Wild Love

To be brutally honest, the only reason I decided to listen to this album this morning is that it's on the Rough Guide section of Smog's artist page, so I said let's see what it's all about, because surprisingly I've never turned on this album, and the tags attracted me (and anyone who knows me even a little, knows that I go to sad and angry tags faster than a child to sweets).

The big problem with this album is that, after you become familiar with the rest of Smog's discography (and Bill Callahan eventually), the whole album gets pretty bad. Or is it my general aversion to the indie/lo-fi sound, which this album abounds in. Anyway, through the album you can see somewhere in the distance that sound for which Smog/Bill will be known not only later in his career, but already on the next album. Songs like "Sleepy Joe" and "The Candle" excel in just that. I don't want to say that the album is bad, far from it. The aforementioned two songs have a passing quality, as well as "Prince Alone In The Studio" and "Goldfish Bowl" (which reminds me of Radiohead), but it's just not what I like from him.

Summa summarum: if you're just starting to delve into this artist's catalog, skip this album and start with Knock Knock (or any later album)