Topic: Will Oldham (Read 10462 times)

Inlander · « **on:** 14 Jan 2007, 18:44 »

To the best of my knowledge, we've never had a Will Oldham thread here.

Now we do.

Love? Hate? Think a particular album should get more attention than it usually does? Discuss!

Misereatur · « **Reply #1 on:** 14 Jan 2007, 21:07 »

I really liked a single from his last album, but I was rather unimpressed by his older albums, mainly from I See a Darkness.
I should give him another listen, though.

He's playing live this weekend in Tel Aviv and I'm going to miss it because it costs way too much (120NIS for a show in a club the size of my basement).

ScrambledGregs · « **Reply #2 on:** 15 Jan 2007, 00:49 »

I think that I See A Darkness is one of the best albums of the past 10 years that most people have never heard. It rarely makes 'best of' lists and I only knew about it because of, you guessed it, Pitchfork. I think that his Superwolf collaboration with Matt Sweeney was pretty ace; I have it on vinyl, so maybe I like it better because of that.

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #3 on:** 15 Jan 2007, 02:49 »

I See a Darkness is probably the best of his Bonnie "Prince" Billy albums, but I prefer his older material as Palace/Palace Music/Palace Bros.

My all-time favorite is Lost Blues and Other Songs. Viva Last Blues is a close second, and Guarapero: Lost Blues Volume 2 is also quite nice. A friend of mine swears by Days In the Wake but, while the songs on it are great, I think it's a very poorly-recorded album and the live versions of those songs are much better. Also, Arise Therefore is a really wonderful album.

My main problem with his Bonnie "Prince" Billy albums is that they're just too... slick and polished and quiet. His Palace stuff was more raw and had more rockers.

When I saw him live, he looked like Jimmy Buffet.

ScrambledGregs · « **Reply #4 on:** 15 Jan 2007, 05:16 »

His use of different names bothers me, but only as an obsessive music fan. I mean, do you file all his stuff under the same name?? If so, which one?? Or do you just file it all, chronologically, under Will Oldham??

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #5 on:** 15 Jan 2007, 06:32 »

I file all my music under the artist's name. Palace goes under P, Bonnie "Prince" Billy goes under B. It's not that confusing. It's not like if I'm looking for a specific album I'm going to forget where it is.

greenMonkey · « **Reply #6 on:** 15 Jan 2007, 08:03 »

His cover album with Tortoise was fun, and I haven't really heard much of his other stuff.

His photographs for the covers of Spiderland and Tweez are fun too.

fish across face · « **Reply #7 on:** 16 Jan 2007, 18:51 »

I'm glad he comes off as sincere and unpretentious in person, because from his music I always felt there was a definite schtick he's trying to cultivate, which to me felt a bit insincere... a romantic image of this oh-so-rustic dude from the oh-so-rustic South.. the Southern Gothic thing, maybe? I get the same vibe from Sam Beam / Iron & Wine too... I don't know why this should bother me, I think fronting is much more fun than striving for authenticity. Maybe the thing is this front sounds like an attempt to stake authenticity? Anyway...

As I said in the thread where he came up, New Partner from the Palace Brothers' Viva Last Blues is my favourite single song of his, and otherwise I guess the album I listen to most is the bloody bleak Arise Therefore, home of the ever-charming You Have Cum in Your Hair and Your Dick is Hanging Out.

Holy shit, just read his Wikipedia thing, he was in Matewan??? That's a great movie! Might have to watch it again sometime.

ScrambledGregs · « **Reply #8 on:** 16 Jan 2007, 21:37 »

I once listened to 'Raining In Darling' while sitting outside a Catholic church, in my car, with my then-girlfriend, as it rained. It was one of those "perfect" moments in life, I daresay.

BrittanyMarie · « **Reply #9 on:** 16 Jan 2007, 22:11 »

He started my beardy obsession. I haven't heard anything from him from any moniker that I have even remotely disliked... he's really consistently good, with strokes of genius dashed about generously.

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #10 on:** 17 Jan 2007, 00:08 »

One thing I've always found odd is that, at least in the 90s, he was more popular in the UK than in the States.

I think his best song title is "Exit Music (For a Dick)".

And, I don't think he was trying to cultivate an image in his music, I think he actually was/is a pretty rustic Southern fellow. He's from Louisville, after all. Like with Smog, I always assumed any rustic-ness was genuine. Iron & Wine strikes me as very sincere music, too. And I'm a pretty cynical bastard.

Inlander · « **Reply #11 on:** 17 Jan 2007, 05:07 »

I dunno, I think the rustic thing is in a large part an act. What I think people often don't get about Will Oldham, is that he's a storyteller. His songs often aren't about him, they're about characters. (Although generally I find that the Bonnie "Prince" Billy songs seem to be a bit more personal than the Palace songs, but that's just a gut feeling.)

What do people think of the Greatest Palace Music album? I think most people rate it pretty lowly, but I think it's generally pretty enjoyable, and I think some songs actually come out better: for example, I think performing "Agnes, Queen of Sorrow" as a duet is absolutely revelatory (though I love the original version as well).

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #12 on:** 17 Jan 2007, 05:39 »

Quote from: Inlander on 17 Jan 2007, 05:07

I dunno, I think the rustic thing is in a large part an act. What I think people often don't get about Will Oldham, is that he's a storyteller. His songs often aren't about him, they're about characters.

Well, right, I'm just saying that he IS a Southerner and from all accounts I've heard of people who met/hung out with him, he's not exactly a "big city feller" pretending to have folk roots. Regardless of lyrical content.

fish across face · « **Reply #13 on:** 17 Jan 2007, 07:29 »

Yeah, good points. I was meaning more what Inlander mentioned - that he's using that in his act, using the myths of where he's from. For the record, I really like Iron & Wine too, I'm not trying to slag them, but something about it niggles. It's more about their reception than their music, though.

Quote from: Inlander on 17 Jan 2007, 05:07

What I think people often don't get about Will Oldham, is that he's a storyteller. His songs often aren't about him, they're about characters.

I think this is a common misconception about most lyricists, really. I think the default approach is to expect a song a person wrote to be about them, unless you have prior knowledge that they're not that kind of writer.

Inlander · « **Reply #14 on:** 17 Jan 2007, 10:21 »

Ooh! Now I'm super-excited because I've just found out that the best Will Oldham song never to be released on C.D., "Barcelona", was apparently . . . umm . . . released on C.D.! On an excessively limited-edition disc called Little Lost Blues, apparently, that came as a bonus disc with the first 1000 or something copies of the Letting Go. Naturally, now it's all over the internet.

Now I just have to wait for the damn torrent to start downloading . . .

Seriously, I've been waiting for this song to become available (other than as the b-side to a hard-to-find 7-inch) ever since I first heard it performed live about 5 or 6 years ago.

EDIT: BAH! Three hours! 6KB/s!! But I want it noooowwww . . .

fish across face · « **Reply #15 on:** 17 Jan 2007, 13:58 »

Torrents are not the only way.

Inlander · « **Reply #16 on:** 17 Jan 2007, 14:25 »

It's the only way that doesn't require me to register with yet another damn website.

Or visit a site called "skafunkrastapunk".

Status: 86.6%, 30 minutes 22 seconds TO GLORY!!

Borondir · « **Reply #17 on:** 19 Jan 2007, 15:00 »

Unfortunately, I have yet to get my hands on anything but "I See A Darkness" which I like. I've never felt like his whole Southern Gothic thing is put on. He is actually a southerner, but more importantly, like Inlander says, he is a story teller, and if done correctly, telling stories will never fake. Now if we want to talk about stupid appropriation thats not genuine at all, Beruit.

Inlander · « **Reply #18 on:** 19 Jan 2007, 16:50 »

Interesting interview with Mr. Oldham in today's Grauniad:

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,1993171,00.html

Also, Little Lost Blues is really good.

carrotosaurus · « **Reply #19 on:** 19 Jan 2007, 19:05 »

I'm a Will Oldham freak. Everything he does is amazing. Little Lost Blues is indeed wonderful, it's got some of the most beautiful songs...

I also just got this on vinyl. It's awesome!

Inlander · « **Reply #20 on:** 15 Jul 2007, 18:39 »

There's no doubting it's a devisive record. I actually quite like it - but then, I like country and I don't mind a bit of gloss. I don't think that any of the songs are better than any of the original versions, but several of them I think are interesting re-interpretations of old favourites. A case in point is "Agnes, Queen of Sorrow": simply by making it a duet, it puts a whole different spin on the song which for me was quite revelatory.

Inlander · « **Reply #21 on:** 16 Jul 2007, 06:40 »

Funnily enough, I find Gram a little too smooth for my liking.

Ishotdanieljohnston · « **Reply #22 on:** 16 Jul 2007, 23:42 »

Oh man, I love Will Oldham!!!!

Shadows Collide · « **Reply #23 on:** 29 Jul 2007, 03:59 »

MARRY ME WILL OLDHAM!!!

Inlander · « **Reply #24 on:** 29 Jul 2007, 19:36 »

Speaking of which, did anyone else here see Old Joy? I really liked it.

Spinless · « **Reply #25 on:** 30 Jul 2007, 00:16 »

I saw a poster advertising it at a museum. It sounded like Lost In Translation but with two guys in some north american wilderness trying to rekindle a friendship and a soundtrack by Yo La Tengo.

Well, of course I wanted to see it. But I never got the chance!

Shadows Collide · « **Reply #26 on:** 30 Jul 2007, 01:01 »

Desperately wanted to see that movie, missed out cause, I don't know why. Ill pick it up on DVD though.

The Letting Go is (by a slight margin ahead of I see a Darkness) his best IMO, in part due to the beautiful harmonies created with the female singer (forgot her name). Best of last year (tied with Midlake for me)

Inlander · « **Reply #27 on:** 30 Jul 2007, 03:31 »

I think Ease Down the Road is still my favourite. I read an interview with Oldham somewhere where he said they were thinking of releasing a version of the Letting Go with only McCarthy's vocal tracks on it.

Mr. Oldham seems to have a knack for finding excellent female singers to accompany him.

John Curtin · « **Reply #28 on:** 30 Jul 2007, 07:24 »

Quote from: Inlander on 29 Jul 2007, 19:36

Speaking of which, did anyone else here see Old Joy? I really liked it.

I saw it a couple of weeks ago. It frustrated me because I couldn't stand either of the characters: Will Oldham's character was a bit of a dick and his friend was just insufferable. He was too uncomfortable with who he was and too eager for Will Oldham to think he was still cool.

On a similar note, has anyone seen The Guatemalan Handshake? I saw it about a week ago and it is now one of my favourite movies ever. Unlike Old Joy all of the characters are so goddamn awesome. There were very few moments in that movie where I could prevent myself from having a big stupid grin on my face.

ScrambledGregs · « **Reply #29 on:** 30 Jul 2007, 07:34 »

Superwolf is one of those albums that I really, really enjoy while I'm listening to it, but I'm hard pressed to remember much about it a day or so later. I remember the first song for the guitar solo, the one on side two for that spoken vocal sample from a movie, and the last song because I saw the video for it. But otherwise....??

Johnny C · « **Reply #30 on:** 30 Jul 2007, 10:33 »

When you told that Autoharp story to me, Tommy, the first item on his list was Pabst.

Also you directed us to that video in a manner that suggested Oldham was hidden somewhere rather than highly prominent.

Joseph · « **Reply #31 on:** 14 Dec 2007, 10:44 »

I've been listening to ~~pretty much~~ nothing but Will Oldham for the last couple days now. Obtained every album I didn't have, and a bunch of EPs (still missing a few, unfortunately). And I finally listened to Sings Greatest Palace Music. I remembered this thread, and though "No way could Tommy have been correct, he must have been exagerating." But, no. He was right. This album is overdone, too slick, too sleek. It has moments, but the songs gain absolutely nothing in their new incarnations. Dissapointment all around.

The rest of his discography is of course, wonderful. The new EP, Ask Forgiveness, is great, one of my favourite releases of the year. He's also just released a disk of demos from The Letting Go, with Dawn McCarthy. I've yet to listen to it, but I'm going to throw it on soon, and I'm rather excited.

By the way, Tommy, do you happen to recall any more of those stories?

Spinless · « **Reply #32 on:** 14 Dec 2007, 11:09 »

The 'autoharp' story in it's original context.

Quote

There was a period of total silence before the guy said, "I can't tell you how bad of an idea I think that is."

What's even funnier is that, when I told that anecdote to Darren Rappa, he said, "Yeah, I was over at Will's right before he flew out to join that tour. He was pacing back and forth, waiting for an autoharp to arrive by Federal Express. Then, after it had come and he was ready to leave for real, he darted back into the house and grabbed a 'How to Teach Yourself the Autoharp' book off of his coffee table and tossed it into his bag."

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #33 on:** 14 Dec 2007, 12:07 »

Now I'm really curious to hear Sings Greatest Palace Music. I'd never bothered because, well, I've already heard the songs, and in general I don't much get into his post-I See a Darkness material. But if it's really that "bad", I'm curious.

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #34 on:** 14 Dec 2007, 14:56 »

I don't dislike the Bonnie "Prince" Billy albums, I just wish he hadn't completely stopped writing songs like "Ohio River Boat Song" and "New Partner".

It's the same reason I don't get into much that Smog did after, say, The Doctor Came at Dawn or Red Apple Falls. I forget which one I like better.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Will Oldham (Read 10462 times)

ScrambledGregs

ScrambledGregs

ScrambledGregs

Shadows Collide

Spinless

Shadows Collide

John Curtin

ScrambledGregs

Spinless