| | Smog Knock Knock CD Smog Discography of CDs
 (1 Customer Review)
Will Bill Callahan (a.k.a. Smog) be known as the man who made his reputation as a melancholy lo-fi painter of bleak, sonic landscapes, accompanied by a children's choir? Believe it or not the massed, angelic kids' voices are an integral element of a couple of tracks on KNOCK KNOCK. Since graduating from the four-track school of audio hard knocks, Smog's releases have become more and more fully realized. This process reaches its apex on KNOCK KNOCK, the most unabashedly lush recording of Callahan's prolific career. In addition to the choir, Callahan's almost pastoral arrangements are colored by strings, and even his lyrical outlook seems to have shifted towards the sunnier side. Make no mistake, though--he's not happy, just less miserable, which means he stills hits the mark that Smog fans look for in their hero's work.
Smog: Bill Callahan.
Personnel: Jim O'Rourke (guitar).
8th Rel
Rolling Stone (2/4/99, p.62) - "...Smog still sings like he has trouble cutting his own food, but the tunes seem to involve actual emotional contact with another person, quite a breakthrough in indie-rock terms..."
Entertainment Weekly (2/5/99, p.70) - "...On his seventh release, he turns extrovert, rocking out with a band, a string section, and even a children's choir. The energy jolt serves him well, making the delicate broken spirit of his lyrics cathartic rather than depressing." - Rating: B+
CMJ (1/25/99, p.24) - "...typically dark-humored and eccentric word smithery with bits of crunchy electric guitar, thunderous handclaps and even -- creepily enough -- a children's chorus..."
Mojo (Publisher) (1/00, p.30) - Ranked #35 in Mojo Magazine's "Best of 1999"
Mojo (Publisher) (4/99, p.99) - "...this album rocks like a monkey..." Purchase Knock Knock CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Neutral Milk Hotel In The Aeroplane Over The Sea CD (1998)
Knock Knock album
 $12.19   
Neutral Milk Hotel leader Jeff Mangum is a popster who hears interstellar sounds as natural ingredients of his "pop." He was weaned with the inevitable four-track in his bedroom, schooled on a record collection stacked with John Cage and Captain Beefheart as well as the Beatles and the Kinks. There is an instant emotional intensity to Neutral Milk's music, and the seeds that were sewn on '96's lo-fi masterpiece ON AVERY ISLAND, bear an evolving ...
| | Smog Dongs Of Sevotion CD (2000)
Knock Knock CD music
$13.05 
These meandering tales of loyalty and betrayal will certainly hit the spot for Bill Callahan (a.k.a. Smog) devotees. Strip away the cheeky album title and it seems that Smog's world is as bleak and bloody as it ever was. Following the success of KNOCK KNOCK (Smog's relatively upbeat, polished set of "songs for teenagers"), DONGS OF SEVOTION reverts back to a more somber, sparser sound.
The uninitiated will enjoy catchy ditties like ...
| | Low Secret Name CD (1999)
Knock Knock music CDs
$11.89 
On Low's fifth album (the fourth was a European-only live album), the band moved away from the fuzzy sound of its previous few releases and re-introduced some of the brittleness of earlier records. Many of the tracks also feature auditory experimentation. Garbled announcements, scratchy backing tracks, an instrument called an opitgan, ...
| | Built To Spill Keep It Like A Secret CD (1999)
Knock Knock songs
$8.55
Principally recorded at Bear Creek, Woodinville, Washington in November 1997.
Having led Built to Spill down the road of majestic guitar duels on 1997's PERFECT FROM NOW ON, group mastermind Doug Martsch decided to downplay (but not shelve) his six-string heroics here. Instead, the focus of Built to Spill's fourth proper full-length is the ensemble playing. Having for the first time in B2S' existence retained his rhythm section (bassist Brett Nelson, drummer Scott Plouf) ...
| | Yo La Tengo I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One CD (1997)
Knock Knock album
$10.45
Yo La Tengo began life as one among hundreds of Velvet Underground-inspired bands, banging out dark, skittish tunes that displayed YLT guitarist/vocalist Ira Kaplan's affection for Uncle Lou as well as Yo La Tengo's commitment to creating a gently subversive groove. Over the years, the band, which also features Kaplan's wife Georgia Hubley on drums and vocals, has gone through more identity changes than David Bowie, from acoustic folk-rock ...
| | Elliott Smith Xo CD (1998)
Knock Knock CD music
$11.99
The Cinderella-esque climb from lo-fi indie cult artist to Grammy nominee/major label darling must have been a perilous one for Smith, who makes the leap to the big time here after three well-regarded albums on small labels. He's lost none of his bite, though. The production values on XO may be slightly higher, but Smith's vision remains undiluted.
The production, centered around acoustic guitar augmented by keyboards and lush vocal harmonies, recalls pop icons like the Beach Boys (especially on the closing acapella cut), Beatles and Big Star, but this is no sunny Cali-pop album. Leavening the instrumental brightness are Smith's Nick Drake-ish whisper and his thoroughly downcast lyrics, which ...
| | Scott Mccarl Play On... CD (1998) (Import) United Kingdom
Knock Knock music CDs
$22.05
Includes liner notes by Scott McCarl, Tom Sorrells and Mark Stratford.
Scott McCarl may have only appeared on a single Raspberries release (their 1974 swan song, Starting ...
| | Hiroshi Takashima Duo CD (2002)
Knock Knock songs
$39.59
| | Clint Black Christmas With You CD (2004)
Knock Knock album
$10.19
| | Gigi D'Agostino Benessere CDs (2005) (Import) Import; Italy
Knock Knock CD music
$26.29
2 CD set. Edel. 2004.
| | Matching Mole Little Red Record CD (1972) Japan
Knock Knock music CDs
$26.09
| | Life & Music Of Richard Thompson CDs (2006) Box Set
Knock Knock songs
$65.69
The CDs are organized by theme, and include autobiographical songs, live performances, cover versions of songs by other artists, and demos and outtakes. That Thompson is a uniquely skilled guitarist and a songwriter of remarkable sensitivity ...
| | Loudon Wainwright, III T Shirt / Final Exam CD (2007) (Import) United Kingdom
Knock Knock album
$24.95
Loudon Wainwright III recorded two albums for Arista Records in the mid- to late '70s, where he seemed like a curious fit at a label dominated by the likes of Barry Manilow and the Bay City Rollers; the two albums he cut for them quickly came and went and have long been out of print. Wainwright's fans will be glad to know that the British Acadia label has finally made 1976's T Shirt and 1978's Final Exam available on CD in this two-disc set, though in some respects the albums fall into the category of noble experiments rather than roaring creative successes. Wainwright is backed by the band Slowtrain on both albums, and T Shirt is a rousing but sometimes ungainly attempt to make a rock & roll album around Wainwright; he sounds like he's having fun on tunes like "California Prison Blues" and "Bicentennial," and he dives into the dirty-mined disco of "At Both Ends" with relish. But significantly, T Shirt is dominated by booze more than rock & roll, thanks to the moody "Prince Hal's Dirge" and the raucous two-part singalong "Wine with Dinner," and the more subtle numbers like "Hollywood Hopeful" and "Talking Big Apple '75" are where he fits most comfortably. Wainwright and Slowtrain sound considerably more accustomed to one another on Final Exam, and the tale of two weeks in Alcoholics Anonymous, "Heaven and Mud," suggests that they were also trying to taper off on their boozing, though not with tremendous enthusiasm. Wainwright and his pals make with the rock on the title cut, "Natural Disaster" and the wicked closer "Watch ...
| | Santos De Los Angeles Yerba Tribe: Love & Revolucion CD (2007)
Knock Knock CD music
$9.85
| | Ostrockmegamix XXL CD (2008)
Knock Knock music CDs
$10.15
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