Customer Reviews

Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle [Vinyl]

5 star:		(10)
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I have owned this disc for less than a week, and have literally almost worn it out. I can't remember the last time I bought a CD and listened to it 30 or 40 times in such a short period of time without getting tired of it. I'm embarrassed to admit that until recently I hadn't heard of Bill Callahan, but this release has sold me on his talent. I'm also surprised to find out that a disc with such excellent arrangements and songwriting was listed on so many Best Albums of 2009 lists, as this type of music seems to be in short supply these days and rarely receives such accolades. This is definitely a collection of songs that should be heard as a whole, but I have to mention that there are certain songs on this album which bring a lump to my throat every time I hear them: "Rococo Zephyr", "Too Many Birds", "Faith/Void", and especially the album's opener "Jim Cain". These are songs that are too beautiful for words, and manage to capture the painful beauty that life is full of. There have been very few times in my music listening life when I really get blown away by an entire album, but this is one of those times. I live for these moments, it's why I buy so much music I guess. The first times I heard Nick Drake's "Pink Moon", Richard and Linda Thompson's "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight", John Martyn's "Solid Air", and Rage Against The Machine's first album come to mind. Those records had me captivated by the album art, the songs, the vibe...the whole package. "Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle" belongs in that category, and if you are a music fan I highly recommend it.

I have had this album for several months now and wore it out a long time ago. I recently purchased "Woke on a whaleheart" and was just as impressed.

Then....Bill Callahan's most recent live release "Rough Travel" brought me too a pitchfork review which brought me to a little band called Smog.

Smog is Bill Callahan and has a catalog about 10 albums strong. I now have "Supper", "Red Apple Falls", and "River Aint too much Love". And let me tell you. They are all three just as strong as Sometimes I wish I were an Eagle.

Hence, if this is your first Bill Callahan album and you are infatuated. Dig deeper. You have a long way to go!

This album is alternately pastoral, riveting, soothing and frightening. I own probably 85% of Bill Callahan's recorded output, and I think this might be my favorite of all his work.

I go back w/ Bill to the Smog/Suckdog split 7". As is the case w/ many greats, (Nick Cave & The Fall come to mind) after awhile, you loose track of thier greatness, and quit purchasing thier new stuff. More often than not, a big mistake. Fortunately, these days nothing "goes outta print". As good a record in it's genre as you'll find this or any year. Give the Saddle Creek kids their due, but they must bow to the master- Papa Bill. Every song on this disk has been my "favorite" at one time or another. Buy this disk.

I had become fairly pessimistic about finding current folk/pop music-makers with lasting appeal for me. This disc made it on to a NY Times 10 Best List, and I gave the thirty-second samples a listen on Amazon. I am happy that I did. These songs and Callahan's mesmerizing vocals have dominated our house for the past week. Will it last? So much new music fades quickly for me...Norah Jones just being one of many who do not stand up to repeated listenings. Of course, that I do not know. Perhaps this will. At least for now it gives great pleasure.

I got into Bill Callahan's music by accident. I was surfing youtube, and saw a few videos that are part of a serious of Tiny Desk Concert produced by NPR. Callahan was one of the guests and performed three songs from this CD. Just three seconds into his music, I was mesmerized. His style is sort of close to Leonard Cohen. The lyrics and voice are introspective and poetic. The genius here is that Callahan is able to release the full power of the words and music with simple chords and melodies.
Highly recommended.

We stepped into the record shop (we stll do that) and it was there: the sound filled every corner on that calm afternoon before Easter, the opalescent light of the cloudy day merging perfectly with the music. The place was nearly empty, just ready for the record to unfurl its tapestry of cellos, French horns and soft rhythms topped by a voice blending JOHNNY CASH with BRYAN FERRY and NICK DRAKE. That is, an imposing oak with a slender birch as its core.

We asked a shop assistant if that was BILL CALLAHAN's cd playing and were pleased when he said yes; we had guessed the artist without having heard any of his albums, not even those he recorded as SMOG.

We wandered around the shop. Bought cds by Rickie Lee Jones and Marc & The Mambas. Then left. Struck by sudden hesitation, we had not picked up Mr Callahan.

A mistake, indeed. A few hours later that sound was still on our mind, generating a tenuous but steady throb we ended up calling...longing? yearning? love?

It is now two weeks after the Revelation before, and SOMETIMES I WISH WE WERE AN EAGLE, BILL CALLAHAN's second solo album, has been spinning in our player for a few days.

We now know what we experienced in that shop on that calm, cloudy day: this is the sound you hear just after the Storm has ended. Any Storm in your life: when everything is clear but sorrow is still there, ready to be measured and analysed. Impeccably accomplished, yet still dangerous in a tantalizing way.

This record possesses a ruthless poestic voice. It is lucid despair and unmeasurable relief. It is regret and strength. Torment and detachment. It is darkness in light, and light in darkness.

It is up there with FRED NEIL by FRED NEIL and PINK MOON by NICK DRAKE.

As an avid watcher of the Discovery Channel I understand when I find something this great it should be massaged gently....

This is in no doubt THE biggest find of 2009...

Emotion is a small word with overwhelming meaning and this new album by Callahan is in the realm of dream-like perfection.
I had so many feelings emerge and a new life of thought... that I Sometimes Wish We Were An Eagle.....

I found a fountain of youth in the songs and will shower in its beauty for the rest of 2009 and most likely until I die.


To vacate the songs as individual would be a disgrace to the beauty of its whole.. The flow of spiritual release -it's astounding !!

Kudos to Mr. Bill for such a fine album
with the trash music today this is a breath of fresh air
and reminds me of how...
Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle



HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

There is a hesitancy to literally impart much about this recording. But, let's see what emerges.

Perhaps, after you listen for the first time you'll want to immediately replay the entire piece, not wholly to take again in the beautiful notes, but to find some sort of understanding. By splitting an infinite, an erstwhile infinite, Bill Callahan has found himself here and now with tremendous acceptance and beauty. Enough beauty to stop a heartbeat.

Thank you Bill.

This is definately the most beautiful record Bill Callahan has done, it's definately well worth buying.