BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY
No More Workhouse Blues (Drag City)
Reviewed by Sherman Wick

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This is the second Cd-single from "Bonnie 'Prince' Billy sings Greatest Palace Music." On the full-length record, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (Will Oldham) re-interprets and re-records fifteen of his songs from his prolific and extensive catalog from his past, when he was known as Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, and Palace Music, or simply as Palace- in the style of a classic Nashville country band.

His previous recordings are largely better in their original version, including the version of "No More Workhorse Blues" as it first appeared ultra-lo-fi on "Days in the Wake" in 1994. But that's not to say the new versions aren't almost equally absorbing; and they are sure an improvement over the cliched best-of collections released as career retrospectives of performers or groups. In fact, it's a novel and iconoclastic idea, in keeping with the playful nature of Oldham's music career. Unlike the shoddily charming '94 version, where Oldham sings accompanied by only a rickety guitar, on the new version he gets the full-on Nashville treatment, complete with fiddle, peddle steel and backing vocals. One is sublimely beautiful and the other is brutally honest beauty.

Also included is "Ruby," a collaboration with Tweaker, and it is arguably his loudest song ever. The rune moves from subdued and understated to explosive as loud guitars, screamed vocals and sample industrial sounds come to a fore. And finally, to mess with the mix of tracks even more, there is a lovely and restrained cover of Judee Sill's "The Kiss" (here's where the singer's skills at his first profession - acting - come in handy) as he sings a stirring version of the tender song. Plus, a video by "Julien Donkey-Boy" director Harmony Korine completes this enthralling CD single.

[Pick this up at www.dragcity.com.]

© 2005 - Sherman Wick