Bonnie Prince Billy and the Cairo Gang - The Wonder Show of the World

  by Maarten Schiethart

published: 30 / 5 / 2010

---

At times the fragility of a sad reality can get the worst out of one. 'The Wonder Show of the World' achieves just that. One of the many guises of the highly prolific Will Oldham, 'The Wonder Show of the World' finds him trapped once again in folky soul-searching fashion. More often than not this is just sulking. It is all heartfelt yet at the very same time the melancholy dribbles on and on. Oldham's personal confessions sound increasingly mundane, but exactly when you decide to go to sleep than rather listen any further he manages to strike a balance between Al Green and Nick Drake. The sadness notwithstanding, at times I simply chuckled and turned sarcastic; the songwriting, performance and singing on for example 'Go Folks, Go' shows the hand of the master. Oldham may be the village idiot of the indie music scene. Alas, he's done all this before a zillion times and the only way out, and forward, would be to go to Teletubbyland where he could sing lullabies to his grandchildren. Gifted as he is obviously is, even if he had turned senile, Oldham could still churn out the odd memorable song with somehow comprehensive lyrics. What bothers me most is that his 'backing band' is forever changing but he never seems to manage to change his style. He should shuffle down to Memphis and do genuine soul music.

Track Listing:-

1 Troublesome Houses
2 Teach Me To Bear You
3 With Cornstalks Or Among Them
4 The Sounds Are Always Begging
5 Go Folks, Go
6 That's What Our Love Is
7 Merciless And Great
8 Where Wind Blows
9 Someone Coming Through
10 Kids

Label Links:-

http://www.dominorecordco.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DominoRecordCo
https://twitter.com/DominoRecordCo
https://www.youtube.com/user/DominoRecords
https://plus.google.com/+DominoRecords

Post A Comment

---

Comment

Name

your name

Location

ie London, UK

Submit

Check box to submit

Adam Coxon
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson

Dixie Ernill
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart

Malcolm Carter
Marie Hazelwood
Mark Rowland
Nick Dent-Robinson
Nicky Crewe
Nige Nudds
Philamonjaro
Richard Lewis
Shirley Procter
Spencer Robertshaw
Steev Burgess
Steve Kinrade

Steve Miles
Tommy Gunnarsson
Zena Grieg