There used to be this show on MTV2 called 120 Minutes, which they would show very late at night and consisted of two hours of music videos of obscure songs that they'd never play during the day. It was quite a mixed bag, but there were some great songs and it felt like a shame that it was resigned to the graveyard shift. Still, I'd watch it from time to time, and on one such occasion I heard a song by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, who at that point I'd never heard of. I don't remember what the song was, but I enjoyed it, and stumbled across a 7" of his in my local HMV. I was later in Resident Records in Brighton and thought I'd pick up an album of his. They had a few, and by chance I bought I See a Darkness, which became one of my all-time favourite albums.
Since then I've had hit-and-miss luck with buying other Bonnie 'Prince' Billy/Palace Music/Will Oldham albums. Lie Down in the Light didn't do a huge amount for me and Sings Palace's Greatest Hits was just odd. This live album, however, is one of his solid gold releases. I found it in Spillers on the last Tuesday-record-from-Spillers Tuesday of the year and thought the track listing was pretty nice; the info on the sleeve mentioned the unlisted vinyl-only bonus tracks of the incredible I See a Darkness and Love in the Hot Afternoon, and I knew and liked Minor Place and New Partner. My confidence in his music had been knocked but this record reminded me quite how incredible his songs and voice are. Along with the four titles I mentioned, Wolf Among Wolves, Molly Bawn, and Master and Everyone are all fantastic (the last one in particular; I ended up buying that the album Master and Everyone purely because of that song). The other five musicians add so much to the performance too, especially the female backing vocals.
The bonus tracks are a particularly nice touch, not only because the version of I See a Darkness is even more haunting than the original, but because of the fact they're there; so often bonus tracks are a cd-only affair, so it's nice not to be punished for buying the record. On top of that, they're included in the strangest way - side 4 finishes up on Master and Everyone and the needle runs off around a groove in the middle of the side. You then have to pick up the arm and place it back down on a fresh groove a few millimeters further in to play the last two. The gatefold sleeve is pretty lovely too, with the lyrics to the songs inside.
I'd fully recommend this as both a great intro to Will's extensive back-catalogue and as a great record in it's own right. I'd forgotten about it a little recently, but rediscovered it a few days ago and have been playing it pretty much solidly since then.
Format: double 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 15
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Spillers
When: 16/12/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
