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Will Oldham / Bonnie Prince Billy / Palace Brothers
There Is No One What Will Take Care Of You 9
( 1993 )
Hands Are The Devil's Playthin' / Long Before / I Tried To Stay Healthy For You / The Cellar Song / I Was Drunk At The Pulpit / There Is No One What Will Take Care / O Lord Are You In Need / Meridia / King Me / I Had A Good Mother And Father / Riding / O Paul
Will Oldham was an actor, a child prodigy, if you will. He is a singer/songwriter from Kentucky. That's about all I know about him. Oh, and he helped kick-start the alt-country scene with this particular record. Well, almost. Nearly. Palace Brothers involved Will Oldham primarily, alongside a family member(s) and sundry others. Actually, reliable information is hard to come by. I've searched the net, and practically nobody has an easy biography, nobody has much more than sketchy information. Bearing in mind the quite frankly scary images of Will Oldham that have graced his recent Bonnie 'Prince' Billy releases, I really do wonder who the hell he actually is. It hardly matters, in the end. This is how it should be. Let the music speak for itself. For this debut Palace Brothers release, the lo-fi nature of the whole enterprise is primarily noticeable. Secondly, the intimate sound. The songs tell stories, the lyrics are great story-telling vehicles. 'There Is No One What Will Take Care Of You' is country in that greats such as Townes Van Zandt was country. In truth, the music goes far beyond that. Proper singer/songwriter, folk music. A feel and intelligence that also appeals to alternative and indie music fans. Etc, etc. As far as Mr Oldhams musical talents are concerned, you'd have to say they were minimal to an extent. His vocal melodies are somewhat one dimensional. His words are utterly fantastic. Yet, he works with what he's been given. Everything here just sounds so genuine, so real, that even if it isn't - you wonder that every other artist, from any genre, hasn't just been faking it all along and that Will Oldham is the ONLY genuine artist out there. That's what he makes you believe. Oh, the songs are dark. Dark in feel, dark in tone. There is lightness that breaks through here and there. When it does, it just fills you. It kisses you.
The first song? What does it do? Let's tell you. It's just over two minutes long, it starts so loose that you wonder they hadn't just spontaneously burst into the song, but the words reveal very clearly they hadn't. Or perhaps, not? It's confusing, because the end result is so perfect. Oh, I know. It wasn't planned, it's just that Will Oldham is a real poet. The musical backing, so loose and natural, so bare yet so delicious in what it does. Perfect. The song only last two minutes, but it's a two minutes you'll want to repeat constantly, for a good half hour, at least. Then, 'Long Before', so forlorn! The wonderfully lazy sounding and brilliantly titled 'I Tried To Stay Healthy For You', and this is the thing. There are guys like Townes Van Zandt, now hugely admired and respected within certain country communities. Much covered, classic song-writing. Will Oldham just tosses off such material! I adore Townes Van Zandt, by the way. Will Oldham is right up there, Johnny Cash was a huge fan. That says something. 'Riding' and 'O Paul', so simple, constructured around seemingly nothing at all, yet built into something you want to marry and hold close. Ultimately, this album being quite as lo-fi as it is, helps. It really does. The genuine feel this album gives out seems to be so genuine, because it seems no effort has been made. Yet, the lyrics reveal craft and effort. The music matches the mood of the vocals and the words. The music is perfect for the vocals and the words. It's hard to fault and this album is like practically no other, apart from half a dozen or so other Will Oldham / Palace / Bonnie Prince Billy albums. Well, of course.
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Days In The Wake 8½ ( 1994 )
You Will Miss Me When I Burn / Pushkin / Come A Little Dog / Meaulnes / No More Workhorse Blues / All Is Grace / Whither Thou Goest / Thou Without Partner / I Am A Cinematographer
The alternative music press lauded Palace Brothers for their lo-fi production. So perhaps rather than fit into any kind of new scene that might be manipulated into happening, the second Palace Brothers album features no production at all. Yes, Will Oldham recorded this album in his bedroom or something, as far as I can tell. Using a tape recorder. This isn't an album that was produced at all, by the way we understand such things as record production. Not only that, but Will Oldham is indeed the only Palace Brother present on this record. The boundaries get blurred between his various names, various names he's used throughout the years. It's all basically just him. 'Days In The Wake' is another special record from Will. Twenty seven minutes long, the same kind of length Nick Drake's 'Pink Moon' album was. Well, don't you get tired of 50/60 minute long albums, these days? How many such albums can hold your attention throughout? So, 'Days In The Wake' has songs lasting at a maximum of just over four minutes and going down to songs lasting a mere minute and a half. This way, it ensures the listener is never bored, never loses the thread of the record. Even a song that's basically filler, well. It doesn't matter because the song is only gonna last a couple of minutes anyway before the next song arrives. Albums lasting 30 or 40 minutes. That's what so many of the great sixties albums were built upon. There's no need for albums lasting longer than that. The legendary Pixies never made an album that lasted longer than 40 minutes. These days, all bands make albums fifty or sixty minutes long. It isn't needed.
The opening 'You Will Miss Me When I Burn' is very affecting, very lonesome sounding. 'Pushkin' is a perfect song to follow with 'Come A Little Dog' featuring Will singing camp-fire style across a very basic strummed backing. Within a more produced album, this wouldn't work. Within the context of 'Days In The Wake', it works perfectly. This isn't an album that has any diversity at all, really. All the songs have the same basic strummed guitar and same lonesome lost in the supermarket vocals of Will Oldham. The songs pass by and all seem to be affecting without actually apparently meaning the world, or anything like that. This isn't an album that seems to be important, at all. It's just a collection of very simple songs simply performed. So, why is it so affecting and addictive? It's a difficult question to answer. Let's take the highlight of 'I Am A Cinematographer'. Will sings out of tune, the guitar couldn't be any more basic, it's very simple folk strumming. So, why is it any good, how is it affecting? It's all down to his lyrics which are very good indeed, and his voice. Will Oldham conjures up an atmosphere. Which leads me back to this being a short album. If this album was forty minutes long, it wouldn't work. The listener wouldn't be held in such rapt attention for that length of time. As it is, 'Days In The Wake' holds me captive every time I play it.
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Hope 6½ ( 1995 )
Agnes, Queen Of Sorrow / Untitled / Winter Lady / Christmastime In The Mountains / All Gone, All Gone / Werners Last Blues To Blockbuster
This mini-lp set isn't quite as bare as 'Days In The Wake', Will has enlisted some support from musicians to flesh the sound out, a little. The actual source and style of the songs remains the same, however. Songs that seem incredibly heartfelt and simple, songs coming to the listener from some kind of ancient spring. Let's take opening 'Agnes, Queen Of Sorrow'. A delicate backing track, the embellishments just subtle enough to make an impact. The vocal repeating the same single line or two, over and over. "It's time for us to go our way / I say wait another day". Very simple, strangely affecting. I can't quite explain how Will Oldham does what he does. There's just this.... something about it, about the seeming sincerity of the lyrics and the way the picture is painted. Beautiful piano parts here especially, by the way. This vocal quality i've mentioned? The second song seems far less affecting, although at only two and a half minutes long, it certainly doesn't pose any kind of serious problem. It's a song that tries to be a little more 'rocking', even though that's a completely inappropriate word to use, and actually, it isn't really rocking at all. His version of Leonard Cohen's 'Winter Lady' fares better, a re-working that sees the composition become the property of Will Oldham. That makes it a good cover, for my money.
'Christmastime In The Mountains' is the second cover of the set, more a glorified EP than an album to be honest with you. We've got the ponderous 'All Gone, All Gone' and the interestingly titled 'Werners Last Blues To Blockbuster' to close. So, despite a few tracks of obvious quality and merit, 'Hope' as a whole fails to be as essential a listen as either of the first two albums. I enjoy listening to it whilst it lasts, but don't find myself searching my CD shelves for 'Hope' particularly regularly.
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this page last updated 18/05/07
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