There was a period of time when I bought lots of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy records, and a period where I slowed way down and tried to make much more considered purchases from his back-catalogue. William Oldham's music is not something I universally love; in fact, he veers into territory that I don't like almost as much as he makes incredible music.
On one hand, he released I See a Darkness, one of the best and most interesting folk records I've ever heard, not to mention the darkest. I also have a couple of great live albums of his, and I really enjoyed the album with The Cairo Gang. On the other hand, I can't listen to Sings Palace's Greatest Hits, and there are a good handful of albums that are completely unremarkable. This album, the third of his I bought (after I See a Darkness and There Is No One That Will Take Care of You), falls into the latter category.
I bought this album about a week after it came out as my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers that week. The first disappointment (albeit a small one) was that it wasn't blue vinyl, which would have been such an obvious choice. The much bigger disappointment was that none of the edginess of the two albums I knew was present - despite the two being very different, both had a lot going on that made them interesting; Lie Down in the Light was kinda bland, with little excitement. It did nothing for me then, and every attempt to get into since has been equally underwhelming.
There was one incident that meant the album made some impression on me, but it literally the only one - in May 2012 we saw Bonnie 'Prince' Billy play a special show with Trembling Bells in the Union Chapel in London, although it was much more "Trembling Bells featuring Will Oldham" than the other way around. I suspect the vast majority in attendance that night also wished it was the other way around (they supported him when I saw him play an incredible set in Shepherd's Bush in 2010). I was there with a handful of friends, three of whom decided halfway through that it was so bad that they'd rather be in the pub. Somehow, the message didn't make it the whole way across the pew so Rich and I didn't know they were actually leaving, but probably would have watched the rest of the show anyway.
After they left, the band played the best song of the evening by far, a song I later realised was So Everyone from this album. I recognised the song; despite not having played this album a huge amount, the catchy chorus had lodged itself in my mind and I made an effort to figure out which album it was from when I got home. I was surprised that it was from Lie Down in the Light, partly because I didn't think I'd played it enough to remember any of it, but partly because I didn't think there was anything on the album remotely memorable. I stand corrected - it has one memorable song. If I was making a compilation of my favourite Will Oldham songs, it'd make the cut.
Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £12 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 27/05/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: None
