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Track Listings
| 1. Beware Your Only Friend |
| 2. You Can't Hurt Me Now |
| 3. My Life's Work |
| 4. Death Final |
| 5. Heart's Arms |
| 6. You Don't Love Me |
| 7. You Are Lost |
| 8. I Won't Ask Again |
| 9. I Don't Belong to Anyone |
| 10. There Is Something I Have To Say |
| 11. I Am Goodbye |
| 12. Without Work, You Have Nothing |
| 13. Afraid Ain't Me |
Product Description
Review
Following hard on the heels of 2008's Lie Down In The Light, Beware is Will Oldham's alter-ego Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's eighth solo album. It is - unsurprisingly - an organic work of great depth and texture. The melody and sense of acute longing that has infused Oldham's work since his earliest days with Palace is very much present and correct. Beware is an intimate album, full of strong emotion and underlying hope.
Oldham has been reported recently as being obsessed by late-period Elvis Presley. The King's spirit seems to drift across Beware. It is found in the depth and hopelessness of songs such as I Won't Ask Again or the drama and flurry of Heart's Arms.
Occasionally, Oldham's work can be somewhat remote; as he is playing a character, you feel sometimes as if you are there to admire his art rather than fully give yourself over to it. Well, Beware has added accessibility and warmth, given that is so frequently gloomy.
The swelling fiddles and female chorus of opener Beware Your Only Friend are complemented by its follow-up You Can't Hurt Me Now, which sounds as if it is an unearthed country standard, complete with gospel flourishes topped off with some Roxy-style sax. For contrast, You Don't Love Me is playful and tongue-in-cheek.
Beware is an ambitious record, with a list of special guests such as ex-Mekon Jon Langford and one time Wilco multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach supporting Oldham. It is also one of the first highlights of 2009. For those unsure of what genres such as alt.country or Americana entails, this is a marvellous place to start. --Daryl Easlea
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Product Description
BONNIE PRINCE BILLY Beware (2009 UK 13-track CD album - Bonnie Prince Billy presents his biggest and most ambitious new album. Bewares reach is longer and stronger more grandiose: Where fiddle and steel contribute their rustic timbre alongside guitars and voices a thickening thud of low tone rolls beneath giving the record a bottom thats fun to watch bounce in new clothes. Joining Billy deep in the mix of Beware the rollcall of top players includes the band [Josh Abrams Jennifer Hutt Emmett Kelly and Michael Zerang] and special guests [Dee Alexander Leroy Bach Jim Becker Robert Cruz DV DeVincentis Jon Langford Greg Leisez Rob Mazurek Nicole Mitchell and Azita Youseffi])
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Garry Lager
Format:Audio CD
Beware sounds very much in the same style and sound of The letting go, to me. It's not a style that I really enjoy - I'm a long time Bonnie Prince fan and I've never been really keen on his campfire stuff. I prefer other sides to him - harder, more rock sounding (e.g. viva last blues, superwolf, summer in the southeast) or starker, on his lonesome (days in the wake - all the early stuff). The folk music band sound comes across as quite generic to my ears. So I'm a bit disappointed, because I really liked Lie Down in the Light and thought it might pressage a change in direction (the album cover of Beware had my hopes up). Its OK though, ask ten Bonnie Prince fans for the favourite album and you'll get ten different answers - this one just isn't my cup of tea.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Hoppy
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
After seeing him play on the Culture Show on TV, this is the first Bonnie Prince Billy album that I have bought.
I cannot believe that I have not discovered him sooner.
This album is full of excellent, emotional songs that appear to be genuinely from the soul.
I would most definitely recommend this album to anyone.
Also, I will definitely be increasing my Bonnie Prince Billy cd collection very soon.
I cannot believe that I have not discovered him sooner.
This album is full of excellent, emotional songs that appear to be genuinely from the soul.
I would most definitely recommend this album to anyone.
Also, I will definitely be increasing my Bonnie Prince Billy cd collection very soon.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I got 'I See a Darkness' a long, long time ago and loved it. A few months later I bought one of his more country efforts (no idea which album it was, but I was a slowly reforming metal head at the time and couldn't get my head around it at all) I forgot all about Will Oldham completely until I read glowing review after glowing review of 'Beware' and thought that I'd try again.
I absolutely hated it the first, second and third times. The fourth time was the charm for me. This is a wonderful record which, like all truly great albums, doesn't reveal it's most precious charms without several listens. A slow burning alt-country which is thoroughly majestic and yet feels blithely intimate at the same time, catchy after time.
'You Don't Love Me' is the bittersweet, foot stomping highlight which almost keeps the depth of it's pathos rather close to it's chest by using a catchy, mid tempo, quasi-bluegrass veneer as the smoke and mirrors which deflect the listener's attention from the detailed and brutal retelling of a love unrequited.
Utterly wonderful.
I absolutely hated it the first, second and third times. The fourth time was the charm for me. This is a wonderful record which, like all truly great albums, doesn't reveal it's most precious charms without several listens. A slow burning alt-country which is thoroughly majestic and yet feels blithely intimate at the same time, catchy after time.
'You Don't Love Me' is the bittersweet, foot stomping highlight which almost keeps the depth of it's pathos rather close to it's chest by using a catchy, mid tempo, quasi-bluegrass veneer as the smoke and mirrors which deflect the listener's attention from the detailed and brutal retelling of a love unrequited.
Utterly wonderful.
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3.9 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beware But Thyself
Will Oldham is a enviously consistent talent. His folky, acoustic, singer-songwriting skills are rarely surpassed, except by himself. Read more
Published on 3 May 2009 by Gannon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beware of the Sly Old Dog
Will Oldham fans expecting the usual curveball from the great man might be slightly surprised to find that this album is in many ways fairly similar to last year's `Lie Down in the... Read more
Published on 25 Mar 2009 by Man Without a Soul
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beware!
Bonnie Beware
I heard a version of this on a friend's promotional CD. Despite it having continual dropouts and a 'comedian' talking nearly all the way through it wasn't... Read more
I heard a version of this on a friend's promotional CD. Despite it having continual dropouts and a 'comedian' talking nearly all the way through it wasn't... Read more
Published on 6 Mar 2009 by Sister Moon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beware The Greatness, kneel before the Bonnie Prince
We should thank Will Oldham for leaving no reasons, just a series of trails: Palace Brothers, Palace Music, Palace Songs. And I think there was once a Palace Brothers. Read more
Published on 24 Feb 2009 by From the Chaos Pad
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