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

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.

oh man, "West Palm Beach"

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.

West Palm Beach/Gulf Shores is one of the best singles of the 90's.

Gulf Shores has its own thread, with some recent discussion of how great both Gulf Shores and West Palm Beach are.

^^^^ agree with all this west palm beach love <3

Difficult to choose between the two IMO.

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.

"West Palm Beach" is maybe tied with "Let's Start a Family" as my favourite Will Oldham song.

It's the backing vocals on "Gulf Shores" that bring it to true greatness.

something is up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR20Fel4vIg

Interesting. Also, tasteless.

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.

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, 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

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.

I'm beginning to suspect I never really liked this guy.

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.

Side 2 of that record is a fucking beast btw.

lot of the old Palace stuff is sloppy, unrehearsed and sorta improvised by buddies and whomever was around. that was kind of their thing.

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.

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.

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.

― scott pgwp (pgwp), Saturday, October 2, 2010 9:42 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haa mee too exactly

arise therefor is by far his best tho fuiud

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.

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?

feel like his style of music maybe just went out of style

indie fans be fickle, phony

Both correct, I reckon.

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

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.

i like lots of his post darkness stuff the best

me too, just don't have much to say about him.

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.

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).

"Lie Down in the Light" is a really great, low-key album

i still jam to ease down the road

that was actually the last one i vibed to

Ease Down The Road is definitely my favorite. He took some singing lessons after Darkness, so maybe the haters/boreders caught on to that.

Listened to 'The Letting Go' yesterday whilst driving through a very misty part of East Anglia, maybe my favourite post Darkness record.

The live albums Summer in the Southeast and Is It The Sea? are arguably the greatest things he's released IMO. However, nothing will ever touch Viva Last Blues for that early ramshackle vibe. I find him, by far, the best and most consistent English songwriter of the modern era that I can think of. It's plainly outrageous that hasn't been anointed the contemporary Dylan/Young/pick-your-favorite, that failure of a critical consensus more than a lot of others reveals the bankruptcy of modern mainstream music criticism IMO.

arise therefor is by far his best tho fuiud

― ice cr?m, Sunday, November 28, 2010 10:53 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark

Co-sign on that. Sad to hear so many people here care less about Superwolf, Lie Down In The Light and The Letting Go, all my favourite WO

I just checked out a Bonnie Prince Billy album from the library yesterday. I donht know which one it is, but it's blue. I think I avoided checking him out for over a decade because of the name - what kind of renfest shit is this anyway? Wanna join my medieval militia?

But I'll listen to it tomorrow morning and report back.

I've picked up a bunch of his releases over the years, but I think I could live with just Lost Blues and Other Songs, Superwolf and Ease Down the Road.

by far, the best and most consistent English songwriter of the modern era

This is preposterous. I like the guy fine, he's made some nice records, but come on - dude says absolutely nothing. With Dylan, you need an annotated bibliography. Scholars can hold annual symposiums on single verses. Oldham, on the other hand, exists and seems quite comfortable beneath a veil of willful obscurity. He's cultivated his own 'impossible to know' myth from the jump, so his persona, by his own design, signifies exactly nothing. Everything he does comes off like some sort of ironic, unfunny in-joke. His music is mostly pleasant but, to me, his act gets incredibly tiresome.

well songs arent just lyrics so...?

True, but take away the vocals on a Bonnie Billy album and you have...?

lol i guess (some ppl think) good songs

not me

Everything he does comes off like some sort of ironic, unfunny in-joke.

I couldn't feel more opposed to a single opinion. He has written (not just the words, but the singing, the choices of instrumentation, intonation, the choice of players, etc.) some of the most beautiful, open and honest accounts of varied human experience I have ever heard. I hear very little irony in his lyrics, and when it is there it seems very intentional. Obviously no two people will have the same listening experience, but I've never encountered this particularly opinion about Oldham's work. Different strokes.

See also: everyone on Drag City