Category Archives: Vinyl: Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy

You’ve clicked a link into my Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy project. On top of the usual slew of album reviews, for this blog I’ll be reviewing 7″ singles, 12″ singles, EPs, and other one-off Oldham projects-on-vinyl. Go here to see the full list at a glance.

On page 80 of the Licht/Oldham book Will Oldham On Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Oldham offers us these taunting words: “It’s ridiculous. Music writing can be just so ridiculous. And they publish it, trying to steer people towards or away from a record with lies. Positive or negative.”

As one who participates in music writing, I think Oldham is mistaking lies for subjectivity. “Lies” suggests willful deception, which misses the point. He illustrates his complaint by recalling a writer who once described his first album as being ‘fiddle-drenched’ despite there being no fiddles on that album. I beg to differ – if a songwriter can write songs by fictionalizing personal experiences, why should music writing be any different? Music writing aims to send you directly to the source regardless of whether you’ve read a positive or negative review. Don’t trust my judgment. Use your own ears.

My music writing is entirely a thought-dump, my music-drenched psyche splattered across your computer monitor. I could happily write something like “There Is No One What Will Take Care Of You is drowning in fiddles” and give not a damn whether there’s any fiddles on the album. If I heard fiddles, I heard fiddles. Don’t deny me that right. Heed this word – beware: these reviews are full of ridiculous opinions.