apocalypse

emailed to a friend, thoughts on the latest from mr bill callahan:

i can't stop listening to it. love the idea that change can feel apocalyptic and welcome at the same time. the line in the last song 'the curtain rose and burned' pretty much says it all. and the transition from fearing change to accepting it nails where i'm at personally these days. compare the chaos of the first song to the acquiescence of the last one. even the jokey 'america' which i think of as the 'eid ma' of this album (in that you sort of wonder if he is fucking with us) has a mix of sarcasm and pride that i get. this is the country that gave us w and obama (and some great musicians). honestly, i expected to be disappointed because he set the bar so high with his last album, but i'm not at all. i think it might be better.