Domino (label)
20 March 2010 (released)
02 May 2010
Funnily enough I just saw a review of this record in a prominent UK music publication. It was not favourable.
Conversely, all I can do is pour out my congratulations to Mr Oldham. Granted I’m a fan and always have been, but you could easily, and fairly, criticise the chap for churning out some garbage from time to time. In all fairness to him, he does have a tendency towards eccentricity.
Not so here... oh no. Not a wayward inclination within earshot. In fact, I’d go as far as to suggest that this is probably the most 'together’ record Will Oldham has ever put out (under the moniker or otherwise). Some folks in these 'critical’ quarters have labelled his new found 'joy of life’ a sell out. Notwithstanding, there’s a significance to his latest work that seems quite glorious to me - a cohesive body of work that, at points (take it or leave it) sounds so capable that it could be a collection of outtakes from a Crosby & Nash record (a good one that is...).
The great songs, 'Merciless and Great' and 'Someone Coming Through', are great, sounding eerily like reworkings of 'Guinevere'. The slightly more 'up tempo’ songs, such as opener 'Troublesome Horses' are good. There's nothing really bad about the album. All of which give rise to the suggestions that Oldham has perhaps found a musical foothold, and is challenging himself (rather than the listener) to engage to a greater degree with the technical aspects of songwriting (rather than the oblique peculiarities of the his own psyche).
The fact is 'The Wonder Show Of The Worls’ is a solid record. Yes, it lacks the rough edges of Palace and the meandering, backwoods madness that made Oldham so entertaining when he was 20-something, but 15 albums down the road, would we really want more of the same?
