Will Oldham/Palace/Bonnie Prince Billie: S&D

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The "Get On Jolly" EP (with Marquis de Tren) is the greatest thing he ever did. indeed, II-IX from it is one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 23:30 (twenty-one years ago)

never really got into most of lost blues but the last song (think its the last one anyway) is incredible
also the brute choir

― robin (robin), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 23:31 (twenty-one years ago)

the song is actually called II-XV not II-IX

xpost

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 23:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I may have given up on the idea that the things I want from music can be found in anything other than that created under the hand and light of Will Oldham. Been getting loads of live things, and each and every time there's an astonishing version of some familiar song. One version of 'You will miss me when I burn' as a ful band just glides as I hoped I could have the first two Mercury Rev do, given time.

― matthew james (matthew james), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 00:56 (twenty-one years ago)

is the get on jolly ep instrumental?

― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:06 (twenty-one years ago)

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:21 (twenty-one years ago)

i have very much lost track of mr. oldham in the last two years! i think i will pull out days in the wake before i go to bed tonight.

― jess, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:27 (twenty-one years ago)

how is master and everyone? does it continue in the vein of ease down the road??

― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Master and Everyone is violently boring.

― C0L1N B3CK3TT (Colin Beckett), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:28 (twenty-one years ago)

col1n did you like ease down the road?

― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:28 (twenty-one years ago)

something about oldham really reminds of reggae in a way.

― jess, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:30 (twenty-one years ago)

the devotional tunes? the scruffy beard? what?

― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I liked Ease Down The Road a lot actually. Master and Everyone is kind-of along the same lines, but it just sounds like a mediocre fake Oldham (Fauxldham? *rimshot*). Have you heard the best-of?

― C0L1N B3CK3TT (Colin Beckett), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:34 (twenty-one years ago)

no, musically. something about the tempo maybe?

― jess, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:35 (twenty-one years ago)

"madeline mary" off of i see a darkness is pretty much reggae.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 01:35 (twenty-one years ago)

oldham guests on the forthcoming sage francis elpee.

i'm not kidding.

― alindall, Wednesday, 11 August 2004 02:42 (twenty-one years ago)

i quite like master and everyone.
its more somber than ease down the road i would say, and more sparse, but not as sparse as the palace stuff

― todd swiss (eliti), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 03:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I completely adore I See A Darkness and find Master And Everyone pleasant but just OK.

What should I buy next?

a) Ease On Down The Road
b) The Lost Blues comp
c) Arise, Therefore
d) Not these ones you nut
d) 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-one years ago)

PLUS the "one with the birds"/"take however long you want" single.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 03:57 (twenty-one years ago)

or dude, just read up thread, this has been covered.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 03:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Cool, OK - yep just read the entire thread. Ummmmm, thinking...

― piers (piers), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 04:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I absolutely love Master & Everyone, almost as much as I See A Darkness. It's very Pink Moon - a very heavy man whispering his mind in your ear. I've found it engaging with every listen.

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 04:33 (twenty-one years ago)

d) + the Hope EP

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 04:55 (twenty-one years ago)

will is a very heavy man?

― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 12:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I love Will Oldham because on at least 4 different occasions, I've played him in the background while talking to female friends of mine who generally are not into music at all, and they are completely captivated by it. Until I show 'em the beard, of course.

― Huey (Huey), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 12:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, he also played Naive Melody, Life During Wartime, Psycho Killer and Blind, for fuck's sake - Blind!

― Huey (Huey), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 12:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Um, I believe I was supposed to post that in a Talking Heads thread. Still, it would be good if the 'Prince' gave some 'Heads a seeing to.

― Huey (Huey), Wednesday, 11 August 2004 13:34 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

I miss my lost copy of 'days in the wake.'

― cºzen (Cozen), Saturday, 4 September 2004 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...

No love for Joya here? I like it.

― Jim Reckling (Jim Reckling), Monday, 20 September 2004 23:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Just bought and listening to Arise, Therefore....hmmmm, dark yeah, interesting. Next will be something more melodic, but have to let this sink in first. Think I'll go with either Ease On Down The Road or Viva Last Blues or Lost Blues comp as mentioned upthread.

― piers (piers), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 00:14 (twenty-one years ago)

i remember joya being a disappointment, but it's been so long since i've listened to it....

piers are you looking for a oldham cd to buy next? i'd recommend "i see a darkness" and then probably one of the two "lost blues" comps and then "days in the wake". "master and everyone" is better than "ease down the road," i think, though both are good. i actually find latterday oldham more interesting than earlier oldham even if the records haven't been perfect.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 00:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Howdy amateur!!!st - yeah i guess i am! I do have I See A Darkness and Master And Everyone, and while I like the latter, I love the former.

Arise, Therefore is good so far, but only first listen. Based on what you said I think I'd go with the two lost blues comps and maybe days in the wake. Jess also posted a pretty good S&D way upthread including the first Palace album. He has a fun, if bewildering, back catalog to explore eh?

― piers (piers), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 00:28 (twenty-one years ago)

to second what Douglas said waaay upthread, there was a time when Palace singles were EVENTS. from the rustic art/photos to how each side complemented the other, to what the new name was for Will ("Little Willy Bulgakov" "Pushkin" etc.), the whole package was mysterious, satisfying to impressionable ears, and they would disappear instantly. at least thru "Every Mother's Son." don't think Lost Blues quite replicates that heady feeling.

― BbetaA, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 00:56 (twenty-one years ago)

i think ease on down the road is far superior to master and everyone. there doesnt seem to be much meat in either production or lyrics of master like there is to ease on down the road and especially i see a darkness.

― tom cleveland (tom cleveland), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 01:00 (twenty-one years ago)

did i talk about "just to see my holly home" upthread? i'm in love w/that song

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 01:04 (twenty-one years ago)

you talked about it many times.

i have this theory in which i see a darkness is real late at night and ease on down the road is the morning after.

― tom cleveland (tom cleveland), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 01:08 (twenty-one years ago)

you talked about it many times.

well, that makes me feel like a boring old professor, thanks ("yes, mr. amateurist, we've this one already").

that's not a very evolved theory.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 01:09 (twenty-one years ago)

arise therefore possesses the epitome of w'oldham's essence. david grubbs' piano work makes the album a bold sumpreme.

― rsssgnld;s, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 01:47 (twenty-one years ago)

best BPB - Master and Everyone
best Palace Brothers/ Music - Viva Last Blues (though I haven't heard Days in the Wake in forever)

I'm having trouble with BPB sings Greatest Palace Muscic.

― Will (will), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 01:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I also love Master and Everyone although I don't know that I would rate it higher than Darkness or Road. All 3 are great.

― Jim Reckling (Jim Reckling), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 02:00 (twenty-one years ago)

well theres more to it, but i dont quite have to energy to expound. that seems to be the case of most of my "theories" or "ideas."

― tom cleveland (tom cleveland), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 02:10 (twenty-one years ago)

i feel you

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 02:11 (twenty-one years ago)

three months pass...

I had been trying to get a copy of the Bonnie/Brightblack split E.P. for ages. I finally jumped the S0les33k train and found it's all over there -- but everyone seems to have the same damaged copy - all of the Bonnie songs have this digital glitch sound running through them. I briefly thought that maybe it was intentional, but at several points it stutters or cuts off Oldham's notes, and just generally sounds like a CD Burner misfunction.

I am finding this completely frustrating, since I am obsessed with his "Brokedown Palace" cover, and the other songs are similarly blowing my mind.

Does anyone have an actual copy of this e.p.? Is it available anywhere? Goddamn it, it's amazing.

― Chuckling at the Tomkat's Marquee (Ben Boyer), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 17:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I've got a thing for the "Western Music" ep. Four songs, half shimmering chamber music with big band at Albini's, half recorded solo on a dictaphone/what-have-you in the kitchen or wherevers. Great as the last thing to play in the evening.

― LSTD (answer) (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 17:55 (twenty-one years ago)

"Ease Down The Road" is one of my favorite songs (though the album of that name is a mixed bag): "A fireman her husband was/and so to give him duty/I duly tried to light a fire/upon his rightful booty"

The Oldham/Tweaker song from that single is surprisingly good (Happy Child). Otherwise, I think Viva Last Blues is probably his strongest release. I also like most of the stuff on the Palace Music disc and the cover of "In My Mind"

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 23:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Hurting mostly OTM; that song is great, though I find that the album never gets the credit it deserves.

― Ian John50n (orion), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 23:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I definitely prefer Oldham with a band to without. I do like the first album though (There is No One...)

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 23:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, and I guess it's not on this thread, but on some Oldham thread I complain about how I See A Darkness is inferior to both the album directly before it and the one directly after it. Seriously. That album is probably my least played of Oldham's, and while it contains some fine songs (the title track, "Black" and "Madeline Mary" most notable), I don't think it holds up overall. It baffles me that so many people consider it his best work.

xpost. The first album is great!

― Ian John50n (orion), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 23:29 (twenty-one years ago)

His singles >>>>> his albums.

He's playing a secret show here near SF in a week and a half.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 23:42 (twenty-one years ago)

He's playing in L.A. with Matt Sweeney at McCabe's guitar shop in Santa Monica, playing the Superwolf stuff. I just got my tickets.

So does anyone have the Brightblack split? I am desperate for those tracks.

― Chuckling at the Tomkat's Marquee (Ben Boyer), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 23:52 (twenty-one years ago)

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“keeping secrets will destroy you” might be one of his best genuinely

― ||||||||, Saturday, 15 February 2025 23:30 (one year ago)

Both Purple Bird and Keeping Secrets have hit my ears as returns to form, as different as they are. I'm a big John Prine fan and Purple Bird seems to bear his influence heavily, in a way that threatens to contaminate what makes Oldham special, but he manages to pull it off. The cleverness of Oldham's lyrics has always been a trademark but he has typically deployed it more for elegance than whimsy (not that Prine can't do both too, but his legacy here - and often - lies more on the whimsical side). Keeping Secrets is more what I think of as classic BPB, delicate sweetness with an undercurrent of darkness and tension that is usually there if it catches the light right. All that said, with a guy like Oldham, he works so much that I can never tell whether my digging new stuff has more to do with me, cycling back around to him and taking an interest in his latest, than it does with the quality of a particular new project. Either way, I'm enjoying listening to him again these days!

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Friday, 21 February 2025 15:14 (one year ago)

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