Tortoise & Bonny ‘Prince’ Billy - The Brave and the Bold : I picked this album up after reading a few mixed reviews of it - I don’t know much by either artist, although I have heard some Will Oldham (Bonny ‘Prince’ Billy) tracks and whilst I wasn’t a fan, I liked his voice enough that I would have given him a listen. The Brave and the Bold appeals to my enjoyment of cover versions - I always like to hear a favourite tune reinterpreted well by someone else, especially if they can add an extra something to the track. So, here they cover tracks by Bruce Springsteen (’Thunder Road’) and Elton John (’Daniel’) which are personal favourites - alongside tracks by the Minutemen, Richard Thompson and Devo. Theres a real eclectic mix of influences in the music, to match the track selection. Electronic pads and washes combine with kraut influenced guitars well, and compliment the gravelly almost bluesy vocals. The cover of Elton John is brilliantly executed, with the vocal mixed low alongside distorted bass loops and mellow guitars, and the Springsteen track is a high spot of the CD - with brilliant theremin style synth lines in amongst the post-rock melee.

Well, I got this guitar, and I learned how to make it talk,
my car’s out back if you’re ready to take that long walk,
From your front porch to my front seat,
Hey, the door’s open, but the ride, it ain’t free.

When Oldham sings this beautiful breakdown - his voice mellows just slightly and cracks over ‘long walk’, its a beautiful moment and really develops the Springsteen original. You’ll be hard pushed not to wind down the windows of the car and start singing along to the next lines:

Well, there were ghosts in the eyes of the boys that you sent away.
They haunt this dirty beach road,
in the skeleton remains of burned out Chevrolets.
They scream to you at night from the street,
your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet.

This is an excellent album - well worth investigating if you fancy something different in your collection. I’m off now to investigate more of Wills Oldhams out as Bonny ‘Prince’ Billy.

Click the picture to buy from Amazon