On one hand, I've probably not given this record the time it deserves, but on the other, I think if I enjoyed it more I would give it more time. And thinking about it, I have played it quite a lot in various attempts to get into it, but I still consider it one of those records I haven't played enough.
It didn't come with mp3s, so the odds were stacked against it from the off. The other factor that didn't help is that it's not the first album I have of Will Oldham re-recording his own songs, and that album was a huge disappointment (so, much like so many others, this story goes back long before this record even came out). I bought Bonnie "Prince" Billy's Sings Palace's Greatest Hits quite soon after getting into his music - he'd released so many albums and they were all so readily available I figured a compilation of sorts would be a great way to sample a bunch of his songs. But on that album he re-recorded some of his earlier songs in a country-style and the results are not what I came to his music to hear. I've not listened to that cd in many, many years (although I'm now wondering if I should give it another chance). I'd heard New Partner on the excellent Is It the Sea? live album, but the version on Sings Palace's Greatest Hits was not my cup of tea in the slightest. (This version feels very casual in the verses, but suitably solemn in the chorus.) That cd made me tread with caution through the rest of his back-catalogue and I've not been so care-free since.
So when I saw this album was coming out, I decided not to buy it. But then, just after Christmas in 2018, I was in Banquet on what is now an increasingly rare trip and fancied buying a lot of new vinyl. I saw this one in the racks and it was an easy sell when I was already dropping a lot of money. I figured he wouldn't pull the same trick twice (country covers) and it started with I See a Darkness, a song that I think everyone agrees is not only one of his finest songs, but one of the finest songs full stop. I also spotted New Partner on the tracklisting, but that was the extent of the songs I knew by title. I actually have half of these songs in my collection in their original forms, but that's mostly because The Letting Go spawned three of the songs here. One of those, The Way, is a highlight here, but still not as good as the original.
All of which brings me to I See a Darkness itself. I'd go so far as to say that there's not been a bad cover of that song because I've only ever heard good ones. I'm no huge fan of Johnny Cash, nor do I have the American albums that he recorded towards the end of his life, but I've heard a lot of the covers he did of more recent songs, and his cover of I See a Darkness is up there with Hurt in terms of the most hauntingly appropriate songs for him to sing. With that in mind, I'd go so far as to say this isn't even the best cover of the song. It's really nice, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't add anything. That said, it's always nice to hear any version of it because it's such a beautiful song.
Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £18 new
Bought: Banquet Records, Kingston
When: 27/12/18
Colour: Black
Etching: None
mp3s: None
