a point of requesting pre-turn-of-the-century records as that seemed a better bet. It is all growing on me, building and building!
Brian~if you get a hold of a copy of the book, let me know how it is.
Jess~I like the idea of Pete's dowry consisting of Smog records!
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Oh man is this ever a question I can answer. My favorite albums of his are Wild Love and Julius Caesar. Both have great songs on them. Those are early. Knock Knock (which I've heard is about breaking up with Chan Marshall) is really great, and is followed by Dongs Of Sevotion, which has its moments. I would say that after that things become less interesting. The Doctor Came At Dawn, I don't think is particularly good. One of my favorite Smog songs, Ex-Con, is off Red Apple Falls- which is sort of blah in general. I am both super-into Smog and fully aware of how blah it can get. There's no must-hear album, nothing where song after song is great, but the four records I highlight as good have higher hit-to-miss ratios.
I'm also really excited for his book, which comes out this Tuesday.
The first time I heard smog, when I was a preschool teacher in NM, we were cleaning the classrooms and it was so mellow and lowdown I wasn't that into it, but when I heard it years later in NYC, I liked it quite a bit. I think it might be the kind of thing that grows on you.
I second Julius Caesar. I was lucky enough to marry into a nearly complete smog discography, and this is one that never fails to surprise me with its loveliness. I think Brian is right about songs having moments. I do like a lot of Red Apple Falls, though.
Thanks friends! I made a point of requesting pre-turn-of-the-century records as that seemed a better bet.
It is all growing on me, building and building!
Brian~if you get a hold of a copy of the book, let me know how it is.
Jess~I like the idea of Pete's dowry consisting of Smog records!
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