― Ian John50n (orion), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 23:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 23:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 January 2005 01:35 (nineteen years ago) link
Although (and big surprise) - AC/DC is such the clear winner here:
http://users.bart.nl/~ljmeijer/oldham/lyrics/balls.htm
― morris pavilion (samjeff), Thursday, 2 March 2006 18:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― chris besinger (chris besinger), Thursday, 2 March 2006 18:55 (eighteen years ago) link
"and my balls are always bouncingmy ballroom always fulland everybody cums and cums again"
vs Oldham's
"we could be eating pudding but we'd rather place our balls in their mouths when they are eating"
― chris besinger (chris besinger), Thursday, 2 March 2006 18:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― morris pavilion (samjeff), Thursday, 2 March 2006 19:02 (eighteen years ago) link
As mentioned, he's a very unique personality that somehow defies the rich boy charlatan role he could've easily fallen into. As a lyricist he's particularly interesting, simultaneously arcane, profane, and abstractly eloquent. Musically, he rarely repeats himself, making him confounding and exciting in equal measure. If his new single Cursed Sleep is any indication, expect his new album to be heavily orchestrated (swelling strings) with r&b/soul-inspired vocals (see his live cover R. Kelly's Ignition for reference).
His discography is intimidating, so I'll give a rundown of what you might want to start out with.
1) I See a Darkness - easily Oldham's most accessible and some would say best. Bleak yet very listenable.
2) Lost Blues and Other Songs - the perfect introduction to Palace era Oldham, contains nearly all of his classic singles. Essential.
3) Ease Down the Road - a great companion piece to I See a Darkness. A bit bouncier, the lyrical bent favors sex over death this time around. Here's a little rundown of the rest of his more prominent releases, in roughly chronological order.
1) 'There is no-one, What will take care of you' - his first LP, very ramshackle and primitive (in a charming way of course).
2) 'Days in the Wake' - sparse and lo-fi, sounds like it was recorded on a boom box. Just Oldham and a guitar for the most part.
3) 'Viva Last Blues' - probably the best Palace LP. Rocking in a woozy, drunken kinda way. Solid Albini production.
4) 'Arise, Therefore' - Dirge-like, methodical, repetitive. Some use of the drum machine. A few songs remind me of Smog honestly. As evidenced by the thread, it's a fairly divisive album.
5) 'Joya' - No real explicitly defining characteristics. Sounds like an Oldham record. It's a solid release, nonetheless.
6) Guarapero: Lost Blues 2 - A collection of rarities. Very hit or miss, as would be expected.
---- entering Bonnie Prince Billy era ----
I've already mentioned I See a Darkness and Ease Down the Road, so i'll give them a pass.
1) Master & Everyone - very gentle, front porch, hushed-whisper acoustic album. It's all very pretty, lead off track 'The Way' is particularly stunning.
2) Sings Greatest Palace Music - Incredibly divisive album. Sees Oldham revisiting some classic Palace songs with glossy Nashville production. Very bizarre to say the least.
3) Superwolf - Skeletal and guitar driven. 'Spindly' seems like an appropriate adjective. Matt Sweeney provides a great backdrop for Oldham's vocals.
4) Summer in the Southeast - A fairly rocking live collection. Oldham reworks a lot of older songs to interesting effect.
5) The Brave and the Bold - Oldham teams up with Tortoise for a covers album. This didn't work for me at all, two great tastes that do not taste great together. His covers of Elton John's 'Daniel' and Springsteen's 'Thunder Road' are the only memorable cuts.
-----
Well, that about covers the big ones. Jump in.
― paid in cigarettes (paid in cigarettes), Friday, 14 July 2006 23:41 (eighteen years ago) link
I, personally, love it so much that it no longer bothers me when it comes on after I've forgotten it's in there. Even my wife, who so rarely likes anything I do, just accepts it as beautiful wallpaper. It's so damn tasty in so many ways.
― matt riedl (veal), Saturday, 15 July 2006 19:50 (eighteen years ago) link
I've been enjoying Joya a lot lately - Oldham's last couple of releases have been a bit saccharine for my taste, and I stopped listening to him for a while, so it's nice to remember what the Oldham I was originally taken in by sounded like.
― Hurting 2, Sunday, 3 June 2007 13:09 (seventeen years ago) link
Search: Ask Forgiveness EP (Nov 20th)
1. I Came Here to Hear the Music (Mickey Newbury cover) 2. I’ve Seen It All (Björk cover) 3. Am I Demon (Danzig cover) 4. My Life (Phil Ochs cover) 5. I’m Loving the Street (Will Oldham original) 6. The Way I Am (Mekons / Merle Haggard / Sonny Throckmorton cover) 7. Cycles (Frank Sinatra cover, written by Gayle Caldwell) 8. The World’s Greatest (R. Kelly cover)
― StanM, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 20:02 (sixteen years ago) link
oh woah the mickey newbury record that song is from is TOTAL lost classic, great tune.
― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 21:10 (sixteen years ago) link
summer in the southeast is a great crazy horse record too! rowdy!
― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 21:11 (sixteen years ago) link
I hope this is better than the tortoise collaboration, that shit was dire
― badg, Thursday, 15 November 2007 00:14 (sixteen years ago) link
u dire
― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 15 November 2007 00:27 (sixteen years ago) link
hi dire
― badg, Thursday, 15 November 2007 01:29 (sixteen years ago) link
Everything's covered pretty extensively upthread - i'd just like to add that I Called You Back from the wonderful "The Letting Go" might just be one of the single most gut-wrenching tracks he's released.
― christoff, Thursday, 15 November 2007 14:16 (sixteen years ago) link
oh man, "West Palm Beach"
― itchy rainbolt (clotpoll), Saturday, 13 February 2010 05:26 (fourteen years ago) link
Which version? Think I probably prefer the original EP version, but at times it's a toss up. Haven't really enjoyed anything he's done since Ease Down the Road (haven't heard those covers tho), but back in the day, he cd kill me with pretty much everything he'd done.
― 'virgin' should be 'wizard' (GamalielRatsey), Saturday, 13 February 2010 09:52 (fourteen years ago) link
West Palm Beach/Gulf Shores is one of the best singles of the 90's.
― Number None, Saturday, 13 February 2010 13:46 (fourteen years ago) link
Gulf Shores has its own thread, with some recent discussion of how great both Gulf Shores and West Palm Beach are.
― Neil S, Saturday, 13 February 2010 16:20 (fourteen years ago) link
^^^^ agree with all this west palm beach love <3
― Joint Custody (ian), Saturday, 13 February 2010 16:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Difficult to choose between the two IMO.
― Neil S, Saturday, 13 February 2010 16:50 (fourteen years ago) link
Agree, is this 7" one that was released at the same time as The Mountain EP? Cos that had And End To Travelling as well, they all seemed to fit together so well. That 'tally ho' bit at the end of that song - so mournful.
― 'virgin' should be 'wizard' (GamalielRatsey), Saturday, 13 February 2010 16:55 (fourteen years ago) link
"West Palm Beach" is maybe tied with "Let's Start a Family" as my favourite Will Oldham song.
― I'm afraid we're dealing with Garth Crooks (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 13 February 2010 16:59 (fourteen years ago) link
It's the backing vocals on "Gulf Shores" that bring it to true greatness.
― Number None, Saturday, 13 February 2010 18:17 (fourteen years ago) link
something is up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR20Fel4vIg
― Jamie_ATP, Sunday, 14 February 2010 19:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Interesting. Also, tasteless.
― sean gramophone, Sunday, 14 February 2010 20:01 (fourteen years ago) link
I can't believe there wasn't any talk on ILX about the Bonnie / Cairo Gang LP that came out on Drag City this year. Wow. Maybe everyone (by which, I mean his fans .. don't waste yr time haters) is just tired of the guy. He is nothing if not prolific. But this album is super great. And the live show, with a full band, makes the songs take off ten times more. Incredible.
― Stormy Davis, Sunday, 3 October 2010 00:47 (thirteen years ago) link
I was a die hard Oldham fan from the first 7" up through I See a Darkness. I had EVERYTHING. I don't know what happened but after I See a Darkness (which I thought was his best!), he just fell off my radar. I don't know why I had such a drastic switch-up. I also stopped listening to all the old stuff and even now I only have a few of the records still. Lately I've felt like I need to re-buy all of it, and delve into the post-Darkness material.
I did get Lie Down in the Light recently. I like it. It's totally solid from beginning to end, though nothing knocks me off my feet the way, say, "Gulf Shores" or "Riding" or "Ohio River Boat Song" or the whole Hope EP or "New Partner" or a whole bunch of other songs do.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Sunday, 3 October 2010 01:42 (thirteen years ago) link
Scott, I've done the same exact thing with various artists before myself. i.e. become superfan, get everything, at a certain point -- start to completely ignore.
actually, now that I think about it that is kinda what I did w/ Oldham ... altho I was never "superfan". but I did generally keep up a little with his work, but around the early part of the decade I kinda dropped off, it was too much. Bought Beware when it came out last year, on a whim .. "let's see where he's at" .. really enjoyed it!
bought this new Cairo Gang thing and have been completely blown away. Up there w/ Rangda for album of the year for me. but the live show is even better
― Stormy Davis, Sunday, 3 October 2010 01:50 (thirteen years ago) link
The live show where he sings a capella with no amplification and just Emmett Kelly on guitar to a room of like 200 people kind of sold the album for me.
― Badmotorfinger Debate Club (MFB), Sunday, 3 October 2010 05:10 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm beginning to suspect I never really liked this guy.
― i know why the caged bird slings (Hurting 2), Sunday, 3 October 2010 05:26 (thirteen years ago) link
For nostalgic reasons, I just put on Viva Lost Blues, and holy christ, is the guitar player on this awful! I mean, it sorta does add to the overall feel of the album (which Ive just decided is probably his best, most consistent full length, though like many of you I stopped paying attention many years ago), but shit, sounds like Jandek in places. So many 'bad' notes! I know the book on this album is that everyone was under rehearsed, but I guess I never realized to what degree. A headphone listen reveals that some of these musicians were probably sorta just making it up as they went along. Again, not a judgment on the album - if anything, it holds up very well.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Saturday, 27 November 2010 21:55 (thirteen years ago) link
Side 2 of that record is a fucking beast btw.
― i love you but i have chosen snarkness (Steve Shasta), Saturday, 27 November 2010 22:03 (thirteen years ago) link
lot of the old Palace stuff is sloppy, unrehearsed and sorta improvised by buddies and whomever was around. that was kind of their thing.
― circa1916, Saturday, 27 November 2010 22:19 (thirteen years ago) link
Saw him in October in a tiny bar with Emmett Kelley and the rest. Reminded me of Bill Withers live, in the elongated storytelling. He only sang. No country nods.
― no place running the schools (Eazy), Saturday, 27 November 2010 22:22 (thirteen years ago) link
When I talked to David Pajo for my Slint book he talked about playing with Oldham and said that for a lot of the songs the first time he heard them or played them was when Oldham had hit the record button for the record. He would literally be figuring out how the song went as the tape was rolling.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Sunday, 28 November 2010 15:03 (thirteen years ago) link
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Saturday, October 2, 2010 9:42 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
haa mee too exactly
― ice cr?m, Sunday, 28 November 2010 15:52 (thirteen years ago) link
arise therefor is by far his best tho fuiud
― ice cr?m, Sunday, 28 November 2010 15:53 (thirteen years ago) link
Viva Lost Blues has some wonderful moments on it. More Brother Rides is one of his best ever. I must be technically naive, because I think the band on this album sound perfect. I see a darkness was good but he didn't fuck any more mountains in the noughties.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Sunday, 28 November 2010 16:16 (thirteen years ago) link
It is sorta funny how everyone has a similar story - "Followed him rabidly from the beginning, then got his BEST ALBUM EVA I See A Darkness, and haven't paid attention since." Why is this? Seems like a weirdly common fan trajectory. Can anyone suggest any theories on this phenomenon?
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Sunday, 28 November 2010 16:26 (thirteen years ago) link
feel like his style of music maybe just went out of style
― ice cr?m, Sunday, 28 November 2010 16:28 (thirteen years ago) link
indie fans be fickle, phony
― balls, Sunday, 28 November 2010 16:30 (thirteen years ago) link
Both correct, I reckon.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Sunday, 28 November 2010 17:59 (thirteen years ago) link
i like lots of his post darkness stuff the best
i went to see him in concert at an art museum theater and it was pack tho, he still has lots of fans i think
― there was usic in the cafes at night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 28 November 2010 18:32 (thirteen years ago) link
He regularly draws big crowds over here in the UK too.
I'm the same as posters upthread in preferring pre-Darkness material. Something about the quality of his voice changed after that record, I think- it lost, the cracked, slightly keening edge which IMO made him so interesting as a singer. All the rough edges have been smoothed off these days.
― Neil S, Sunday, 28 November 2010 18:38 (thirteen years ago) link
me too, just don't have much to say about him.
― 3:10 to Your Ma (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 28 November 2010 18:41 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, i'm the same. maybe i'm just bad at talking about music qua music, but the narrative of 'guy who quietly and consistently releases very good albums' isn't something i feel the need to be particularly expressive about. that said, i do think lots of the arrangements in the recent albums have been lovely.
― Antoine Bugleboy (Merdeyeux), Sunday, 28 November 2010 18:56 (thirteen years ago) link
I've loved him pretty straight through and enjoy the early Palace stuff as much as the glossy "...Sings Greatest Palace Music" disc. Some stick with me more than others, but I've really liked the last few major releases (and the Bonny Billy and the Picket Line live thing as well).
― She Got the Shakes, Sunday, 28 November 2010 21:03 (thirteen years ago) link