breeze

Posted a write-up about this release here: https://alanbumstead.wordpress.com/2015/08/06/bonnie-prince-billy-the-cairo-gang-tip-the-glass-and-feel-the-bottom-10-2015/

Yes, I can't see how this shows any real improvement on Wolfroy (though 'improvement' is a rather subjective point of comparison), which was a very distinctive sounding album. It's a neat idea to reenvision your songs in this way but the new sound is of a more generic mix of instruments and dynamic. Possibly it's capable of appealing to a wider audience, but while I prefer Wolfroy, I really like the fact that he's chosen to do this. It's still quite a nice listen. Put the two albums together and you get a cubist scene of Wolfroy. A front view & a side view.

Certainly that new version of New Whaling (retitled So Far And Here We Are) is phenomenal with its driving strum & forward momentum.

There's one right now on Discogs for 70 bucks. Give it a couple of weeks. It'll be easily available. Same thing happened with the self-titled album last year. Took a few weeks but soon became regularly available for as little as $17.

Yeah, sorry, wasn't meant to be. Sounded conversational in my head, but I suppose it reads antagonistic. thanks for the link, will check it out.

Ryoanji, I like the name. I've been there a few times. But I really don't think Oldham could do 'adult contemporary' if he tried. I listened to an interview, it might have been on NPR, where he talked about some of the selections for WtBS. His take on why he chose Milk Train was very funny. I must get around to finishing that guide in the next couple of weeks. I only have about four entries to go before it's up to date.

Sweet, thanks. Ordered!

Bummer, they don't deliver/ship outside of Germany, stated as a policy on the site.

All has been revealed on Discogs & the Domino site where you can hear samples. So it's a quite neat reworking of Wolfroy with a couple of extra tracks, plus if you were lucky to get in early on the bonus edition, the 12" is something called the Barely Regal Ep which includes a number of tracks that were released only on iTunes earlier this year plus several others, which makes it a must-get. Chances are it'll be available separately at some stage. The hhv.de site which had suggested it would be available for pre-order from today, is now saying they have no available stock.

Most, if not all, of these Palace/BPB items are available on Discogs ... provided you're willing to pay.

Here's my blog: it's nerdy, earnest, boringly analytical and very tongue-in-cheek by turns: http://alanbumstead.wordpress.com/bonnie-prince-billy-quicklist/ My faves are: Superwolf, Viva Last Blues, I See A Darkness, Joya, Ask Forgiveness, & The Letting Go. But apart from the Tortoise collaborative album, which I actively dislike, and Greatest Palace Hits which doesn't do much for me I think everything else is good, great or amazing. Funtown Comedown & Is It The Sea? are the best live albums. There is a small amount of CD-only released material I've never heard, such as Wilding In The West, a CD-only live album. I refuse to buy CDs or digital.

I have a stupidly expensive & overcomplete WO collection, all the 7"s, 12s, albums, soundtracks, EPs & 10"s you can name & then some. Completism is a curse :-/ I agree that Wolfroy was the slowest & hardest BPB album to love but I got there after a million spins & several dedicated close listening sessions & I think it holds up as an equal to all its predecessors.

it says "preorder 19.09.2014" meaning you can't order until then

I'm not too excited about the prospect of a polished country version of the Wolfroy album. That album's perfect just the way it is. Nevertheless new BPB before the year's out is better than no BPB, and he did give us two albums last year. Roll on new material for 2015.

Source? reliable?

Cool, thanks for the link. But hesitant to go ahead with it now - just in case my Drag City copy includes the 12" too though I suppose that's unlikely. My best guess is that the tracklisting shown on the Domino site is a live recording of Wolfroy tracks on the bonus 12" but that's probably a result of wishful thinking.

...oh hang on. That track listing might well apply to the 343X version, which may include a bonus disk of live Wolfroy material?? Just a guess. In any case, pretty annoyed I never saw that on the site & ordered mine from Drag City, especially now that it's sold out.

The other option is that it could be a live album, which makes me wonder if this is why there's zero information about the release on the Drag City site. They say something like "Bonnie sings for who he was and who he will be" which could be a clue that the tracks are old and new. There do appear to be 2 or 3 new tracks on the album. Some of the titles have changed slightly from their Wolfroy equivalents (e.g. It's Time To Be Clear instead of Time To Be Clear, and ... is Old Match suppose to be "No Match" - the opening track from Wolfroy? Probably) I also wonder if the title "Mew Black Rich" relates to "Black/Rich Tune" from his soundtrack album to The Broken Giant from 1998. I guess we'll all know in 11 days time.