Bonnie Prince Billy – Beware
People do not seem to love this album very much, and I am slightly surprised. Mind you, I am no more than a casual Bonnie Prince Billy fan, so I guess I just take his albums lightly, pop ‘em on the stereo and see what I enjoy. In this case, I’d say, the answer is ‘most of it’.
Maybe it’s because I have no great emotional attachment to most of his previous stuff that I can allow the cod-Country-Gospel to wash over me without being too bothered, because there are some moments of fairly heavy-handed pastiche on this album. If, however, you accept the change of tone – it’s positively Playschool compared to the glacial stillness of Master & Everyone – then this is an enjoyable record.
I can see why it is disliked though. Various red flag instruments, including bongos and a saxophone, make appearances in quite a few places, and the arrangements are never restrained enough to allow the songs to breathe properly. I’d be very interested to hear this record played with a minimal band, to see how the songs stand up. As it is, it’s almost impossible to tease them out.
But, all that aside, if you want a lovely, melodic alt-country album to wash over you and enjoy then this will do the trick nicely. I would rather he not continue too much further down this particular path, but at the moment I am quite happy to go along and see where he gets to.
Bonnie Prince Billy – My Life’s Work
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Bonnie Prince Billy – I Won’t Ask Again
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Not to pimp my own shit, but if you want to hear his “small band sound” you can check out the live tracks I recorded from the Bonnie Prince Billy show a few weeks back, it was just will and 4 other musicians (and no bongos or saxophones in sight!): http://thabombshelter.blogspot.com/2009/03/pictures-videos-and-live-tracks-from.html
I thought that was an interesting concept, a song not having enough room to breathe, I hadn’t thought of that :-p
Feel free to pimp away, mate, no problem at all. Nice videos. Was he happy for you to do that, or did you just do it anyway? If he’s cool with it then I am both surprised and impressed – top negotiating skills!
I just did it anyway. I’ve never actually asked :-p. I have, however, been asked to NOT videotape, but over here it’s usually spelled out on the ticket whether cameras are allowed or not. For the songs, I just rip the audio from the video, the camera picks up sound pretty well, so I don’t bother with extra equipment.
Makes life quite easy. I tend to ask when I film shows, but only because my camera is so damn obvious these days, and I generally roll filming in with an interview. The problem, as you say, is that it can make for a lot more work if you’re not careful.
great recording bomb shelter. sounds like it was a fun show. what type of camera is it?
i have to say the album, like most of him, leaves me saying “meh”
or perhaps it’s the god-awful pictures he puts on the covers
is there a new law that musicians must be portrayed as ugly, old, and demented?
Thanks Andrew. The camera is just a Sony Cybershot Point and Shoot, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0011E4N5C/sr=8-3/qid=1239152845/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1239152845&sr=8-3 It’s actually my wife’s camera
But she’s gracious enough to let me steal it for shows!
This is my first time hearing Bonnie Prince Billy- I had seen reviews of ‘I See a Darkness’ everywhere when that came out though, and plus it’s on that blasted Robert Dimery’s “1,001″ albums list, so I think I’ll seek it out. “My Life’s Work” has a rather cozy feel about it.
BPB is another one of those guys i’d expect to love but he just leaves me cold…..
I don’t disagree, but he has done *some* stuff which I absolutely love. Not as much as I would have expected though.
I quite liked the distance of the Chijimi 10″, but a lot of his stuff recently has left me feeling, as our American cousins are wont, *meh*
I love Will Oldham. It really seems like he honestly does not give a shit what anyone thinks about him. His appearance. His voice. His path. Whatever he feels, he does. Good old Emersonian self-reliance. I don’t always “enjoy” his music, but I’m always riveted by it. These tunes are excellent. I bought tickets to see him perform on May 23, but only realized a few days ago that I won’t be in town for the show. Gutted, as you Caledonians say.
I am NOT a fucking Caledonian.
I’ve not just seen vegetables, I’ve eaten ‘em.
Nice to meet a ‘casual’ fan of him. I didn’t know they existed. I thought he was King of a Tom Waits-style adoration territory where: if you don’t like it, you obviously don’t get it and you’re a bit not-clever. My having some scattered tracks -two early albums- and a general preference for Smog probably means I am not even fit to type here. I’ll enjoy it while i can.
Anyways, the impression I got from my radar station… or, more likely, from one writer in a local paper who we rely on to pragmatically aggregate opinions from elsewhere (cant expect the poor mite to have his own taste can we?), was this is (another) can-do-no-wrong record by the prince. … so it’s interesting to read that you don’t have that impression
ps. I was recently given a pile of Uncut magazines from across a decade and -glancing through them (while counting just how many Dylan / Beatles coverstories they’ve done)- i find it funny how they stop the presses for this man when it comes to a review (put him on the cover then?); and how i often don’t seem to be hearing the same thing as the magazine’s writers. I stopped reading these things since they make me feel like disliking him on principle… (ludicrous since we accidentally met in a bar and he was a laugh)
(i actually thought to look up Song By Toad having heard there’s a new Bill Callahan record out … and to see what you had to say about it – haha)
I thought this album was OK at first. Then it began to annoy me. Recently it came up on the car stereo again and I haven”t been able to stop listening.
Give this one time. I believe it is a classic.
And, yes, I am a big Bonnie Prince Billy fan.
Disliking him on principle doesn’t seem like much of a principle to have. I can find lots of reasons to dislike Bonnie Prince Billy – the fanatical followers, the hoardes of twee “ïndie” imitators, the ‘new folk’nonsense unintentionally inspired by some of his songs – but I really can’t ignore his brilliant and incredibly unique music.