Drag City
Released: April 24, 2007
My favorite part of CDs, a lot of times, is their cover art. Sometimes, I buy things solely based on their cover art. You will understand, then, why it really upsets me when the cover art of a record doesn’t really match what’s inside. As an Elephant Six enthusiast, I will pretty much buy any record that looks like it was designed by a six year old on LSD. Hopefully, this will give you enough background to understand why I was extremely saddened to hear Woke on a Whaleheart.
There’s nothing wrong with this CD. Nothing at all. In fact, if it had just had a picture of an egg timer or something on the cover, I probably would have liked it (it falls into the category of singer-songwriter music that I find tolerable. Bill Callahan has a gravelly voice, and likes to play the mandolin sometimes.). I just feel like, given its title, its design, and its song titles, that Bill Callahan is misrepresenting his own music. With songs called “A Man Needs A Woman or A Man to Be A Man”, you expect the sound awaiting you to be something really quirky. You’re sort of expecting someone to play a saw or a melodica or a recorder. You are not expecting this country-tinged pop-rock. No, you are not.
So, if you buy Woke on a Whaleheart, go into it knowing what you are going to get. You are going to get some highly satisfactory rock music that is nice to listen to while you whittle or do laundry. Don’t expect Dusk at Cubist Castle, because that’s just not what you bought.
-Kirsten Schofield
1 comment:
You said nothing about the song Diamond Dancer that's on this record. That leads me to believe you only listened to like 2 songs. That song is amazing, omitting it is a cardinal sin.
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