Kicking a Couple Around

Kicking a Couple Around
EP by Smog
Released	April 29, 1996
Recorded	1994–1996
Genre	Lo-fi
Length	19:46
Label	Drag City (U.S.) Domino (France, Germany, UK)
Producer	Mike Engles, Steve Albini
Smog chronology
Wild Love (1995) Kicking a Couple Around (1996) The Doctor Came at Dawn (1996)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
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 August 13, 2012.
2. "Smog". Trouser Press. Retrieved July 21, 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. July 2, 2007. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
6. Jenkins, Mark (May 17, 1996). "PALACE'S BEAUTY" – via www.washingtonpost.com.