I would sell my belongings
In the mountains where she's living
Just to be there when she comes every morning

Lots of hidden mentions of this old 1995 record from Will Oldham strewn on the crumbling roads throughout Rave Recs. Probably mostly by me, but that's OK, we all have our strange music compulsions, which almost seems an oxymoron since it is so often that same search for strange music that brings us together. And this one has been unshakable for close to double decades now.

Well, I would not have moved if I knew you were here
It's some special action with motives unclear
Now you'll haunt me, you'll haunt me
Till I've paid for what I've done

Been closer to the front lately, not sure why, just sounds good, and tends to stay out for awhile. Just love the whole package, the songs, the Steve Albini recording (especially on the drums/percussion and bass), the players, the looseness, the flow, just a nice record.

The CD sounds good, and of course the vinyl sounds really good. Don't know how many follow Michael Fremer, but I know he's a big fan of this one too (and of Albini's engineering in general), and often mentions it in reviews. Below is from one of his equipment reviews in Stereophile ...

On Palace Music's Viva Last Blues (Palace/Drag City Records PR4/DC65), a minimally miked recording of a unique folk/rock band by the great Steve Albini, the PH-3 rendered individual instruments—acoustic and electric—lead singer Will Oldham's whiny voice, and the room in which the band was playing, with Viewlex-like three-dimensionality and authority. You want to hear cymbals crash as they do live? A snare crack as it would in real life? You want to hear an Appalachian springboard to some very strange, but intoxicating and emotionally pure mountain music? Check this record out.

Apparently Albini recorded it in a little studio outside of Birmingham, Alabama. Again, Michael Fremer from an interview with Oldham....

MF: This record I recommend to a lot of people and some people have trouble with it, but Viva Last Blues (Palace Records/Drag City PR4/DC65) which is the first thing I ever heard that you did, I went how come I never heard this before. And I know also Steve Albini I happen to know is a fantastic engineer. What was it like working with him when you did that?

WO: It was great. I’ve known Steve for a long time because I was a fan of Big Black when they were around and he handled orders for t-shirts and things like that, so I remember sending him money for a t-shirt and then going to see him play in Newport, Kentucky in ’85. “Steve, this is Will Oldham. This is Steve Albini.” He’s like, “Will Oldham from Louisville, Kentucky? I owe you a t-shirt. Hold on just a second,” you know, and getting me a t-shirt.

MF: He’s such a good guy.

WO: Yes, and then, you know, we all stayed at the same apartment that night, and then I knew him increasingly over the years, and I wanted to work with him but honestly couldn’t afford it for the first two records. So this record (Viva Last Blues), I made him come to – because he’s great, you know, but I made him come to Alabama where I was living because I didn’t want him to be able to get any phone calls or anything like that for a while.

MF: Yes, I’m sure he’s a magnet, lightning rod for stuff.

WO: Yes. And he has a full life and so to sort of isolate. I like everybody to be isolated when making a record so that that’s all you think about, and at that time we would make records in a week, and that’s not too much to ask of everybody.

MF: Where in Alabama?

WO: It was in Hueytown, Alabama and the studio was called Bates Brothers Recording. It was about 25 minutes outside of Birmingham where I was living, an industrial area, a little industrial – like a strip mall but not commercial – it’s all offices. And they just had their studio in there and they record mostly gospel.

Not sure if Will Oldham, or Palace, or Palace Music, or Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, or any of his other guises really need a separate thread here, but if they do then this is it. Inspired by a recent sighting of an old regular from the pre-millenium "orange" days, this "Viva Last Blues" and the new-at-the-time and still amazing "I See A Darkness", were two of the first records I talked about around here with him. Not sure why I remember that, or even if it is as strange as it sounds, probably should just be thankful we don't have any archives from those long gone times.