Gulf Shores (Day 135)

Dexter Gordon - "Modal Mood"
The Rolling Stones - "Sway"
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - "Gulf Shores"
Today's super-sized list is due to a detour for a haircut before work. And today's SWTMTPP was a highlight. I'm a huge fan of Will Oldham in all his incarnations and Greatest Palace Music is by far his most accessible record. Love the idea that he basically made a covers album with Nashville session musicians - - of his own songs! The songs are definitely given a shine, and since this came out pre-music blog mania (2004) - - or at least before I was reading music blogs - - I kinda wondered what the blogosphere thought about a record that I can see getting its share of criticism. Where should I start? How about the arbiters of cool themselves, PItchfork? Yup just as I suspected:

It's perhaps the most entertaining and thought-provoking album released so far this year. And one of the worst.

There's more:

The enjoyment it doles out is entirely extramusical, deriving from its packaging, its contributors, Nashville history, Oldham's interviews pertaining to it, its place in his discography, and his intent, whatever that may have been. Greatest Palace Music is almost uniformly tedious, uneventful, dispassionate, and overambitious when it comes to multi-tracking, and underambitious when it comes to arrangements and instrumentation.

But, that's not even the worst part:

By making this album, it feels as if Oldham is scorning me, a longtime fan, personally. It's ceaselessly mediocre, and it actually physically hurts me to know that Oldham has backpedaled, knowingly and irrationally, against his own genius.

Don't flatter yourself, buddy. I press on for a more sober, less holier-than-thou review. Here's something from a blog called False 45th:

This album is a wonderful combination of Bonnie "Prince" Billy's best songs and that beautiful sweeping studio sound that made Nashville famous. I hate the crap that gets passed for pop country these days but I have a soft spot for that older Nashville sound which BPB wrapped his catalog in for this album.

Okay, so it's not as eloquent but I concur with the sentiment. And for the record, this didn't start out to be a bash Pitchfork post, but, hey, if the shoe fits...
Wilco - "A Shot In The Arm"
Liz Phair - "Shatter"
The Delgados - "Now And Forever"
Emmylou Harris - "Plastir d'Amour"
The Flatlanders - "Now It's Now Again"
M Ward - "Chinese Translation"
Grandaddy - "Campershell Dreams"
Miles Davis - "Freedom Jazz Dance"
Johnny Cash - "Flesh & Blood"
My Mourning Jacket - "O Is The One That's Real" (live)
Outkast - "Xplosion"
The Beatles - "All You Need Is Love"
Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Travelin' Band"
The Delgados - "Girls Of Valour"
So, that makes two tracks today by this heretofore barely played group The Delgados. Scottish pop band, fairly enjoyable...whatever. This is mean. The iPod is being mean. It clearly knows that the Mets first baseman is one Carlos DELGADO. I'm not ready!

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 18
Total minutes of music (approx.): 64
Song with the most previous plays: "Gulf Shores" - 8
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 6
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: The refreshing menthol-y smelling hot towel at the end of the haircut...man, that's nice.