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old_tim's review
5.0
Will Oldham has a reputation for opting out of music industry promotional activities. He just doesn’t do the promotional circuit for each release, with the obligatory interviews, television appearances, etc etc. That’s why it was a bit of a shock to discover this title.
Alan Licht (a friend and sometimes collaborator) sat down with Oldham for a series of interviews over the course of a week. This book is the result of those interview sessions. It reads less like a typical industry hagiography or personality profile, and more like rambling conversations between friends. That’s why it works.
Yes, the sort of information fans crave is in here: recording session information, discussion of song lyrics, influences, etc etc. But much of the fascinating material is the discussion that emerges at the margins: Oldham’s idiosyncratic views on the music industry, art, film, and how to balance the demands of the commercial and the artistic.
This is probably not for the uninitiated. No effort is made to bring readers up to speed. There are no references to reviews or any attempts to contextualize Oldham’s recording history. However, for those familiar with his catalog, it provides a fascinating glimpse into this idiosyncratic artist.
Alan Licht (a friend and sometimes collaborator) sat down with Oldham for a series of interviews over the course of a week. This book is the result of those interview sessions. It reads less like a typical industry hagiography or personality profile, and more like rambling conversations between friends. That’s why it works.
Yes, the sort of information fans crave is in here: recording session information, discussion of song lyrics, influences, etc etc. But much of the fascinating material is the discussion that emerges at the margins: Oldham’s idiosyncratic views on the music industry, art, film, and how to balance the demands of the commercial and the artistic.
This is probably not for the uninitiated. No effort is made to bring readers up to speed. There are no references to reviews or any attempts to contextualize Oldham’s recording history. However, for those familiar with his catalog, it provides a fascinating glimpse into this idiosyncratic artist.
undeadletters's review
3.0
Less about Will Oldham the person than Will Oldham the actor and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy the musician, which is a bit of a shame. And at 400 pages, it ends up being a little overindulgent. But there's a lot of incredibly interesting anecdotes and insightful quasi-philosophies littering much of the book and Oldham sheds a lot of light on his two decades of strong musical output.
Some quotes:
"But it's nice, it's a great position to be in, to be in a relationship with a woman and be able to call her 'baby' without her getting angry about it."
"I think records and music are more appropriate and more respectful of the human soul than the churches are."
"I guess the idea is that I listen to certain favorite songs over and over because for some reason I just haven't finished listening to them."
"You don't know what your relationship to a record is going to be until you're dead, because it always has the potential to change."
"The first two drinks are great, and I recommend them to anybody, for any reason, and I have no respect for teetotallers who deny themselves one drink a week or one drink a day even, unless they have an alcohol problem."
"In New York, at the beginning of the day you set out to get somewhere, and by the end of the day you end up nowhere near that place. It's like being on a university campus. You do have all the access to art and music, but art and music -- unless you are a full-time employed artist or musician -- isn't really life. Everyone's struggling to afford to live there and juggling all the cultural activities, but at a certain point aren't all the cultural activities supposed to be a fraction of our existence and enrich our existence, but not be our existence?"
"Making records is commerce, and it's about fooling yourself as a writer and a performer and fooling the audience into not thinking about it and accepting it. It's like when you walk down the street and say, 'Look at that girl's ass, it's so great.' You're ignoring also the fact that she farts shit out of that ass. It's the same kind of thing."
Some quotes:
"But it's nice, it's a great position to be in, to be in a relationship with a woman and be able to call her 'baby' without her getting angry about it."
"I think records and music are more appropriate and more respectful of the human soul than the churches are."
"I guess the idea is that I listen to certain favorite songs over and over because for some reason I just haven't finished listening to them."
"You don't know what your relationship to a record is going to be until you're dead, because it always has the potential to change."
"The first two drinks are great, and I recommend them to anybody, for any reason, and I have no respect for teetotallers who deny themselves one drink a week or one drink a day even, unless they have an alcohol problem."
"In New York, at the beginning of the day you set out to get somewhere, and by the end of the day you end up nowhere near that place. It's like being on a university campus. You do have all the access to art and music, but art and music -- unless you are a full-time employed artist or musician -- isn't really life. Everyone's struggling to afford to live there and juggling all the cultural activities, but at a certain point aren't all the cultural activities supposed to be a fraction of our existence and enrich our existence, but not be our existence?"
"Making records is commerce, and it's about fooling yourself as a writer and a performer and fooling the audience into not thinking about it and accepting it. It's like when you walk down the street and say, 'Look at that girl's ass, it's so great.' You're ignoring also the fact that she farts shit out of that ass. It's the same kind of thing."
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