šŸŽµ How Good Are They Really šŸŽµ Will Oldham

Agree that itā€™s very difficult to rate. A handful of truly incredible songs sprinkled amongst a sprawling body of work which is a mixture of turgid dross and so unrelentingly bleak it becomes unintentionally hilarious. Unless it is intentional and Iā€™m just missing the joke.

Canā€™t miss an opportunity to post this absurd video of our man knocking around the West End of Glasgowā€¦

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I could repeat most of what has already been said ā€¦ got Thereā€™s No-One What Will Take Of You in the unlikely place of Cash Converters in Carlisle in the mid ā€˜90ā€™s and for at least a decade he was probably my favourite artist and there was rarely a day I wouldnā€™t listen to him. But the last essential album he did for me was The Letting Go in 2006.

Iā€™ve voted Darkness as my favourite album - because sometimes the obvious answer is the correct one - but some of the EPs have his best material. The Blue Lotus Feet EP has
already been mentioned. And I could make a case for More Revery being his best release of anything heā€™s done, definitively one of my all time favourites, 6 very wonderful covers:

(Bonny Billy ā€“ More Revery (2001, CD) - Discogs)

Post The Letting Go is patchy, at best.

But a couple of highlights ā€¦ His album of covers of Merle Haggard:

(Bonnie Prince Billy - "Best Troubador" | Releases | Discogs)

His collaboration with Trembling Bells:

(Trembling Bells Featuring Bonnie Prince Billy - The Bonnie Bells Of Oxford | Releases | Discogs)

And not him, but covers of him, I really enjoyed the Three Queens In Mourning album from a couple of years ago (Alasdair Roberts, Alex Neilson +):

(Three Queens In Mourning | Discography | Discogs)

Maybe telling that the things Iā€™ve enjoyed him do most on the last 15 years are covers and collaborations. But for the good times, which donā€™t get much better, heā€™s a massive 5.

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Oh yeah, and his live experience is much like his discography. At his best heā€™s just wonderful ( I used to collect bootlegs by him, and have some great ones somewhere in a box), but when he was bad it verged on the Cat Power levels of irritation.

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Agreed, itā€™s a masterpiece. Not forgetting this version with Oldham on backing vocals.

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On paper, should be totally up my street. Have tried with him a fair few times though and have totally bounced off him each one. Really feels like thereā€™s something there, which is probably why I keep coming back, but heā€™s never clicked. Really looking forward to this thread and some primers from people who know him well, as I reckon this could be the time

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I See A Darkness is probably in my top 10 of all time, but basically nothing else of his has really landed for me. Hmmm.

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Good lord Iā€™ve missed you.

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Agreed Iā€™ve seen him several times, beginning at the Nottingham Narrowboat in 1993 on his first UK tour. I think the most enjoyable gig was in Holmfirth of all places on his tour with Trembling Bells - he really benefitted with having a band behind him.

I was at that Holmfirth show! (Agree it was very good).

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Considering how much I like Bill Callahan and David Berman, itā€™s a surprise I donā€™t like him more. Do think thereā€™s just too many moody male acoustic/alt-folk style American singer songwriters and I havenā€™t got time for them all.

Not heard much so abstaining

WHen he is good he is really good but there is just so much. I do adore him though.

Picked up I See A Darkness on record in my first year (late '99 maybe) purely for the artwork and title as i was a really cheery 18 year old. Fell in love obviously. Just couldnā€™t believe people were making music which sounded so old :slight_smile:

Havenā€™t the time for a full post but that album still sounds incredible, and has stayed with me forever. It still feels as affecting as it did 23 years ago. Beautiful.

When i went backwards i really loved Arise Therefore, and Days in The Wake. Afterwards I thought Master and Everyone was great, and Lie down in the light, singers grave, and Best Troubadour were all very good albums.

Loved the superwolf ones also, and the Tortoise one has some ups and downs but the ups are amazing! Thunder Road, Daniel and Love is Love in particular.

The highs are a big old 5 but not sure i can give that for a career which has so much.

Also, sorry, but 1 point off considering he was in Trapped In The Closet.

Bought I see a Darkness when I was 17. Still really like it. Ease down the Road is good too

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When he was good he was really good - 5.
But then again, when heā€™s bad heā€™s terribly, terribly dull - 1.

So, looks like a 3 ā€¦ canā€™t believe that I would give a 3 to someone who recorded I See a Darkness and what went before, and some of what came soon after. But all that seems so long ago now. I agree with so much of what has been written above. Seems like a DIS consensus. But we will all score that same view differently. So probably something like 3.76 at the end of the scoring day, right? Guess we will soon see ā€¦

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Heā€™s good in Jackass 3

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Pretty sure Iā€™ve listened to him before and it sent me to sleep. Another white guy with a guitar who Iā€™m sure is very good at what he does, but is unbearably dull. 1.

Have to agree with what has been said already

The highs are celestial, but theyā€™re so few and far between

The vast majority of his stuff is very boring and often a bit smug

I think that 15-20 years ago me would be appalled by this, but at this point I think heā€™s no more than a very generous 3

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5 from me but got to ignore the fact he has a lot more bad stuff than good. The good stuff though is amazing and probably the artist that got me into everything else i went on to love.

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Palace and late 90s/early 00s Bonnie albums are great. sort of lose interest a bit when it gets into the later stuff, although the recent Superwolves collab sequel was pretty decent.

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