Bonnie Prince Billy - Ease Down the Road
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Bonnie Prince BillyEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2001-04-03
Music Label: Palace Records
Soundtracks:
- May It Always Be
- Careless Love
- A King at Night
- Just to See My Holly Home
- At the Break of Day
- After I Made Love to You
- Ease Down the Road
- The Lion Lair
- Mrs. William
- Sheep
- Grand Dark Feeling of Emptiness
- Rich Wife Full of Happiness
Free Music Notes for Ease Down the Road
Free Music Review: A million more miles...
Hit: 5 Stars
Oldham's songs have always sounded as if they have lived for generations, under rocks, in the mud, just gestating and mutating. In the past, the minimalist "production" (lack thereof, actually) was an essential element in the Oldham sound... the hiss of analog tape somehow adding to the strange but massive emotional gravity of the songs. I've folowed Oldham since "Days In the Wake" and managed to collect just about everything he's released. The first thing that stikes a long-time fan is that this album is a million miles from where he started. Sure, songwriting-wise, the oblique, minor-key paeans are still intact, but now, the production is densely layered-- female vox, strings, chimes--- It's not exactly Pet Sounds, but there is quite a bit going on sonically. The songs sound crisp, jumping out of the speakers, but some may miss the ragged immediacy of Oldham's old-style recordings. I'm conflicted, because I did regard the shoddy sound quality as an essential part of Oldham's vision. I think he has grown more confident as a songwriter (and also probably a little richer and able to afford better gear) and he feels he can give up the "gimmic" of hissy recordings. Fine, the songs stand up. It worked on "I See a Darkness" and it works here too. Will has also obviously taken singing lessons over the years, and his voice doesn't seem to crack like it used to as he strains for the high notes--- whatever he does, I've always thought he was one of the most original *singers* in music, really making his limited voice an asset rather than a limitation.
The album, while different, is amazing. The songs are among his best. Tilted, with lyrical twists and turns. Lovely, spare melodies. This may be an album that wins him wider recognition, as the sound quality is remarakable and it sounds more accesible. Fans will need to get used to it, but will find the gold buried beneath the layers of production... it's like Will's "Born In The USA"--- brilliant, brooding songs in a pop-disguise.
Ease Down the Road Poster
The key word for this release is 'ease'. Featuring a dozen musicians of varying ability and physical appeal. Of course the key player is Will Oldham. With songs such as 'At The Break Of Day' and 'After I Made Love To You', Oldham spits out standards for the next age. Standard jewel case. 2001 release.The second installment of Will Oldham songs recorded under his nom de plume of Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Ease Down the Road finds Oldham playing his quintessential role as the crack-voiced acoustic troubadour. He is backed by a drunken choir and a rickety orchestra featuring, among others, brother Ned Oldham, avant-garde director Harmony Korine, Papa M's David Pajo, and a gaggle of longtime musical comrades from Oldham's first group, Palace. In comparison to the first Bonnie "Prince" album--the spectral I See a Darkness--the mood is warm, playful, and concerned mainly with love, infidelity, and the joys of the flesh; "She's a fine looking lady, and she likes to go down on me," croaks Oldham on "A King at Night," "And I like to go down on her too..." Lewdness aside, though, there's much to recommend Oldham's latest incarnation as a serious artist, rather than some lo-fi freak, suitable only for a niche audience; the lazy, sleep-encrusted love balladry of "Break of Day" drags on the castoffs of a raggedly clothed Bob Dylan, while "After I Made Love to You" gently embraces the gospel tradition, albeit a gospel to the joys of infidelity, with Oldham whispering of "doing something filthy / in a rented room tonight". He's made better albums, but Ease Down the Road finds this lo-fi Lothario reclining into a comfortably gritty middle age. --Louis Pattison
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