Will Oldham - Guarapero: Lost Blues 2 on CD

Description

The second compilation of out-of-print singles, b-sides, sessions and unreleased material from the chameleon variously known as Palace, Bonnie Prince Billy and plain old Will Oldham finds the Louisville auteur in typically disparate mood. An "official bootleg", including several tracks salvaged from the "lost" (i.e. abandoned) pre-Joya album Guarapero, Lost Blues 2 highlights the melodic sampling tendencies of this singular musical cuckoo. Angelo Badalamenti's Twin Peaks theme slinks around in the background of "Gezundheit" and "Every Mother's Son" more than nods to Neil Young's "Helpless". However, they are adopted and reared by Oldham to beguiling effect, branded with his signature hoarse vocal scrawl, which at times whips itself up to a yelp as he makes his mandatory lyrical exploration of equine spiritualism. Arrangements are edgily loose, sometimes ragged, usually underpinned by spidery guitar and simple drum patterns, with the live version of "Stable Will" knocking spots off its studio sibling and "For the Mekons et al" paying oblique tribute to veteran Leeds country-punksters the Mekons. Perhaps the most haunting track is "Let the Wires Ring", the most tender is "Take However Long You Want" and the oddest is a bluesy cover of the AC/DC ode to adolescent punning, "Big Balls", defying customary accusations of slo-fi preciousness. Less organically majestic than I See A Darkness, more feisty than its predecessor, Lost Blues And Other Stories, Lost Blues 2 is a diversely rich curate's egg of eclectic oddities, mostly hard-boiled but just occasionally sunny side up. --David Vincent