― daria gray, Saturday, 22 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― david h(owie), Saturday, 22 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I got Arise, Therefore today. PERFECT for my mood.
― Ian Johnson (orion), Sunday, 30 November 2003 01:44 (twenty years ago) link
― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 30 November 2003 01:48 (twenty years ago) link
― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 30 November 2003 01:49 (twenty years ago) link
Colin, you're not alone, I am also a big fan of Arise, Therefore. I think it's one of his most consistent works. I am very much looking forward to his upcoming greatest hits record, which I heard will be re-recordings.
It's hard to explain the mystique, I'm aware of the pretense of it all, but somehow, I find him very talented despite the obviously forced illusions. I think he'd be great to have a beer with. I don't own all of his records but the ones I do have I would not trade. Fair enough?
― roger adultery (roger adultery), Sunday, 30 November 2003 02:04 (twenty years ago) link
― arjun (arjun), Sunday, 30 November 2003 18:15 (twenty years ago) link
― jed (jed_e_3), Sunday, 30 November 2003 18:41 (twenty years ago) link
― russ p., Sunday, 30 November 2003 18:56 (twenty years ago) link
― Elliot (Elliot), Sunday, 30 November 2003 19:18 (twenty years ago) link
When I saw him, he didn't so much change as flesh out some of the earlier, sparser melodies. A lot of the really meandering/weird stuff from Days In The Wake, for example, was given a nice full band treatment. He also played with solo electric guitar for about 1/3 of the set, the band coming out to rejoin him for the end.
― Ian Johnson (orion), Sunday, 30 November 2003 23:49 (twenty years ago) link
Further comments... there's a six minute long, full-band version of "No More Workhorse Blues" on this bootleg from Austria I found. Crazy. Parts of it sound spanish, then when the song climax the drums really start to come in. Unrecognizable initially!
― Ian Johnson (orion), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 08:54 (twenty years ago) link
There's also a wonderfully twisted piece written by will in today's guardian.
― hmmm (hmmm), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 09:53 (twenty years ago) link
(p.s. THANKS NA!!!!!!)
― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 03:13 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 03:18 (twenty years ago) link
― chris andrews (fraew), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 03:29 (twenty years ago) link
― St. Nicholas (Nick A.), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 20:02 (twenty years ago) link
― russ p., Wednesday, 28 July 2004 21:23 (twenty years ago) link
A question, though: how can I find out who played on/produced the songs, without tracking down the original singles? The big Oldham websites don't seem to have that info. I'd like to know which song(s) were produced by Kramer, Adam & Eve, etc...
― morris pavilion (samjeff), Monday, 9 August 2004 20:15 (twenty years ago) link
― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 03:44 (twenty years ago) link
― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 03:45 (twenty years ago) link
― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 04:10 (twenty years ago) link
there's always been a protean quality to his music, which often goes overlooked largely because of the superhuman insularity of his misterioso hillbilly shtick. people tend to link him with these old balladeer types, which a certain prominent vein of his music does encourage. but i hear--sublimated and reconstituted beautifully in the last 3 records--a whole bunch of less-austere influences (sorry mark) there, like a thousand singer-songwriters and alterindie bands.
― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 05:04 (twenty years ago) link
― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 05:05 (twenty years ago) link
― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 05:07 (twenty years ago) link
― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 05:34 (twenty years ago) link
I don't know why I never really responded to the other Palace albums (though I like some of the songs on "Days in the Wake"). These early singles are just another breed - not just the songs themselves, but the production, the playing, the atmosphere...
― morris pavilion (samjeff), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 15:28 (twenty years ago) link
"just to see my holly home" is a very funny song. it's about, i guess, the dark side of the whole "nuclear family" thing--the family has a remarkable closeness, but it comes from denigrating and attacking all others and ultimately locking them and the world out forever. oldham cheerfully places mysogynystic musings next to a kind of idealization of his partner/family. anyway this is a boring exegesis but what makes it work is how oldham finds a peculiar balance b/t silliness and earnestness. the balance wouldn't hold if the song had such an insinuating sound.
― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 16:17 (twenty years ago) link
― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 16:18 (twenty years ago) link
― roger adultery (roger adultery), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 16:56 (twenty years ago) link
― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 23:30 (twenty years ago) link
― robin (robin), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 23:31 (twenty years ago) link
xpost
― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 23:32 (twenty years ago) link
― matthew james (matthew james), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 00:56 (twenty years ago) link
― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:06 (twenty years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:21 (twenty years ago) link
― jess, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:27 (twenty years ago) link
― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:27 (twenty years ago) link
― C0L1N B3CK3TT (Colin Beckett), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:28 (twenty years ago) link
― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:28 (twenty years ago) link
― jess, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:30 (twenty years ago) link
― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:31 (twenty years ago) link
― C0L1N B3CK3TT (Colin Beckett), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:34 (twenty years ago) link
― jess, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:35 (twenty years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:35 (twenty years ago) link
i'm not kidding.
― alindall, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 02:42 (twenty years ago) link
― todd swiss (eliti), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 03:04 (twenty years ago) link
What should I buy next?
a) Ease On Down The Roadb) The Lost Blues compc) Arise, Therefored) Not these ones you nutd) Bugger it, get them all
BTW, I no longer have the indie guilt referred to up thread. I drowned it in the bath tub last week, most satisfying.
― piers (piers), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 03:54 (twenty years ago) link
PLUS the "one with the birds"/"take however long you want" single.
― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 03:57 (twenty years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 03:58 (twenty years ago) link
Got an amazingly great anecdote / reminiscence back from the guy. Don't think I can post it verbatim (and won't use his name), so figuring out how to whittle it down...
― get your hand outta my pocket universe (morrisp), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 23:01 (five years ago) link
Wish I had DM capability and/or your trust!
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 23:18 (five years ago) link
(a Louisville friend "well-actually"'d me and said that Will, Todd & Grant performed at a cafe "a couple of times" before the Big Star gig.)
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 23:20 (five years ago) link
(which morrisp's link goes into much better detail, haha, sorry for posting before clicking all links)
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 23:21 (five years ago) link
The core of it is that this guy (the college DJ and Big Star fan) was friends with Bob Nastanovich, and Bob "knew Will from Louisville and suggested we put him on the bill." He continues: "I didn’t really know what we were getting. But I knew Will from the movie Matewan. I think maybe we gave him $500. We definitely didn’t have 5g. If it was his first show, I didn’t know that at the time (or until now)."
He included a few other personal recollections which are v cool but I probably can't share here.
― get your hand outta my pocket universe (morrisp), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 23:23 (five years ago) link
xp: (though I can confirm that is Grant on banjo in the pic which the meticulously detailed website is uncertain of w/r/t early lineup)
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 23:23 (five years ago) link
Bob "knew Will from Louisville and suggested we put him on the bill."
They were roommates at the time iirc.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 23:24 (five years ago) link
What a great revive, this!
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 22 May 2019 07:23 (five years ago) link
The new arrangements with Eighth Blackbird are gorgeous. It really shows where he is as a singer to hold his own with this ensemble.
Here’s a live one of “One with the Birds”:https://vimeo.com/179383778
― ... (Eazy), Friday, 30 August 2019 12:11 (five years ago) link
<3 that
― Joe Proroguin' (Noodle Vague), Friday, 30 August 2019 12:42 (five years ago) link
same! going to get the album on the back of it
― Fizzles, Friday, 30 August 2019 12:42 (five years ago) link
new single off new album, sounds like 8th Blackbird is still involved:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhMz9pvRNCQ
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 10 September 2019 16:15 (five years ago) link
'Superwolves' came out a couple of weeks ago. I'm on track 3. Great stuff so far.
https://www.dragcity.com/products/superwolves
― neilasimpson, Thursday, 13 May 2021 20:29 (three years ago) link
Reading posts from a year ago discussing the show at the university of Missouri. My good friend, Jeff Breeze, was the student who called Alex and pitched the idea of a Big Star reunion gig on campus. This was a few years before I went to school there and became friends with him, though.He sadly passed away very suddenly last November. I know he was working on writing up the whole experience and shopping it around for publication, but he wasn't getting much traction.
I am not at all certain about any of the details surrounding the event. It had already become the stuff of college radio legend by the time I got there.
― trip maker, Thursday, 13 May 2021 20:59 (three years ago) link
Gonna be a luddite and hold out for my physical copy of Superwolves. I've been waiting years for a follow-up, so a few more months ain't gonna kill me. I know pressing plants and schedules are still out of whack, but I'm surprised by how far behind Drag City's physical releases are lagging.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 13 May 2021 21:02 (three years ago) link
Having now listened to Superwolves fully a few times I am delighted to report that it is magnificent. A worthy successor to Superwolf.
― neilasimpson, Monday, 17 May 2021 09:52 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzjahqr9wGs
― JonR345, Monday, 10 July 2023 06:11 (one year ago) link
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/aug/24/bonnie-prince-billy-i-cant-regret-working-with-r-kelly-it-made-me-better-able-to-judge-my-behaviour-and-that-of-others
Didn't know about the Birdman thing.
― lord of the rongs (anagram), Thursday, 24 August 2023 14:38 (one year ago) link
Thanks for that, the "Birdman" thing is nuts.
His new album is terrific, one of my favorites of his in recent years.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 24 August 2023 15:19 (one year ago) link
I didn't know he took that Slint cover photo.
― Clientless (Scooter's Version) (morrisp), Thursday, 24 August 2023 15:28 (one year ago) link
feel like the title 'Good Morning, Popocatépetl' is some sort of infringement
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 29 August 2023 00:34 (one year ago) link
new record is great imo
― LaMDA barry-stanners (||||||||), Tuesday, 29 August 2023 08:56 (one year ago) link
absolutely, def top tier Oldham.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 29 August 2023 14:16 (one year ago) link
Bonnie "Prince" Billy is headlining Supersonic festival in Birmingham this August/September... I'm hoping this means there will be some other UK dates around that time.
― brain (krakow), Friday, 1 March 2024 11:55 (six months ago) link
he’s playing QMU in aug. presale is open
― LaMDA barry-stanners (||||||||), Friday, 1 March 2024 18:07 (six months ago) link
Thanks, obviously I'd totally missed that! When was it announced? I blame wretched social media algorithms.
― brain (krakow), Friday, 1 March 2024 19:00 (six months ago) link
He also has a small role in the upcoming movie The Bikeriders
― bbq, Friday, 1 March 2024 19:07 (six months ago) link
Every now and then I become convinced “Troublesome Houses” is one of the greatest songs ever written.
― H.P, Friday, 1 March 2024 21:20 (six months ago) link
H.P otm
also this news today: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3-jBRyunnM/"ryan daly made this film. i witnessed and nudged. @criterionchannel is now streaming it. the idea was to give audiences a time and space to listen to an intentional grouping of songs, in this case the Bonnie Prince Billy record KEEPING SECRETS WILL DESTROY YOU. it was shown in movie theaters across the western world. i am a card-carrying Criterion subscriber and have found it a tremendous resource for uplift, edification and, at times, escape. we are honored and grateful to have our work on the channel. @dragcityrecords @dominorecordco"
― pitted (blue6ave), Saturday, 2 March 2024 05:24 (six months ago) link
why the fuck is there a british band called Palace
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Tuesday, 17 September 2024 21:56 (six days ago) link
"Their debut album on Fiction records, So Long Forever (2016), trawled the wreckage of Wyndham’s shattered psyche following the death of a family member and the break-up of both his parents’ and his own relationships, and chimed with the times"
no thank you