The New Folk Sound Of Terry Callier (1964)
1. 900 Miles (5:05)
2. Oh Dear, What Can The Matter Be (2:55)
3. Johnny Be Gay If You Can Be (4:23)
4. Cotton Eyed Joe (5:26)
5. It's About Time (3:31)
6. Promenade In Green (4:05)
7. Spin Spin Spin (3:08)
8. I'm A Drifter (8:52)
9. Be My Woman (5:22)
10. Jack O' Diamonds (5:36)
11. The Golden Apples Of The Sun (6:36)
In a time where
The Beatles,
Beach Boys and
Bob Dylan were revving up this own careers into what would be later looked back upon as legendary, a scarcely 20 year-old (!!) Terry Callier takes a bunch of traditional blues, Americana and folk songs and turns them into expeditions of pure, unfiltered atmosphere with his ridiculously powerful voice on his debut record
The New Folk Sound Of.. , and even five decades later it remains as good an entry point as any into this troubadour's career.
Still, moreso than anything Terry Callier would do until the late 90's, this is undoubtably his bluesiest and least embellished set of cuts. Even at this tentative stage in his career, the difference between this record and its contemporaries is remarkable: the starkness of Callier acoustics, which even on its own is almost hypnotizing, is multiplied in potency when you couple it with his dominating and almost unbelievably acute tenor - if songs such as 'Cotton Eyed Joe' and the Judy Collins standard 'The Golden Apples Of The Sun' are big towels that have been completely soaked in untapped emotion, then Callier wrings them til they're dry as desert bones.
This record also foreshadows, at least to an extent, that Callier isn't afraid to tackle longer material if he's capable of doing something interesting with it. 'I'm A Drifter',
New Folk Sound's focal point of sorts, mesmerizes for nearly 9 minutes via guitar, voice and a plucky double bass behind the curtain, wandering much like its titular character as the groove deepens and you settle in for the ride.
So all in all, a very accomplished starting point for a career that would only get better from here on out. Hell, I'd say the only strikes one might have against the record would be the fact that its rather uniform in mood and overall feel throughout its hour length run, though Callier would fix that by his next record and first all-originals masterpiece, 1972's
Occasional Rain.
However, if you've got an appetite for raw soulful blues with an almost otherworldly sense of atmosphere (or if you just love the 60's),
The New Folk Sound Of Terry Callier should be your first stop as a prospective listener.