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Author Archives: Alan Bumstead Vinyl Reviews
The Marquis de Tren and Bonny Billy, Solemns EP, 2013
This would be the second Marquis/Bonny collaboration between Will Oldham and Mick Turner (of the Dirty Three), the first being the Get On Jolly EP released in 2000. There’s a neat yellow flyer that comes with the record giving a … Continue reading
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Tagged 2013, Angel Olsen, bonnie prince billy, ep, Mick Turner, Music, review, Solemns, Vinyl
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Sixty Minute Man/Sixty-one 10”, 2013
Ah, I’d planned to work through Oldham’s discography in chronological order but I think a little timeliness in getting copy out would be good, especially for these hard-to-obtain items that the Bonnie-fan exploitation machine keeps churning out every few months. … Continue reading
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Tagged 10", 2013, bonnie prince billy, Music, review, Sixty Minute Man, Sixty-one, Vinyl
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Cheyenne Mize and Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Among The Gold, 2009
This is an interesting project. These songs are old, like very old, dating back as far as 1873. The most ‘recent’ one is from 1915. There’s a neat narrative arc running through these songs with the first five mentioning “dreaming” … Continue reading
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Tagged 10", 2009, Among The Gold, bonnie prince billy, Cheyenne Mize, Music, review, Vinyl
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Bonny Billy & The Picket Line, Funtown Comedown, 2009
This is the third official Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy live album to be released on vinyl, fourth if you include the CD-only Wilding In The West from 2008. I found Summer In The Southeast virtually unlistenable, Is It The Sea? was … Continue reading
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Tagged 2009, bonnie prince billy, Funtown Comedown, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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Soulsavers, Sunrise/You Will Miss Me When I Burn 7”, 2009
Strictly speaking this is not a Will Oldham release—it’s produced by a British outfit known as Soulsavers, an “electronic-rock-gospel duo” according to Discogs. Oldham guest-sings on the A-side and Mark Lanegan on the B-side, “You Will Miss Me When I … Continue reading
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Tagged 2009, 7", bonnie prince billy, Mark Lanegan, Music, review, Soulsavers, Sunrise, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Stay 7″, 2009
Oldham had already collaborated with Susanna Wallumrod earlier in 2009 on their 7” single “Forever And Ever,” doing two cover songs. On this cast-off, Oldham covers two Susanna songs from her album Sonata Mix Dwarf Cosmos. We’ve got several musicians … Continue reading
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Tagged 2009, 7", bonnie prince billy, Music, review, Stay, Susanna, Vinyl, will oldham
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Young Widows / Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Poor Shelter split 7″, 2009
This was released by Temporary Residence in 2009 as the first in a series of four ‘split’ seven inch singles all featuring Young Widows on the A-side. Who they? A noise trio from Louisville, home also to the subject of … Continue reading
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Tagged 2009, 7", bonnie prince billy, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham, Young Widows
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Susanna and Bonny Billy Sing, Forever And Ever 7″, 2009
Susanna is none other than Susanna Wallumrod, a Norwegian singer born in 1979. I’d never heard of her until I came across this record, and I haven’t found any information on how it came about. There’s no label, and it … Continue reading
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Tagged 2009, 7", bonnie prince billy, Music, review, Susanna, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Chijimi 10”, 2009
It’s in Will Oldham On Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy that Oldham says this Chijimi record is one of his favourites because of the simplicity of the recording process. Just himself, Emmett Kelly and Cheyenne Mize in a room in his house. … Continue reading
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Tagged 2009, bonnie prince billy, Cheyenne Mize, Chijimi, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy with Harem Scarem and Alex Neilson, Is It The Sea? 2008
This is a double live album from a concert in Edinburgh recorded by the BBC and released on heavy duty vinyl. The sound quality is of a very high standard, the drums for example, can be heard in the finest … Continue reading
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Tagged 2008, bonnie prince billy, Harem Scarem, Is It The Sea?, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Lie Down In The Light, 2008
At first Lie Down In The Light seemed less thematically linked across the course of its eleven songs than most Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy albums. I had thought it more focused on individual songs rather than crafting a specific feel or … Continue reading
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Tagged 2008, bonnie prince billy, Lie Down In The Light, Music, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Ask Forgiveness, 2007
I’d had this on my ipod for a couple of years before I got round to playing my vinyl copy, and it was really only during a hiking trip through Switzerland in 2011 that I got fully absorbed in Ask … Continue reading
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Tagged Ask Forgiveness, bonnie prince billy, LP, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Notes For Future Lovers 7″, 2008
This is a rather obscure release limited to 500 copies and released on translucent blue vinyl. The lyrics are taken from poems by John Harmon, a jazz musician from Wisconsin, who plays keyboards. He seems to have been involved in … Continue reading
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Strange Form Of Life 12″, 2007
This is the fourth single to be released from The Letting Go album. Okay, I’ve already written about this song twice—once in my album review and once for the live version on the B-side to the “Bonny 2007” tour release … Continue reading
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Tagged 12", 2007, bonnie prince billy, Dawn McCarthy, Music, review, Strange Form of Life, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Bonny 2007 – John the Baptist 7″, 2007
This 7” contains two tracks recorded live in October 2007 at a concert in California. The A-side is a melding of two separate “John The Baptist” songs, one written by E.C. Ball (1913-1978) an American singer-songwriter, who played country gospel … Continue reading
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Tagged 2007, 7", bonnie prince billy, Bonny, John the Baptist, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, The Letting Go, 2006
I have a sorry history with this album. I bought it in the year of release and despite being aware of all the great reviews, I never seemed to understand what people were raving about. I wasn’t really listening, and … Continue reading
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Tagged 2006, bonnie prince billy, Dawn McCarthy, LP, Music, review, The Letting Go, Vinyl, will oldham
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Tortoise and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, The Brave And The Bold, 2006
So the first album post-Superwolf that I buy, after deciding Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy was the best thing since blue cheese, was this hard-to-love album of covers performed with Chicago ‘post-rock’ outfit Tortoise, a band whose albums I own none of. … Continue reading
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Tagged 2006, bonnie prince billy, LP, Music, review, The Brave and the Bold, Tortoise, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Lay & Love 12”, 2007
Here we have the third single in support of The Letting Go. Seems kind of odd that Oldham rarely releases promo singles and then suddenly four for one album. But they come with a plethora of B-sides so it kinda … Continue reading
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Tagged 12", 2007, bob dylan, bonnie prince billy, Going To Acapulco, Lay And Love, Music, review, Senor, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Cold & Wet 12″, 2006
This is the second single from The Letting Go album. Here we’ve got one album track plus two live songs with what seems to be the same band Oldham toured with for the Summer In The Southeast LP. The lead … Continue reading
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Tagged 12", 2006, bonnie prince billy, Buried Treasure, Cold and Wet, ep, Music, review, The Way, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bob Dylan, Tempest, 2012
Tempest is Dylan’s 35thth studio album as they say, and what a beauty. The thrill is in hearing such a cross-sectional hodgepodgian mishmash of eclectic ways to say ‘Dylanesque pastiche.’ Like the surface of the earth, he’s all over the place—congo … Continue reading
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Summer In The Southeast, 2005
For me, this is the least likable of Oldham’s three live albums of the noughties. In fact, it’s the least likable Oldham album full stop. The mix isn’t great, although it’s a good opportunity to hear the full electric Bonnie … Continue reading
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Tagged 2005, bonnie prince billy, Music, review, Summer In The Southeast, Vinyl, will oldham
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Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Superwolf, 2005
I walked into Kichijoji’s Disc Union in 2005, the week Superwolf was released, and without knowing anything about it, but not quite being the Bonnie fan I was about to become, bought it on a whim. I went home and … Continue reading
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Tagged 2005, bonnie prince billy, Matt Sweeney, Music, review, Superwolf, Vinyl, will oldham
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May Your Song Always Be Sung: The Songs of Bob Dylan Vol. 3, Various Artists, 2003
I’ve just made my biggest jump forward on this Dylan covers-on-vinyl project. Ten whole years on from 1993’s 30th Anniversary Concert, to 2003, and what a huge difference in sound quality. Okay, so it’s a German produced recording, practically audiophile … Continue reading
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Tagged 2003, bob dylan, Dylan Cover Albums, May Your Song Always Be Sung Vol.3, Music, review, various artists, Vinyl
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Songs For The Young At Heart, Puff The Magic Dragon 7″, 2005
In 2005 Stuart Staples and David Boulter decided to get together and produce an album of updated versions of children’s songs. Boulter had just had a son and wanted to play him classic kids’ music which he felt was on … Continue reading
Bonny/Sweeney, I Gave You b/w Four Screams 7″, 2005
This is the only single released to promote the brilliant Superwolf album. Three facts which suggest that it wasn’t much of a promotional move, however: (1) “I Gave You” is a great song but it’s not the album’s best; (2) … Continue reading
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Tagged 2005, 7", bonnie prince billy, Four Screams, I Gave You, Matt Sweeney, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Sings Greatest Palace Music, 2004
According to Oldham, after working with Marty Slayton on Master And Everyone and realizing how it easy it was to work with professional studio musicians, he decided he’d head down to Nashville and make this album, which doesn’t sound like … Continue reading
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Tagged 2004, bonnie prince billy, Music, review, Sings Greatest Palace Music, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, No More Workhorse Blues b/w The Color Of My Dreams 7″, 2004
Here we have the second single in support of Sings Greatest Palace Music. I could add a note here about how much I’ve been enjoying these new versions since I got to know all of the songs through the Palace … Continue reading
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Tagged 2004, 7", bonnie prince billy, Music, No More Workhorse Blues, review, Tweaker, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Agnes, Queen Of Sorrow b/w Blokbuster 7″, 2004
This was the first single in support of Sings Greatest Palace Music, the album Oldham recorded using Nashville session musicians to revive his old Palace material. I remember there was a lot of hand wringing in the music press over … Continue reading
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Tagged 2004, 7", Agnes, Blokbuster, bonnie prince billy, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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Will Oldham, Seafarers Music, 2004
Seafarers was a documentary made by Jason Massot which “followed four different merchant-marine guys from four different countries who were all in the port of Rotterdam … one of the biggest commercial seaports in the world” (Oldham). These men, a … Continue reading
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Tagged 2004, Music, review, Seafarers Music, soundtrack, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Master And Everyone, 2003
This was the first Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy album I purchased, after enjoying a copy of Ease Down The Road that a friend made for me in 2002. I must have bought it in Japan because my CD copy came with … Continue reading
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Tagged 2003, bonnie prince billy, Master And Everyone, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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The Continental OP, Slitch Music 12″, 2002
This is another soundtrack, recorded by Will Oldham and David Pajo—they’d worked together many times before during the Palace years. Pajo’s claim to fame is Slint and Papa M, but he’s had bit parts in too many other bands to … Continue reading
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Tagged 2002, David Pajo, Music, review, Slitch Music, soundtrack, The Continental OP, Vinyl, will oldham
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Amalgamated Sons Of Rest, Amalgamated Sons Of Rest 12″ EP, 2002
The Amalgamated Sons of Rest is a one-off project consisting of Jason Molina (from Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co.), Will Oldham, and Alasdair Roberts (of Appendix Out). The contents herein were recorded in September of 2001. Oldham sings lead … Continue reading
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Tagged 2002, Alasdair Roberts, Amalgamated Sons Of Rest, Jason Molina, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonny Billy / Rainywood, Brother Warrior b/w Cornflower Blue, split 7”, 2002
These two songs are both Kate Wolf covers. Who’s Kate Wolf? You might well ask unless you’re well versed in American country/folk/singer-songwriters of the 70s and 80s, which I’m obviously not, because I’d never heard of her until five minutes … Continue reading
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Tagged Music, review, will oldham, bonnie prince billy, 7", Bonny Billy, Rainywood, Kate Wolf, Brother Warrior
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Will Oldham and Erik Wesselo, Forest Time, Book & 10″, 2002
This is a single song 10” released in the Netherlands; tis an art collaboration with Eric Wesselo, a photographer who provides the 12 photos that appear in the booklet (samples below). Apparently 5000 copies were produced worldwide so it’s not … Continue reading
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Tagged 10", bonnie prince billy, Erik Wesselo, Forest Time, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Ease Down The Road, 2001
Ease Down The Road, while perfectly enjoyable, has always been my least favourite Will Oldham album, while also being my first. A friend made me a copy on MD back in 2002. Listening to it closely in preparation for this … Continue reading
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Tagged 2001, bonnie prince billy, Ease Down The Road, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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The Marquis de Tren and Bonny Billy, Get On Jolly EP, 2000
I’ve just read two reviews of this EP on the internet – the only two I could find after a very quick search – and neither reviewer seemed to realize that the lyrics to Get On Jolly are taken from a … Continue reading
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Tagged 12" EP, 2000, bonnie prince billy, Get On Jolly, Marquis de Tren, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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Rian Murphy & Will Oldham, All Most Heaven EP, 2000
The title itself is language play – shoving ‘all’ in front of ‘most’ is generally considered bad grammar – but that’s nothing once you hear the lyrics. Oldham seems to invent his own language for this collection of songs, which … Continue reading
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Tagged 12", 2000, All Most Heaven, Music, review, Rian Murphy, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie “Blue” Billy, Little Boy Blue I & II b/w Blue Boy 7″, 2000
These three songs are all covers written some time in the past seventy years by American songwriters, two of whom were born in 1920 Tennessee. I guess Oldham chose them because the song titles are all nearly the same. In … Continue reading
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Tagged 2000, 7", Bonnie "Blue" Billy, bonnie prince billy, Little Boy Blue, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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Will Oldham, Guarapero: Lost Blues 2, 2000
‘Guarapero’ is a colloquial term for “a person who drinks a lot or knows how to drink,” but a ‘guarapero’ can also mean one who makes ‘guarapo’ – an iced drink popular in South America. Guarapero picks up not only … Continue reading
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Tagged 2000, bonnie prince billy, Guarapero: Lost Blues 2, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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Will Oldham, Ode Music, 2000
Ode Music is the soundtrack to a film called Ode by Kelly Reichardt released in 1999. It’s about two southern kids who meet at a bridge in order to consummate their forbidden love. At some point, the boy jumps off … Continue reading
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Tagged 2000, bonnie prince billy, Music, Ode Music, review, soundtrack, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Let’s Start A Family (Blacks) b/w A Whorehouse Is Any House 7″, 1999
This single was released as part of a Subpop promotion called the Subpop Singles Club. It’s great that the Prince was still releasing singles that weren’t related to promoting albums. That wouldn’t eventuate in force until Greatest Palace, Superwolf and … Continue reading
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Tagged 1999, 7", A Whorehouse Is Any House, bonnie prince billy, Let's Start A Family, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, I See A Darkness, 1999
When any artist engages with death as his or her subject matter in an instinctual and sensitive manner (I’m not talking death metal or goth rock here), it generally gets lauded as an artistic triumph. This is perhaps one of … Continue reading
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Tagged 1999, bonnie prince billy, I See A Darkness, Music, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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Will Oldham / Rising Shotgun, In My Mind b/w Spotlight split 7”, 1997
Both songs on this 7” were written by David Allan Coe, one of the pioneers of the outlaw country genre. Coe spent twenty years in and out of ‘corrective institutions’ before going to Nashville and making a name for himself, … Continue reading
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Tagged 1997, 7", David Allen Coe, In My Mind, Music, review, Rising Shotgun, Spotlight, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, One With The Birds b/w Southside Of The World 7″, 1998
Both tracks here embrace a much classier recording dynamic than the Palace material, and this is where we’re really starting to see the birth of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, an artist who says he finally realized that making music did not … Continue reading
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Tagged 1998, 7", bonnie prince billy, Music, One With The Birds, review, Southside of the sun, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Performs Songs Of Kevin Loyne 7”, 1998
The first thing to note here is that “Loyne” is a typo. It’s meant to be “Coyne.” The record was produced and released in Portugal with three different covers. If we look closely at some of the artists Oldham has … Continue reading
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Tagged 1998, 7", bonnie prince billy, I Confess, kevin coyne, Music, review, The Sun Shines Down On Me, Vinyl, will oldham
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Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Black Dissimulation b/w No Such As What I Want 7”, 1998
Around 1996/7, Will Oldham got together with members of the Dirty Three and several other musicians to record an album of new material, which he ultimately ditched. He says that he found it unsatisfying owing to the disjointed and unfocused … Continue reading
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Tagged 1998, 7", black dissimulation, bonnie prince billy, Music, no such as what I want, review, Vinyl, will oldham
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Palace Contribution / Zeni Geva, Big Balls b/w Let There Be Rock split 7”, 1997
In collaboration with a German label called Gasoline Boost, the Chicago record label Skin Graft released a run of AC/DC 7” tribute records in the late 90s. This one is referred to as “Sides 5 and 6” because it was … Continue reading
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Tagged 1997, 7", Big Balls, bonnie prince billy, Music, palace, review, Vinyl, will oldham, Zeni Geva
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Will Oldham, Patience b/w Take However Long You Want 7″, 1997
This 7” signals yet another aesthetic change from the Palace sound, which itself may be bedrocked in the lo-fi country death ballad, but above which, variations on a theme and inconsistency have kept things interesting. Days In The Wake was … Continue reading
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Tagged 1997, 7", bonnie prince billy, Music, palace, Patience, review, Take However Long You Want, Vinyl, will oldham
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