It sounds as if it were recorded in the back of a barn or on the front porch of a farm in Kentucky with a single microphone to simulate the feel of an old Folkways field recording. The ensemble cast mixes and matches banjo... more »s and poorly strummed acoustic guitars with the occasional synthesizer piercing through the mix. The songs have an odd old-world fascination about them ("Riding," "I Had a Good Father and Mother," "I Tried to Stay Healthy For You") and the singer's delivery is untutored by pitch. --Rob O'Connor« less
It sounds as if it were recorded in the back of a barn or on the front porch of a farm in Kentucky with a single microphone to simulate the feel of an old Folkways field recording. The ensemble cast mixes and matches banjos and poorly strummed acoustic guitars with the occasional synthesizer piercing through the mix. The songs have an odd old-world fascination about them ("Riding," "I Had a Good Father and Mother," "I Tried to Stay Healthy For You") and the singer's delivery is untutored by pitch. --Rob O'Connor
"Oldham tacks a "Brothers" onto the Palace monicker, perhaps intentionally harking back to a time when groups were thus forthrightly named. And indeed, the music this time around is more Bill Monroe than Sonic Youth - there's even a sort of yodel, or a feeble hooting anyway, on "I Had a Good Mother And Father." A more gloomy and daunting track is "Riding," a throwback to the darkest of folk ballads, voices from the grave that tell of incest, abductions and worse. Oldham relies on these old tales and draws deeply from the hillbilly's Pentacostal fear of God. God, sin, prayer, and walking with Jesus are the foundations of the album. "Idle Hands Are the Devil's Playthings" is told as a straightforward morality tale; "(I Was Drunk At the) Pulpit" is a rambling, breathless first-person tale of debauchery though "I knew it was wrong." However, Oldham is not a hick, but has a poet's gift of language. "The sunlight was stronger to my Church-darkwidened eyes," runs an early line in "Pulpit." It aptly encompasses Oldham's struggle with man's baser and nobler urges."
Oh yes,
Mitchell R. King | 12/01/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is good. Simple, honest, and nothing more. Very few people I know truly enjoy this album, most of the time I end up listening to it alone. "I Was Drunk at the Pulpit" proves that one can write a song using only one chord..."
A musical god
Paravak | Earth | 01/15/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Well, well. One can spend a lifetime searching for music like this. If you're ready, this album (and most of his others) will beckon you into a new state of being. Raw and alive, it simply issues from a depth of subtlety few artists even touch."
My Musical Epiphany....
Mitchell R. King | FLORIDA | 04/18/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Ahem, I have some glorious memories attached to this record. I had just moved to Atlanta, Ga for school when it came out. I went into Wuxtry records(still the best record store ever!!) and was looking for something new, since the small town I had moved from had no indie stores. I was already a fan of Royal Trux, so I spotted the Drag City logo on the back and decided to buy it. I listened to that CD religously every day for about a year. I love everything about it. How the band sounds like they might fall apart at any second, but never really does. I imagined them playing in a barn on a red-dirt floor with only one mic to record into and the guitarist having to step up to the mic for his solo's. Will channels the southern-gothic ambience of Flannery O' Connor and Carson McCullers perfectly. This made me a life-long fan of Mr. Oldham and I have purchased every release of his since. But since this is the one that hooked me, I always find myself going back to it. Besides, in my opinion, he hasn't recorded a finer song than "Merida" since. I remember seeing him on the "I See A Darkness" tour and I asked him to play it, and he said he didn't remember how too, I was so shocked!! Will is still turning out the great tunes, I recomend this one first since it is one of the most primitive, if you enjoy it, then you will love them all!!"