Like WILD LOVE and KNOCK KNOCK, RED APPLE FALLS represents the more elaborate side of Bill Callahan's discography. His outsider/loser image is still perfectly intact, but it is shaped here with a more expansive sonic palette. Everything from French horn and pedal steel to hurdy gurdy is employed on these unassumingly poetic tales of self-loathing. There's a larger cast than usual at work here, and the denser musical texture may be the reason Callahan's lyrical self-deprecation seems more like an artistic device than a desperate cry in the wilderness. The use of more natural, organic imagery in the songs, however, adds an extra level of depth to the subtle, carefully constructed lyrics.
Recorded from October 30 to November 3, 1996.
Personnel: Bill Callahan (vocals, guitar, piano, synthesizer); Jim O'Rourke (hurdy-gurdy, piano, organ, drums); Robot (drums).
Recording information: 10/30/1996-11/03/1996.
Smog: Bill Callahan (vocals, guitar, piano, Hammond B-3 organ, synthesizer).
Additional personnel: Ken Champion (pedal steel guitar); Thymme Jones (trumpet, piano, drums); Donna Maroni (French horn); James O'Rourke (hurdy gurdy, piano, Hammond B-3 organ, bass, drums); Matt Weston, Robot (drums).
Q (6/97, p.139) - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "...[Bill] Callahan lures you in, only to break you on the rocks of his seemingly inescapable depression. Another field day then, for fans of weepy minimalism." Option (7-8/97, p.128) - "...[Leader Bill Callahan] has decisively freed Smog from the clutch of lo-fi and introduced it to the mature world of fine-tuned fidelity....all the unabashed musicality of a deliberately well-produced album."
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