Albums by this artist

Viva Last Blues (1995)

Palace Music

Viva Last Blues

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» DEVON REED | STAFF WRITER

Palace Music Viva Last Blues City, 1995 RiYL: Smog, Golden Smog, Silver Jews

My first exposure to Will Oldham occurred late one night when my friends and I were having a discussion about the greatest albums of the decade. Well, my friend argued, any list had to include Palace Brothers' Arise Therefore, and the uninitiated among us (which was everyone) were forced to struggle through what, in retrospect is Oldham's most bare, uncompromising work, and surely the incorrect place to start in his catalog.

Eventually, someone else turned me onto another Palace release, Viva Last Blues, which I have become rather fond of over time. Oldham is definitely an acquired taste. His drawl of a voice can either be endearing -- like the friend by the campfire trying to entertain during the twilight hours -- or irritating, like the pretentious café "ahr-TEEST" that drowns out your conversation with his rambling lyrics. In all actuality, I think both fans and critics would agree that he's a little of both.

Gone in Viva Last Blues is any semblance of structure, as Oldham's teetering voice and cryptic lyrics don't ever seem to have any final destination. But, to dismiss the album as some sort of toss-off would be severely undermining some of its most beautiful songs. "The Brute Choir," with its simple, unadorned piano and guitar melodies, proves its subtle power in the way Oldham croons a line like "Their voices are bringing trees to their knees."

Taking a page from Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind," Oldham's "We All, Us Three, Will Ride" somehow gives a simple three-chord, three-minute ballad the feeling of an epic poem. Of course, it's not all poetry. Songs like "The Mountain Low" keep any feelings of gravity in check with lines such as "If I could fuck a mountain." But depending on your initial reaction to Oldham's voice, you might warm up to the lesser numbers eventually.

Like that voice, Viva Last Blues isn't perfect. But it's unique, and that still counts for something.

DEVON REED |