Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Master and Everyone (2003)

Where bought? This was a present for my 20th birthday, and it had come out the week before. It was given to me by my friends Jude and Angie, who had just become a couple (and still are). I am going to assume they got it from Crocodile Records in the SU of University of Manchester, but I thought better than to ask.

Though I was hoping for more of a blend of electric and acoustic music as on I See A Darkness, I liked Master and Everyone from day one and still like it to this day. It is confident in its sparseness, and probably the least irony-laced of his lengthy back catalogue. My favourite one is the Hermann Hesse reflecting 'Wolf Among Wolves'.

In fact, I opted quite recently to listen to every Will Oldham record from the days of Palace up to the present day. Here's what I thought:

Not going to rate everything but the turning point is Greatest Palace Music, where he does slightly cheesy covers of his own work, and enters into a phase where the ironic distance or fan service overtakes the songs. Nothing bad though. Best ones are There Is No One What Will Take Care Of You, Viva Lost Blues, I See A Darkness, and Master & Everyone.

It mostly reminds me of throwing it on when me and my housemates were getting stoned, and they'd skin up on the cover of this. I'd be playing Dave Mirra BMX 2 on the Playstation. The skinning-up annoyed me quite a bit and I'm still finding stale tobacco inside some sleeves 18 years later.

Today is a quiet and reflective day - it is my mum's funeral later on - so this is a good record to have on while I am trying to suppress the strongest feelings.