Kicking a Couple Around

Kicking a Couple Around
EP by
Smog
ReleasedApril 29, 1996
Recorded1994–1996
GenreLo-fi
Length19:46
LabelDrag City (U.S.)
Domino (France, Germany, UK)
ProducerMike Engles, Steve Albini
Smog chronology
Wild Love
(1995) 		Kicking a Couple Around
(1996) 		The Doctor Came at Dawn
(1996)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Kicking a Couple Around is an EP by Bill Callahan (also known as Smog).[2][3][4] It was released on Drag City in April 1996 and re-released in Europe on Domino in 2001. "Your New Friend" was recorded during a 1995 John Peel radio session. "Back in School," "I Break Horses," and "The Orange Glow of a Stranger's Living Room" were recorded by Steve Albini.[2]

In an interview, Callahan said that "I Break Horses" was written "to help a friend try to understand how a guy she had a one-night stand with could possibly not return her phone calls the next day or ever again."[5]

Critical reception

Trouser Press praised “The Orange Glow of a Stranger’s Living Room,” writing that it "lets some lovely picking and piano pierce the warm gloom of [Smog's] abiding displacement."[2] The Washington Post called the EP "four delicate, downbeat songs that have a trad-country mournfulness."[6]

Track listing

  1. "Your New Friend" – 6:51
  2. "Back in School" – 4:40
  3. "I Break Horses" – 4:44
  4. "The Orange Glow of a Stranger's Living Room" – 3:26

References

  1. ^ Phares, Heather. "Allmusic review". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  2. ^ a b c "Smog". Trouser Press. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  3. ^ "The quiet Americans". The Independent. April 19, 1996.
  4. ^ Buckley, Peter (July 21, 2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. ISBN 9781843531050 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ "Interviews: Bill Callahan". Pitchfork. 2 July 2007. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
  6. ^ Jenkins, Mark (May 17, 1996). "PALACE'S BEAUTY" – via www.washingtonpost.com.