Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's Ease Down the Road vs. Neil Young's Everybody Knows this is Nowhere:
This is really a wonderful pair of album covers. A field of grass with a lawn mower cut "road" and a pointilist Neil Young with dog in front of mountains. I own these as CDs, but I'd like to see both covers in vinyl size.
I've been listening to both of these a lot. Probably 8 or 10 times each, which has been great. I was already somewhat familiar with both albums, so it was nice to listen more closely for a while.
They both have a rootsy feel, but in different ways. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere has a distinctly 60s feel in the harmonies but sounds surprisingly close to some alternative country of the 90s (or vice-versa, really). Which is maybe to say that this album was ahead of its time. I've never been that crazy about Round and Round, but repeated listens have made me like it more. There really aren't any duds on this album, though I don't care as much for The Losing End and Running Dry, but they probably share the most with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's Ease Down the Road.
Ease Down the Road is a great album title because it makes you say things like, "Ease on Dow—no wait, Ease Down the Road?" While listening to the Neil Young album resulted in nodding my head and saying, "yeah!" listening to Ease Down the Road made me turn up the volume and say, "huh? what did he just say?" It kind of sticks in my mind as a string of notable lines like, "with my finger in his a@%," "You F#$% and what's to do? (background: you f@#$)," and "hand on shaft and licked his balls" (didn't catch this nugget until just now). But those notable lines make my ears perk up and then I listen to the usually bizarre, often moving impressions and stories in these songs and really appreciate them. I'd like to propose that this album is part of Will Oldham's middle period, characterized by less bleak-sounding music than his earlier work, but still dealing with overtly bleak ideas. Not that his more recent music is super sunny, but it feels more complex and has a more soothing sound. There's really a lot of sex in this album, much of it on the cheating, guilt-laden end of things: "Why's it seem we're doing right, when we're doing something filthy, in a rented room tonight." I find it refreshingly frank.
But then Neil rocks out with Cinnamon Girl and Down by the River and Cowgirl in the Sand and it's just really great rock'n'roll.
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere is a classic and one of those enduring albums that makes it onto "best 500 albums ever" lists made by institutions like Rolling Stone, but I think right now I'd rather listen to Ease Down the Road.
Winner: Bonnie Prince Billy - Ease Down the Road. Also, it comes earlier in the alphabet.
what to say what to say...i have a similar matchup with same guys happening now...i'm glad you made your pick...it really helps...bye bye brucey
ReplyDeleteSteve said something about the Hold Steady saying the same thing over and over. I'm worried this is starting to happen to Bonnie. There are only so many ways to say, "I enjoy oral sex." Haven't heard the new album yet, but apparently there's a lot of that kind of thing on it. Anyhoo, I still love _Easy on down..._ I also picked up _Everybody knows..._ a couple of days ago. Both fine, fine albums. Here's your next choice, Bruce:
ReplyDelete(21) Nirvana - Nevermind vs. (28) Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Not as much oral sex going on with Lie Down in the Light, though...
ReplyDeleteI guess the whole oral sex motif in BPB's work has totally gone over my head. What do I know? When I saw him play at the Detroit Institute of Art several years back, though, he was dressed in pink sweatshirt and sweatpants, kind of like a thin, shaggy penis.
ReplyDeleteWhat?! What about track 3? You either haven't listened carefully, or you're much more innocent than I thought you were.
ReplyDeleteUm, I was just saying not AS MUCH oral sex going on. "Kneel down and please me" is pretty direct.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to feel uncomfortable, people. I must admit, I haven't been listening to BPB a lot lately (just into other things, I guess), but when I did listen to him, I obviously wasn't paying enough attention. I always thought he had a lot of cool animal imagery in his songs, but I clearly missed all this fellatio fun. I also must admit: I am notoriously bad at listening to and even understanding a lot of pop/ rock lyrics. I guess I'm more into the elusive vibe of it all.
ReplyDeleteEric, I'm with you. I usually don't listen carefully to lyrics--often cause they're so bad. But it's hard to miss when someone is singing loudly "kneel down and please me / and do it so everyone sees". You didn't want to quote that part, did you Sarah?
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