Post subject: Re: Will Oldham / Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 12:23 pm
Team Binaural
Joined: Wed May 24, 2006 5:23 pm Posts: 12793 Location: Tours, FR Gender: Male
Harmless wrote:
'The Wonder Show.'
I've bought it, listened to it once, and just..... wow. I'm completely bowled over. It's amazing.
The lyrics are as close to poetry as songs get. And the whole thing, even though the songs are in a jumbled order, follow a consistent narrative as if this was a concept album.
An absolute classic. And the songs are so moving, I think I would've bawled my eyes out if I'd been listening to this on my own.
That's good and all, but I have two questions for you:
1) How did you manage to listen to this just once? 2) Was your CD also very hard to get out of its case? I was afraid I might break it.
Regarding the order of the songs, I noticed that the lyrics are not written in the same order than the tracks on the CD.
_________________ There has never been a silence like this before
Post subject: Re: Will Oldham / Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 12:41 pm
The Snowboy
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 2:53 pm Posts: 11395
BadMusic wrote:
That's good and all, but I have two questions for you:
1) How did you manage to listen to this just once?
Well I bought it yesterday, and my once was just now, when there was a bit of quiet in the house. I knew the album needed quiet and I was right. It'll probably be the only album I listen to solidly until the next classic comes out.
BadMusic wrote:
2) Was your CD also very hard to get out of its case? I was afraid I might break it.
Not really, no. Hmmm...
BadMusic wrote:
Regarding the order of the songs, I noticed that the lyrics are not written in the same order than the tracks on the CD.
Yeah, that's true. It didn't occur to me to check whether the sleeve lyrics followed the story in order. I'll do that next time.
The story (without song titles as I haven't memorised them yet):
A guy (a Christian) is married (I assume) with kids, living a perfect life, writing love songs to them, and celebrating life etc. But the marriage starts to unravel, during which time he starts visiting brothels (troublesome houses). Or, the marriage breaks down BECAUSE of his visiting brothels. (The song 'troublesome houses' mentions that after the breakdown, he still carries on visiting the brothels.) The reason he visits them seems to be a spiritual crisis, about his faith, about the truth, and about the fear of growing old and dying. There's a song where he's praying to God about whether he can really trust his woman, and whether God will still be with him when he's alone.
Three songs written about the post-breakdown situation: one is to the wife, celebrating how beautiful and full of life their kids are, and how the legacy of their love will live on in the children. Heartbreaking. Another is to his kids ('Kids'). In this one, he is an old man, thinking of his death, and hoping that he will still be here in 20 years to sing songs about them, and to love them.
And then there's a song about Jesus coming towards a crowd, carrying his cross, surrounded by dogs and flies (I think). The song is about how he is going to die for our sins. Obviously the album is about that sin, and possible redemption.
Post subject: Re: Will Oldham / Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 12:47 pm
Team Binaural
Joined: Wed May 24, 2006 5:23 pm Posts: 12793 Location: Tours, FR Gender: Male
Interesting. I haven't put as much thought about it but clearly all these themes are here, even before I really paid attention to the lyrics I was able to pick them up.
I thought troublesome houses were bars, actually, but it works too.
_________________ There has never been a silence like this before
Post subject: Re: Will Oldham / Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 12:54 pm
The Snowboy
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 2:53 pm Posts: 11395
BadMusic wrote:
Interesting. I haven't put as much thought about it but clearly all these themes are here, even before I really paid attention to the lyrics I was able to pick them up.
I thought troublesome houses were bars, actually, but it works too.
Bars... yeah, probably. Or maybe even churches? Maybe this guy's found God in the Bible Belt or something, and his wife leaves him because she says he's becoming a crazy loon. The houses could stand for a lot of things.
Post subject: Re: Will Oldham / Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 2:11 am
Stone's Bitch
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 6:41 am Posts: 5867 Location: Providence, RI Gender: Male
Still thinking of picking this up, I've listened to it like 1.5 times but I really need to sit down and LISTEN to it, ya know?
I mentioned it in the RSD thread, but it's worth poking in here and saying that I bought "Superwolf" on vinyl on RSD and cannot freakin' wait to spin it.
_________________ "I wish that I believed in fate / I wish I didn't sleep so late"
"The real truth about it is: no one gets it right / The real truth about it is: we’re all supposed to try"
Still thinking of picking this up, I've listened to it like 1.5 times but I really need to sit down and LISTEN to it, ya know?
Oh man once you do it will own your soul, after the last couple I had no faith that he had something like this left in him. So good. My initial favorites would now probably rank near the bottom, that's when you know you've found a special album.
_________________ Tom Waits: Well... we could go to Taco Bell if that's more your style.
Iggy Pop: What are you saying, man? You saying I'm like a Taco Bell kind of guy?
Post subject: Re: Will Oldham / Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 3:26 am
Johnny Guitar
Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2006 2:29 am Posts: 234 Location: Richmond, Va
Past two days, on discovering the reduced prices of albums on amazon mp3, I've bought:
Joya The Letting Go Ease Down the Road Wonder Show
plus Soulsavers, with a cover of You Will Miss Me When I Burn.
Favorite songs so far: A King at Night, Then the Letting Go, and After I Made Love to You.
The most interesting part of this immersive BPB session: it made going to see Mastodon profoundly difficult, because my musical mood in no way reflected that music. It was solitary and very much a BPB mood.
_________________ defeat fascism with fuel efficiency
Post subject: Re: Will Oldham / Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 5:39 pm
On the bright side
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2006 8:42 pm Posts: 17495 Location: Surfside Beach, SC Gender: Male
andynomore wrote:
Past two days, on discovering the reduced prices of albums on amazon mp3, I've bought:
Joya The Letting Go Ease Down the Road Wonder Show
plus Soulsavers, with a cover of You Will Miss Me When I Burn.
Favorite songs so far: A King at Night, Then the Letting Go, and After I Made Love to You.
The most interesting part of this immersive BPB session: it made going to see Mastodon profoundly difficult, because my musical mood in no way reflected that music. It was solitary and very much a BPB mood.
I've been listening to these two almost nonstop lately. It's hard for me to describe the mood his music gets me to, but it's amazing.
_________________ I remember thinking, "that's really gay". -- Cameronia
Post subject: Re: Will Oldham / Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 4:52 pm
On the bright side
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2006 8:42 pm Posts: 17495 Location: Surfside Beach, SC Gender: Male
So has anyone seen him live? He's gonna be near me in December, but still a 3 hour drive. I'm wondering if it's worth it live. I love listening to him, just don't want to waste a drive.
_________________ I remember thinking, "that's really gay". -- Cameronia
Post subject: Re: Will Oldham / Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 5:11 pm
Unthought Known
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2005 6:24 am Posts: 6234
I've seen him. The venue I was at was outdoors and I got there a little late because of work, which placed us in a shitty location. All things considered, it wasn't the best performance, but it wasn't entirely the band's fault. The material's tempo didn't match the crowd's. It was too bad; in the right place I'm sure he's great. Do you know anything about teh venue?
Post subject: Re: Will Oldham / Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 6:52 pm
On the bright side
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2006 8:42 pm Posts: 17495 Location: Surfside Beach, SC Gender: Male
withoutrings wrote:
I've seen him. The venue I was at was outdoors and I got there a little late because of work, which placed us in a shitty location. All things considered, it wasn't the best performance, but it wasn't entirely the band's fault. The material's tempo didn't match the crowd's. It was too bad; in the right place I'm sure he's great. Do you know anything about the venue?
small, indoor club.
_________________ I remember thinking, "that's really gay". -- Cameronia
Post subject: Re: Will Oldham / Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 2:59 am
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 6:37 am Posts: 3819
Saw him in a tiny hookah bar in 2004--he was touring behind "Greatest Palace Music," and Joanna Newsom was opening. "Milk Eyed Mender" had just come out, and she was still a relative unknown. I think the Bonnie Prince is a vastly superior artist to Newsom, but she completely outclassed him in every possible way. She was charismatic, charming, and put her tunes across with conviction--a harp is really an amazing-sounding instrument in a room no bigger than most people's living rooms. Oldham on the other hand I suspect may have been drunk; he slurred everything beyond recognition, and kept making these contorted, googly faces that suggested he might possibly vomit on the folks in the front row at any moment. I'm glad I saw him, and will buy his records forever, but I haven't made any effort to see him since.
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