…similar in tone but NOT from the forthcoming Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy release “Pond Scum”, in stores LP, CD, and Cassette on January 22nd on Drag City Records. “Rich Wife, Full of Happiness” appears on Bonny’s EASE DOWN THE ROAD RECORD in its full-arrangement. The BBC sessions gave room to represent the original bones of the song.
There are no Peel sessions anymore – that tradition was buried in the pyramids with John Peel himself upon the great man’s passing. Of the thousands left in the wake, six are ascribed to Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – and of those six, three have been combined to form the deeply congruous experience of “Pond Scum” .A span of eight years is covered, in reverse, and many chestnuts are rolled out, freed of former contexts with sparse arrangements. “(I Was Drunk at the) Pulpit” feels, ten years from inception, more vividly worn; “Death to Everyone” is loosed from its frame, the bones decoupled and spread out, giving the song a reflective air (as opposed the biting declamation of the original); “Arise, Therefore” adapts its metronomic base, the evangelic twist of its roots made palpable. With the center of the performance in stark relief, the gnomic qualities of two “Get On Jolly” pieces are intensified. Further accenting the devoted spirit of this collection is the inclusion of Bonnie‘s take on Prince’s “The Cross”, as well as the previously-unreleased original “Beezle.”
The Fat Angel Sings 