Prince

Sign of the Times! Definitely before his time in the 80s when he envisioned 1999. Queen of Pop.
ABrooks

Prince has had a long and varied career as a musician. Born in 1958 to John and Matti Nelson, his career started in 1977 with the release of his first album "For You". Going through groups like The Revolution and The New Power Generation, his musical style changed somewhat through the years ranging from Funk, R&B, Soul, to Pop, Hip Hop and even Jazz, Psychadelic & Hard Rock. This album, The Very Best of Prince, gives you seventeen of his very best tunes for you to listen to. Gems from his early career like "I Wanna Be Your Lover", "1999" & "Little Red Corvette" are there as well as tunes from his movies Purple Rain and Graffiti Bridge. Eve onto more recent tunes like "Gett Off", "Cream" "Diamonds and Pearls" & "Money Don't Matter 2 Night". While the album itself is a testament to his career, there are several gems missing from this album that were favorites among his fans (like "Controversy", "Delirious", "Erotic City", "Pop Life", "I Could Never Take the Place Of Your Man", "Head", "If I was your Girlfirend", "Take Me With You", "Batdance", "Partyman" and my two all-time favorite "For the Tears in your Eyes" & "My name is Prince"). If you can get past those omissions(which some were his better tunes), this is an album worth getting to listen to for a taste of his greatest. They need to make a second volume of his very best. However, let me suggest this...if you enjoy Prince's music, get all the albums that he has put out and make up your own mind as to what is his very best and whatnot. You won't regret it.

On Friday and Saturday nights, I can not wait for the first beat of sound makes, telling me that one of my favorite artist of all times is about to sing. I have many favs of Prince's music but here is just a few: When The Doves Cry,Kiss, 1999 and Purple Rain. Atleast Joey Jamm makes it all possible.

I agree that Prince has way too many hits to fit onto one CD, but this is a nice collection. Usually there are 1 or 2 songs on a CD that I skip over, but not on this one. I enjoy it from beginning to end.

ALL the "Very Best" are really on this CD. ALL FUNK and no junk. Prince is the rare "jewel" in the crown of my music collection!!!

Has all the Prince songs from the soundtrack. Most are great, a few are awful. Too bad it doesn't have the other artists songs as well. If you saw the movie, you know what you're getting.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, to get through this thing called life". My personal handbook I use to get through life, is this album. Clocking in at a ballsy 45 minutes, the album takes you--whether you're ready for the ride or not--on a journey of unprecedented scale. Prince holds no punches musically or lyrically on this tour de France of an album. Head bashing riffs, toe tapp'n beats, and tear jerking melodies collide here in a musical harmonic convergence. Simply put: you can go no wrong with Purple Rain. Now go, shower in its glory.

That Minneapolis sound...wow, it has all been stated by others, but the intro to 'Purple Rain'...that BIG, lush, twangy, warm, full-bodied Richenbacker 330/12 string is one of the masterpieces of Prince's career. He does more with those few bars than others do with an entire cd. It sets up a great song and lays the foundation for Prince to come in later with his odd looking, but razor sharp axe, and slice and dice his way through a song that has held up amazingly well since 1984...Man, what a guitar!

This has got to be the best CD ever recorded. It was hot back in 1984, and it's still hot!

I ordered this product and within a day received an email confirming that my purchase had been sent and had I received it yet and I had not received it yet and wasn't concerned at the time but after a week of it not arriving I wrote an email and got a response that it was lost in transit and the sender then agreed to send another cd in its place because there were none of the one I had purchased then a few days later received the cd I had originally had ask for only to see that it was so badly damaged that none of the tracks could be listened to and along with that came another cd that the sender had never discussed with me and it was something I would never listen to and it was a good gesture but in customer service you should have asked what the consumer would enjoy not assume and send something I disliked and just threw away anyway and the sender enclosed a letter stating that if they had gotten another copy of my originally purchase it would be sent and to this day has not showed up...

I'm new to this artist. Bought the record on a whim. God I'm lucky. This record moves me in ways very few artists have. Stark, earthy and redemptive. No screaming guitars. Get it.

For those still under the spell of Will Oldham's majestic "The Letting Go" this latest Bonnie "Prince" Billy album may at first seem a disappointment. It enters with a warm, countrified splash of fiddles, banjo, piano and vocal harmonization, with an air of CSN or the Grateful Dead. An old fan may ask, where is the "darkness," the incest, murder, dissimulation? With repeated listenings the subtle enchantments of Oldham's lyrical song cycle grow, organically emerging from strange and beautiful, unfamiliar areas of the heart and mind.

The chameleonic, Kentucky-native Oldham has always hidden his gnomic and gnostic creations within wizard's cloaks and veiled meanings. Performing under the names Palace, Palace Music, Palace Brothers, even his own name, he has adopted a moniker derived from the young Jacobite pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie, and from William Bonney, a.k.a. Billy the Kid. Throughout he has been a consistently intriguing and strangely moving songwriter, capable of raw sincerity and piercing insight. But in recent years he has forgone the croaking wail and atonality he had used to hide his oddness and mysteries, dropping the off-key guitars and lo-fi sloppiness, favoring beautifully and subtly produced albums.

Never content to stay in one mode or style, the "Prince" shifts, changes and dodges with each record. This album is more straightforward than his Valgeir Sigurdsson-produced previous album. He has left the Icelandic mood behind for down-home Nashville, under Mark Nevers' production. Ashley Webber's lovely vocal duets and backgrounds, organ and pedal steel, Shahzad Ismaily's multi-instrumentalism, even a row of wrenches and clarinet give it rich, grounded space. And Oldham has never reached more deeply into the human universal lyrically or vocally. "Lie Down in the Light" dispels the "freak folk" label, and should drive the likes of Devendra Banhart back into their caves in shame.

On the cover a comic image--a muscle-bound manly man wrestling a green, Hulk-like angel with psychedelic wings--suggests (and lampoons) the serious depth of the album's themes. "I know my way around the world/It's a circle and it starts and it ends." This cycle, like the seasons and stages of life, begins with roots and ends in enchanted reconciliation. From "good earthly music," home and family, love and exultant public eroticism, through suspicion of human motivation, loss and death, it moves toward the spiritual with a playful sense of humor and grace. He regards the cosmos, which we can never fully understand: "For every king there's a crown, and every time I look around, I am the king of infinite space." Occult and full of potential, this line is actually from a song likening the human to a blind mole in the ground.

Hope and fond irony abound, despite tragedy and obstacles, rather than resignation. Through lists of loss and human incapacity in "What's Missing Is," to recognition of human folly and consequent transcendence in "Where's the Puzzle?" the realization is, "Why do you frown /Why do you try/Why don't you lie down in the light?" Then "Willow Trees Bend" suggests a new salvation: For every man alive there is a fire/And for every king a crown..../When faced with your fire/I will surrender to You." The near-Gospel "I'll Be Glad" offers hope and levity, with its choral backup and allusion to a child's rhyme and Christ as shepherd: "Lord, wherever you go you'll always have me around." This is the "song that does not end." It is life. And yet he holds to the earth and longing for "new harmony on an awesome scale": "The song is a man and a woman, and everything else." For those with ears to hear this album is a wonder not to be discounted. Hail Saint Billy! 4 June 2008, Willow Creek, CA.

Will Oldham is one of the few artists who can actually prove the "less is more" theory. Even with simple song structures and sparse instrumentation, his songs still sound rich and full of life. There's only one way to accomplish that... great songwriting. If you're new to Will Oldham, start with 1999's "I See a Darkness" and work through chronologically to this one. I assure you, if you can appreciate good music, it will be an enjoyable ride.

If you want witty banter about how amazing this album is, go to pitchfork's review. I just had to add my 2 cents inorder to out weigh the jokers who gave it a 1-star.

One thing though, considering all the absolute horse s*** that is played on the radio, this music is of the gods. It represents all that is good about music and should be studied in elementary school music classes as well as college conservatories. Will Oldham is my personal lord and savior.

i'll let you know if i change my mind.
in the meantime, buy 'arise, therefore' instead.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RMJ7YLOWDOUB5 My name is Jeremy Gloff. I am a musician (check me out on Amazon!) and retro music enthusiast. If you enjoyed this review make sure to check out my Amazon user profile to check out my other reviews. I am always up for making new friends and discussing the music I love!!!

die hard Prince fan and glad that I was able to get my old scratched cd replaced

i have been looking for this cd for months, got it really fast and i just can`t stop listening to it'!

The Past, Present, and Anticipating the Future.

This collection of Prince's greatest hits is without a doubt still his best, even though he has released 3 others in its wake.

The Hits include all of Prince's Top 40 hits and then on a 3rd disc introduces the B-sides that were born from his incredible top 40 hits. B-sides allow the listener to understand how Prince's music was created and how the Era's in which he created his music transformed his artistically.

Prince's music have become a microscope into his life. The Hits cover his emergence as a pop star, His reign at the top of the charts, and finally Prince straying away from the commerical world of music to a more artistic rare form that could teach today's musical youth a lesson in blazing trails rather than just strolling along one someone else created.

The Hits is a chronical of music that will forever stand the test of time in a forever changing world of music.

It may not be a definitive portriat of his overall career since he produced many great songs(if not albums) after this box set was released but, the hits and B sides does a stellar job of capturing most of the best songs he did during his prime period

Disc one contains what people expect "When Doves Cry", "1999", "Diamonds and Pearls" etc. What makes this box set worth owning is the second and third disc. In my opinion, the second disc contains the songs that cemented his status as the eccentric genius of pop music in the 1980's with racy songs like "Dirty Mind", "Head", "If I was your Girlfriend", etc. The first disc is great and contains some of the most inventive pop songs ever produced but the rauchier second disc contains the songs that made every Prince album an event in the 1980's. Take away the rauchiness and you're left with "another pop artist" who made great songs but have no personality (like George Michael). His sexier side is what made him unique. With sexier x rated songs presenting a flipside to his accessible pop songs, he's a artist shrounded in mystery and worth a million analysis! He's a pure legend because if it and without the second disc, casual fans wouldn't be aware of the mystery that gave him longetvity.

The B Sides disc (disc 3) is pretty cool if not great. It doesn't measure up to the quality of the first two discs but, hidden gems like "She's always in my Hair", "[..] Toad", and "Erotic City" makes the disc worth checking out. If the first disc presents Prince as a inventive Pop craftsman, and the second disc showcases Prince's sexier side, then the thrid disc defines his experiemental side. At times the experimentations paid off and sometimes they didn't - making the B sides disc less consistent than the first two, but enjoyable nonetheless.

This is not a bad place to start to hear one of the best mainstream artist in pop music history. What would've made this boxset better was for them to extended it to a extra disc to include more album tracks rather than just include the hits. Since the quality of Prince music took a nosedive at the dawn of the 90's, this is the best place to hear the purple one at his most fruitful and colorful.

In 1982, "Thriller" burst through doors that Prince had been trying to unlock. With those doors unlocked, he presented his first real work of genius. Some songs stand above others--the titular apocalypse romp, for one, or "D.M.S.R.," the ultimate party track. The best of the bunch is the divinely salacious "Little Red Corvette," which, for the last time, is not about a car, but which is one of the best songs of the decade. Most of the songs are just damn good funk ditties that are danceable and brilliant. The anti-war piece, "Free," is a little heavy-handed, and that brings things down a little--but then "Lady Cab Driver" is a resurrection of Lazarean proportions. The album never loses any momentum--and for a funk record composed of six- to nine-minute songs occupying 70 minutes, that's something special. As is the artist behind it all: with "1999," he proved he could write brilliantly-constructed songs that would get a dead man dancing, but also that he could make those songs socially relevant. He's even interesting when he veers off into surrealistic Dickian abstraction ("Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)"). How many funk/dance/pop artists could you say that about?

For some reason when I woke this morning I had this tune in my head and couldn't rest till I traipsed down to the basement and found the old LP. What a difference from today when you can play all 10 tracks on the CD without switching or changing the record, but back then I never heard the songs on side 2--and never played the second disc on the double-LP, not ever, didn't see any point to changing up from the first 2 tracks. Why did artists make such long LPs, why not just collect a few perfect tracks? And thus it wasn't until today that I would up hearing "International Lover" and "Free" and the other songs (some of them not so great) on the "second disc" of the double LP--well, that dates me, but I expect at this time in Prince's career most of his fans are those who, like me, remember the 1980s as if they were yesterday and a time when 1999 seemed a zillion light years away, and when Wendy and Lisa puzzled us with their odd, superior androgyny like a pair of aloof Claude Cahuns, always nodding to the same beat, thrusting out their chins in unison, ten tons of hairspray making them look sort of feminine.

That's not to say that today's Prince fans love what used to be sides one and two, tbree and four with equal fervor, how could they? They won't even remember the exquisitely perverse take on "Little Red Corvette" that Sandra Bernhard gave in her concert film "Without You I'm Nothing," her unsuccessful attempt to divert 80s energy into 90s irony.

Vanity's on this CD too, which I did not realize in the 1980s, but that's because I never heard "Free," in which her vocals ring out loud and clear. That's not such a good thing.

There's not much that hasn't already been said about Prince's "1999" - It's some of his best work, from the era when he wasn't so deep into his religion and wasn't afraid to offend someone. It's raw, real funk-rock that knows no bounds. I would call "1999" Prince's best album, except that I'm also partial to the collaboration with Wendy & Lisa in his later Paisley Park releases.

This is an album that is meant to be played straight through. No shuffling. No listening to individual tracks. Start at the beginning and play it through to the end. It's a brilliant work of art that everyone should check out if they like rock or funk.

never received product. I contacted the seller 2 times and no response. I have filed a claim with Amazon to see about getting my money back. Seller had no problem charging my card asap.

At the beginning of Prince's reign as Prince of Pop, we have albums such as this. It was here that he first insisted on breaking ground on every album, and every track. He was one of the pioneers in the 80's, of music as art, and through him and other such artists, the standards were raised.

As with many of Prince's albums, you cannot simply listen to them as good music, but must appreciate the artistry that goes into them. This man is obscenely talented, and this album has some of the most important songs of the 20th Century.

This is one of my favourites in all categories. I don't see myself as a fan Prince's music and I actually don't own any of his other recordings, but this one is really special. This is a modern experiment stretched across two discs containing everything from hard rock, pop, blues to soul an rap. Highly recommended!

I filmed a video review for this album but it was too large. I uploaded it to my website instead. In short, I basically said this is my favorite Prince album of all time. It's amazing.

I've listened to Dirty Mind some in the past and always liked Prince from afar but never really understood all the raving until I gave Sign 'O' the Times a couple of solid spins. This record keeps on giving and I agree with the earlier post that it ranks up there with "Here, My Dear", "Songs in the Key of Life", etc. But also, like [...] points out, it belongs in a larger canon alongside the classic "messy" double LPs like "Exile on Main Street" and The White Album. It's fun, crazy, romantic and downright profound throughout this huge listen of a record.

Prince's Sign O The Times is one of those albums that's so good that you're tempted to criticize it. It is definitely sprawling and all over the map. It blows the previous "Parade" to shreds. Prince tries everything here and it all works. The only song I'm not crazy about is "It." "It" is filler and the only misstep but It (lol) is surrounded by such quality material that it makes it easier to ignore IT. Don't let IT distract you. Ok, enough about It. Just get this if you haven't already. Also seek out the B-sides that were recorded during these sessions. Shockadelica and La La La He He He are up in quality with the rest of the album. Now what we need is a re-release of the Sign O The Times concert video on DVD.

Every generation gets the White Album it deserves, and after 20 years of dust-settling we can take a clear look at this generation's. I dont want to go through the album track by track, but I would like to single a few out; On 'It' the contrast between the synthetic beats and Prince's all too human vocals makes for one of his very best tracks; in fact the whole thing sounds like someone trapped inside a giant thumping robot Wicker Man, trying desparately to shag his way out.For me it's the best vocal he's ever done and even casual observers will know that's saying a lot; plus only Miles Davis has done more with two chords and a short shard of melody (on 'Black satin'). 'Slow Love' and 'Adore' are the most voluptuous things he's done and 'Forever In My Life ' the most romantic. It really is an album of contrasts and superlatives.

I have this album since it first came out to stores, that means a long long time ago...And I still love it and lisen it over and over... Some of my favorite songs are 319 and Bily Jack Bitch... The song of The most beautiful woman I just hated... What can I do? That is not the Prince that I like...I prefer the original Prince, more funky and with all his explicit lyrics... That was the magic, that was the key... Albums such as Purpule rain, 1999, Batman, the Black album (I think that is my favorite), Love Symbol, Parade Diamonds and Pearls... that is the good stuff, and The Gold Experience continue that... Is almost the end of the real Prince, the one that I really love...

Although segues between songs is nothing new in the world of CD's, I have never heard such an idea pulled off so well. The almost futuristic SFX and female voice-overs offer much to the atmosphere of this brilliant album. I could go on and on about the music, but I think everyone else has already done so. This is Prince at his artistic best.

The Gold Experience is a cool album that I had a long time ago, but it broke. I tried to find it in stores but no one had it for sell and I heard it was out of print, so the years past and than I started ordering stuff on the internet and found it on amazon.com. I ordered it and now I am happy.

"The Gold Experience" (1995) is an essential Prince recording that ranks favorably with "1999" and "Sign 'O' the Times." For 65 glorious minutes, His Royal Badness delivers one classic after another: "Endorphinmachine," "Shhh," "We March," "Shy," "Billy Jack B---h" and the transcendently brilliant "Dolphin." Though criminally out of print, this treasure trove of rock and soul belongs in every Prince collection.

Despite earning lots of praise, this flopped badly, and is now quite out-of-print - I finally found it used, for nineteen dollars, which is more than I would normally pay for a new double-album, let alone a used single. But I gotta tell you, it was more than worth it. Oh, sure, it's nothing Prince hasn't done before, and I could've definitely done without the segues. But the songs are so freaking fantastic that those two complaints are insignificant. All Prince's usual trademarks are in attendance: hard-driving funk ("P. Control", with lyrics so explicit they're not in the lyrics booklet, "We March", "Now", "319"), ballads (the sweetly romantic single "Most Beautiful Girl in the World", which easily lives up to other ballads like "Adore" and "International Lover", the horny slow grind "Shhh", "I Hate U", with an admittedly pretentious monolog, the Messianic but brilliant "Gold", which would probably fit in my top 10-15 Prince songs), and wild rockers (the reincarnation-themed "Dolphin", "Endorphinmachine", Prince at his most intense since "The Beautiful Ones"). And I don't know where to place "Shy" (country-jazz, I guess), but I like it. Every song has something about it that really makes it wonderful: the screaming and driving beat of "Endorphinmachine", dazzling guitar soloing on "Shhh", "I Hate U", "Gold", and "Dolphin", genre-blending psychosis on "Shy", moving falsetto on "Most Beautiful Girl", a surprisingly engaging rap on "Now"... I could go on for ages. Hell, even the trivial "Billy Jack B*tch" has some pleasant horn playing, even though I find myself rapidly losing patience with whoever decided to shout "B*tch!" once a measure (because hearing any word repeated once every four beats for six minutes would probably drive you up the wall too). The lyrics are perhaps negligible, covering Prince's usual themes of individuality, spirituality, and (what else?) sex, but strictly judging by tune quality it's debatably Prince's best ever. Other than the segues. Does ANYONE like the segues?

I was really dissapointed that all of the songs I love are mediocre extended versions and "Cream" is a really crappy remixed version. I like the original version of all the songs better. They really should have just put the original tracks on this collection. It would have gotten 5 stars from me. I had to deduct 1 star because of the lack of the original "Creme" and unnecessary extended versions of his songs that I don't care for.

OMG, FINALLY. I finally have the ''Raspberry Beret'' song in it's FULL VERSION glory--I love the begining of the song and the sound of all the instruments like in the begining of the music video. Anyways, it's so great to finally hear it on my Surround sound stereo system let me tell ya!. Also, I am 26 years old alright and I have NEVER heard another version of Little Red Corvette.....UNTIL NOW---AAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHH!!. Seriously speaking, the version of Little Red Corvette on this CD is by far the BEST and I can't control myself from playing it over and over on repeat, and there people I know who are JEALOUS of the fact that I have this version and who could blame um right?!. Look, this intire CD is Red Hot and I love Prince but even more all over again, and again, and again ;)

QUESTION:
How are you going to make the claim of creating "THE ULTIMATE"
Prince collection and not include the extended dance mixes of
"Erotic City" (1984), "Head" (1980), "Sexy Dancer" (1979) or
"Party Up" (1980)???
And they do exist too, because I had every one on 12" back in the day!

Not to mention true Prince fan jams like: "The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker",
"If I Was Your Girlfreind" and "Strange Relationship" (All 1987),
"Anothaloverholenyohead" (Extended Version--1986), "Ana-stesia" (1988)
"Lady Cab Driver", "A-U-T-O-matic" and "Irresistible Bitch" (all 1982)
"Party Man" & "Bat-Dance" (both 1989) or even his first hit....
the sizzling "Soft & Wet" (1978).

ULTIMATE PRINCE??--I think not!
When you let 20-ish music executives and studio interns who weren't even around when most of this music was relevant and current make the decisions about what exactly is an "ULTIMATE PRINCE" collective, then
what do you expect? This is a cursory comp with a few good rare
ditties that they haven't included on any of the other mediocore comps!
The 3-Disc "Prince: Greatest Hits & B-Sides", released in the early '90's was pretty comprehensive, but still lacking in many ways as well.
I give this comp 3 stars and say that if you're a youngster just getting
into Prince and what impact his music made on the
80's and early 90's, then, by all means, this is one to buy!

Prince-Ultimate Prince ***

Now I am really confused at what this is supposed to be. Is this at hits collection, anthology, best of? It fails at all three of those if it is trying to be one.

The song selection on the first disc is great though it skips quite a few songs. But I must say that I love the addition of 'Money Don't Matter 2Night' because that is truly a forgotten classic in Prince's cannon. But it does still seem that a lot is missing, then you realize there is a second disc, great that must be where the rest of the music is. Wrong.

The second disc is a collection of most of the rest of Prince's other big songs but they are "dance remixes" of all the songs, which is cool yes, but they are very out of place on this collection. Someone who is buying this is going to want the original songs, not the remixes of the songs they love. Those remixes should have been saved for reissues of the original albums that they appear on or for a separate remixes album.

But I must say the remixes are not even that good, in fact some of the time they are just down right annoying. Really this collection or whatever it is, is not worth owning unless you are a major Prince fan and want everything he releases.

This CD has quite a few of his top hits that have been either stretched out or may be extended takes from the original sessions (that's what it sounds like). I'm very pleased with this purchase as I'm sure any Prnce fan will be.

I saw the show on Broadway with Nathan Lane, so this album functions as a memory. The music is American Standard Broadway classic and should be in the collection of anyone who loves musical theater.

This is an excellent CD with the music from the 1992 Revival of Guys and Dolls. All of the performers do an excellent job, particularly Josie de Guzman, who plays Sarah Brown. Her voice is exceptional.

Sorry, I didn't get to see the Broadway show. I really loved the movie --Frank Sinatra & Stubby Kaye are spectacular. Brando can't sing, but tries to sing and dance. One of my favorite songs NOT AVAILABLE ON THE BROADWAY ALBUM is "Adelaide" ... is taking a chance on me. That was disappointing.

Love Nathan Lane generally, but he just brought a new and satirical twist, Gallagher is OK - sounds very voice trained Broadway singers.

When you start with the movie -- the music from Broadway is disappointing.
Sure you get "Marry the Man Today", but "Adelaide" will be missed.

Great recording of one of the greats. The original is now difficult to listen to due to the tinny sound and mono recording. this revival was wonderful, with a great cast and now a definitive, excellent recording. Skip the movie soundtrack.

Drats ! I can't believe I let myself miss this revival... If the stage production was as good as the cast recording I can only say that I really hope that the chaps in Great Britain who are currently rehearsing up the latest revival are on up on their jippers (or whatever they call them) on this one... (Actually the New York dialect doesn't seem so authentic on this one... strange... guess Gulliani really did clean up Time Square...)

The orchestration on this is swinging... And it better be... IF I WERE A BELL, LUCK BE A LADY and I'VE NEVER BEEN IN LOVE have been major entries in the GREAT AMERICAN JAZZ SONG BOOK since the musical came out... in fact, as many versions of IF I WERE A BELL that I've had to sit and play through, I have to say that the big band swinging Entr'Act version is really boppin' ... and the decision to take the REPRISE of GUYS AND DOLLS uptempo makes the CD even more must have.

As for performances, while I think in many ways the score out-tops the cast, its still fun to listen to, overall its good enough to warrent listen after listen after listen from this BROADWAY and JAZZ FANATIC, and SIT DOWN YOU'RE ROCKIN THE BOAT is still the unforgettable showstopper it was the first time I experienced this music.

Now - - I know this comment might be off the wall, but I wonder if some of the other great writings of Damon Runyon will ever hit the stage hencefoith ? And is it just me, but despite some great new musicals on Broadway this season, there is still a greater need for more revivals.

Great music. Once Oldham gets a hold on ya, there's no turning back. I recommend a second listen to many of his songs to find the gold. Many songs are slow but so ever melodic and the lyrics will haunt you for days. My favorite musician. Try ease down the road and I see a darkness...Hell, try anything.

This album sounds great to me, I don't even mind Dawn McCarthy's accompanying vocals - they fit the context of these songs perfectly for me.

This album was a surprise for me after listening to Bonnie Prince Billy's recent work. I think I was expecting something more stripped-back, but this lush album cemented him as one of my favourite musicians in my collection.

I love the modern-folk sound throughout this album, my only reservation is that it could have maybe just one or two more great songs, to bump it up to 5 stars.

Or they could just edit out the "... hey little bird ..." part off the end of "No Bad News" and leave "I called you back" off the album altogether. Just my 2c, sorry Will - I still love your work!

The Letting Go is a must for fans of the 'Bonnie' Prince, and is a true gem in his highly impressive catalog. I have all of Will Oldham's albums with the execption of Joya, and they are all good, but this one is very special. The song writing is outstanding, and his harmonies with Dawn McCarthy are amazing. Anyone familiar with Mr. Oldhams' work under the 'Bonnie' Prince name knows his work is slow moving and emotive, and The Letting Go is similar, but is even more stirring than any of his previous work. This album has a highly cinematic feel to it, almost as if it's a soundtrack for some Oscar winning movie about timeless love or something. Like most 'Bonnie' Prince records this one takes a few listens to really get into and be able to appreciate the depth of musical and poetic skill of this artist, but it is worth the time. Get this one now! Seriously!!

A gorgious record. Oldhams music is becoming mature, aged like wood or spirit. A true treasure and one not to be missed unless you care nothing for poems. This release is on par with Nick Cave's masterpiece "No More Shall We Part". Both artists highly prolific, yet Will seems to be a tad more rooted. Simply amazing to have someone like him around in our lifetime. Sort of like Prefontaine. Go Pre...Go Will.

if you like the really chill BPB stuff, this one is for you. However, there are none of the rockin' type ones, so yeah good stuff