"Beware"
(Domino)
seven / ten
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BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY "Beware" (Domino)
seven / ten |
There are two schools of thought on Will Oldham, a.k.a. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. One group holds him up as a shining example of a genius in modern music, who can do no wrong no matter what he turns his hand to. But the other sees him as the Emperor's New Clothes personified and could quite comfortably keep warm if a match was put to all the hyperbole that's been printed about him over the years.
However, with Beware has the notoriously sour pussed Kentuckian- heaven forbid- lightened up? Certainly, there is more than a hint of humour on display on what's being called "his most ambitious album to date". What makes this assertion even more curious is that the majority of the tracks on display read like one half of an argument between a warring couple, the evidence clear in song titles such as 'You Can't Hurt Me Now' and 'You Don't Love Me'. Despite the subject matter there's no denying that it is quite a jaunty record in places, and that's no bad thing.
This is also one of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's most polished albums yet, which again should not be taken as a negative by BPB acolytes. The presence of pedal steel, brass and soulful backing singers ensures that Beware evokes a cross between Neil Young in his Comes A Time phase and Exile...era Stones. The title track is simply joyous, while Oldham saves the best for last with album closer 'Afraid Ain't Me', which is about as close as he's ever gotten to an 'epic'.
While I See A Darkness will always be the Bonnie 'Prince' Billy album for some people (and to be fair it's hard to argue with them), for the rest of us Beware is his most rounded collection of songs yet.
Alan Morrissey
www.bonnieprincebilly.com
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