I Terry Callier

In retrospect, the approach Terry Callier takes on Hidden Conversations seems like something of an inevitability. Callier was one of the earliest singer/songwriters under the folk umbrella to expand the music's possibilities by mixing it with soul and jazz, well in advance of Tim Buckley and Tim Hardin, or even Fred Neil. Callier cut a few '70s cult classics, but by the '80s he was retired from active music. In the '90s, Callier became a cause célèbre on the British acid-jazz scene, and was coaxed out of retirement. His reactivation has proven permanent, and Hidden Conversations is Callier's fifth new studio album since his 1998 comeback, Timepeace. It's also the first to truly assimilate the sensibilities of the musical community that facilitated his return to duty.

When Terry Callier returned to the music scene as an active participant in 1998, after 20 years in self-imposed exile, he jumped headlong into the recording and touring process. His first two recordings, the fine Timepeace and the less-than-satisfying LifeTime, both had songs worthy of anything Callier ever wrote during the 1960s or 1970s. The live album, Alive on Mr. Bongo from 2001, is a testament to that. But finding a producer who could properly illustrate the vast subtleties in Callier's work, which effortlessly blurs the boundaries between jazz, pop, soul, and poetry, proved difficult in the studio. On Speak Your Peace, Callier has found the perfect working mates in Jean-Paul Maunick and Marc Mac (from 4Hero), two men who understand that his work is more about nuance than statement, sense impression than solid image, poetry than prose. Callier's glorious voice and wonderfully fluid acoustic guitar are front and center in the mixes of both men.

Where has Terry Callier been all of our lives? Outside of the lucky few collectors fortunate enough to possess copies of his 1968 debut The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier and the series of brilliant records he cut for the Cadet label during the mid-1970s, the Chicago singer/songwriter has otherwise slipped through the cracks of contemporary music; his resurrection has been a long time in coming, and Timepeace is indeed well worth the wait.

Like the artist himself, the music on this brilliant album defies all categories, embracing Terry Callier's wide range of influences and experiences. Callier's musical kaleidoscope is filled with funk, rock, folk, jazz, and even classical influences. "Dancing Girl" opens the album with Charles Stepney's majestic orchestration. This opus is the album's pinnacle, moving with soft intensity toward soul-stirring crescendos. Songs like "What Color Is Love" and "Ho Tsing Mee (A Song of the Sun)," an elegant antiwar prayer of confusion, somehow avoid clichés or take them to another level. "You Goin' to Miss Your Candyman" was made popular by Urban Species when they sampled it on "Listen" in the early '90s, and not surprisingly, it sounds better in its original form. No matter where you turn, Callier's passionate voice captures the sweeping drama of the human condition. A lost romantic amid "concrete front yards," this album is a must-have for any music connoisseur.

Terry Callier - First Light: Chicago 1969-1971 (1998) {Premonition Records}
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© 1969-71, 1998 Premonition Records | 6691 7 90740 2 3
R&B / Baroque Folk / Chicago Soul / Folk Jazz

Despite the lag between the 1965 recording of his debut album The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier and his 1972 sophomore effort Occasional Rain, Callier was far from inactive – in addition to regularly playing on the Chicago club circuit, he also cut a series of extraordinary demos which have finally surfaced almost three decades later as First Light. In the nine studio tracks which comprise the collection – a superb 1971 solo benefit date is also included – it's possible to hear the foundations of the aesthetic perfected on his classic Cadet recordings of the mid-1970s; on early renditions of songs like "Ordinary Joe" and "Alley Wind Song," all the pieces are already in place, as the haunted soulfulness of Callier's vocals blends perfectly with waves of acoustic folk guitar and subtle jazz textures.

Terry Callier - Occasional Rain (1972) {Verve Originals B0011107-02 rel 2008}
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© 1972, 2008 Cadet / Verve / Universal | B0011107-02
R&B / Baroque Folk / Chicago Soul / Folk Jazz

'Lost Masterpiece', 'Forgotten Classic', 'An Album You Must Hear Before You Die' - take your pick… Because 1971's "Occasional Rain" by TERRY CALLIER genuinely fits them all - it really does. A mesmerizing masterpiece of poetic baroque folk from this unclassifiable Chicagoan. Producer Charles Stepney's organ and harpsichord and a choir featuring Minnie Riperton lend a shimmering beauty to this 1972 recording.