Bill Callahan’s “Smog” recorded three John Peel Sessions; the first was aired in 1995, followed by a second in 1997, and a final session aired on January 3, 2002. That last session, according to Ken Garner’s The Peel Sessions bible, was recorded a short time before at the legendary Maida Vale studios on December 10, 2001, while Smog was on their Rain On Lens tour. John Peel played Smog regularly on his show, and he chose Smog’s Supper as one of his albums of the month for one of his Peel’s Record Boxes, essentially a list he submitted to the BBC Radio One website of his favourite singles and albums that month (more details here).
The good people at Drag City are making this session available on vinyl (and digital) under the title of The Holy Grail.
In the words of Drag City, The Holy Grail is the mythical relic from that very Peel Session, with Callahan & band (Jessica Billey, Mike Saenz and Jim White) covering Stevie Nicks, Lou Reed and Smog with grey, ashen resolve and tour-torn flexibility — amassing a bruised, plaintive essence of humanity with their efforts.
The Holy Grail: Bill Callahan’s “Smog” Dec. 10, 2001 Peel Session will be released on November 22. You can hear the first track today, “Beautiful Child,” a marvellously rambling minor key version of Fleetwood Mac‘s original.
Pre-Save: https://billcallahan.lnk.to/peelsessions
Bill Callahan:
“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.
Somebody said this EP is very Twin Peaksy. Not in a Badalamenti, torch-song way – a deeper connection. I can see that.
“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.”
—Bill Callahan, 2024