Track Listing

1. Palimpsest
2. Say Valley Maker
3. The Well
4. Rock Bottom Riser
5. I Feel Like The Mother Of The World
6. In The Pines
7. Drinking In The Dam
8. Running And Loping
9. I'm Hew Here
10. Let Me See The Colts

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5727 in Music
• Released on: 2005-05-30
• Number of discs: 1

CD Description
'A River Ain't Too Much To Love' is the twelfth album from lo-fi alt-country pioneer Bill Callahan. Recorded at Willie Nelson's Perdernale Studios in just ten days, the album seesCallahan deliver his dark, unsettling, and witty lyrics over a back drop of acoustic guitars and hushed drums provided by Dirty Three's Jim White. Folk harpist Joanna Newsom also guests on the track 'Rock Bottom Riser'.

Customer Reviews

Sad and hopeful, slow and deep
I had heard very little Smog prior to picking up this album: a few tunes off Dongs of Sevotion, but not a lot else. And becasue of that the first listen came as a shock. Very slow, very deep-voiced, very abstract... Not normally my bag at all. But I listened again. And again. And agai... well, you get the picture.

Maybe it's just me, but I continue to find this album a contemplative and meditative joy. Every song (with the exception of the tonal departure of Mother of the World) is beautiful, poderous and measured. Every song contains a thought worthy of thinking and thinking further. The album gives and gives, gently and teasingly, perhaps like the rivers that haunt and inhabit almost every song.

'Let me see the colts that will run next year. Show them to a gambling man thinking of the future.' A simple couplet that slow smoulders with the gentle folly of man. And the album is packed with that kind of subtlety. Maybe not for all people, and maybe a departure from the previous Smog catalogue, but, for me, the album is like a journey home through sunless green countryside. Beautiful and sad.

Lastly I'll mention the 'In The Pines' cover. It couldn't be further from Kurt Cobain's harrowed interpretation (which I love), but it couldn't be better for it. Smog's version is the one I find myself singing these days. Maybe it's another reminder that I'm crawling up the ladder of my 30s...?

Its a Killer Bill
Smog have delivered a quality album yet again. This is a very sparse & deep album compared to the wonderful "Supper" from a couple of years ago but by no way is it lacking in any shape or form. Track 3 "the well" is the pick of the album which tells a hell of a story, other great tracks are Say Valley Maker, In the pines & rock bottom riser though I don't think there is a bad track on the album. Some people I know find smog too heavy for them but I find it enchanting, his voice & his lyrics are something that nobody else can quite match. If you get chance go and see him live, I have seen him three times with the most recent being the Manchester Roadhouse which he belted out most of this album along with a few old classics the audience was dumbstuck. He was that good. As you can tell I cannot recommend this & his previous album enough. Warning SMOG will make your life that little bit more enjoyable.

Simple, Serious and Sublime.
I first heard "Rock Bottom Riser" by pure chance and came to the immediate conclusion that if the album was in anyway consistent, it would be well worth a listen. In truth, I haven't been remotely disappointed. Smog is Leonard Cohen on smarties; or perhaps Fairport Convention in a thunderstorm; it lies somewhere between the two. If you enjoy folk-rock and the utter simplicity of plucked acoustic guitar and well-measured, uncluttered vocals, this is a fine draft, well worth the savouring.

An excellent addition to any highly selective collection.