Track Listing

1. Wings
2. Sunset Boulevard
3. Hidden Conversations
4. The Hood I Left Behind
5. Once I Dreamed Of Heaven
6. Fool Me Fool You
7. Rice And Beans
8. Jessie And Alice
9. John Lee Hooker
10. Live With Me

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3222 in Music
• Released on: 2009-05-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

About the Artist
Terry Callier is an American Jazz, Soul and Folk guitarist singer-songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. Callier, a childhood friend of Curtis Mayfield, began recording in 1963 but never reached stardom despite a series of regional hits in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1983, he gained custody of his 12-year-old daughter and decided to retire from music to look for a steadier income. He took classes in computer programming and landed a job at the University of Chicago in 1984. He re-emerged from obscurity when British DJs discovered his old recordings and began to play his songs in clubs in the early 1990s. Acid Jazz Records head Eddie Pillar brought Callier to play clubs in Britain beginning in 1991 and he began to make regular trips to play gigs during his vacation time from work. In the late 90 s Callier began his comeback to recorded music, contributing to Beth Orton s Best Bit EP in 1997 and releasing the album Timepeace in 1998, which won the United Nations Time For Peace award for outstanding artistic achievement contributing to world peace. Curiously, his colleagues at the University of Chicago never learned of Callier s life as a musician, but after the award the news his secret life as a musician became widely known and subsequently lead to his firing Callier today is continuing his recording career having currently released five albums since Timepeace, four of which are on Mr Bongo Records, and has recently recorded with Massive Attack, on a track that reached number 15 in the charts

Customer Reviews

Hidden Conversations Is Right...Because I Can't Hear Them...
I love Terry Callier's music, but I've a real problem with some of the tracks on this album - and in particular - how they're produced.

Don't get me wrong - there are truly lovely tunes on here - you can tell - but in my opinion they're been swamped - destroyed by heavy-handed Massive Attack trip-hop treatments clearly meant to make the album contemporary. Instead, the incessant rhythm patterns cluttering up the mix have made them a task to listen to instead of a soulful pleasure - they also detract from his vocals and lyrics.

"Sunset Boulevard" is a good example - opens well - lovely melody (kind of Lazarus Man Part 2) - but then its drowned out by trippy studio effects. I'm sure Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack meant well, but it feels like Callier's soulfulness has been hijacked by another band that have done him a disservice instead of a favour. "The Hood I Left Behind" is the same - a sweet message song - but it's wildly overproduced to a point where you're focusing on the sound rather than the song and the heartfelt words.

This album should have been a stripped-down Rick Rubin production letting the man and his song shine through, but instead I find much of the heavily treated tracks unlistenable...

Still - this is a Terry Callier album so there are good songs on here - "Jessie And Alice" is lovely, while the arrangements to "John Lee Hooker" really do work, and the album finisher "Live With Me" is excellent, but the wafting "Once I Dreamed Of Heaven" has any melody lost in a sea of treated instruments trying to sound cool. It doesn't sound real or cool, but utterly false.

I'll go back to "Occasional Rain" from 1972 (see Review) and "Timepeace".

A bit of a disappointment and a task to be truthful. It's a matter of personal taste, but I'd say 'hear' before you buy...

Terry Callier at his Trip Hoppiest best....
It's been 4 years since Terry's last studio album 'Lookin' Out' released in 2005 also on the Mr Bongo label.
That album was a depature from previous albums such as 'Speak your Peace' and 'Total Recall' so wasn't to sure what to expect from this latest offering.

On this album the more ambient Jazz theme of 'Lookin Out' is replaced by a Trip Hop flavour from Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja who produced a number of tracks on this album, including 'Live with me' which in Terry's own words at a recent gig "The biggest recording he's ever been involed in" and since Mr Callier has recorded with likes of Paul Weller that says alot.
The Trip Hop style continues through this album in the tracks written by Terry Callier and on tracks he co-wrote with others, given the album an up to date feel that can be enjoyed by a more mainstream audience and long time fans such as myself.

Overall this is a well produced album with many top tunes that will please the fans of Terry Callier's music and hopefully with it's contempory feel, see him find a new younger audience.

If Carlsberg........
If Carlsberg was Terry Callier then this is probably the greatest trip hop album ever.....