This collaboration between Kentucky's musical maestro Will Oldham and the Chicago instrumental indie band Tortoise is a rare creature. It features ten covers, some obscure and some so familiar even the most mindless of radio DJs will recognise them. Opening with an animated version of Milton Nascimento's Cravo e Canela and running into a synthed-up, yet unmistakably Oldham interpretation of Bruce Springsteen's Thunder Road, this bizarre hybrid is considered yet scratchily executed. Never afraid to experiment, the Bonnie 'Prince' has defied expectations once again. Without trying to over-intellectualise the album, there is a sense of each song's birth time and place - be it the aforementioned tracks, Elton John's Daniel or Devo's That's Pep! - with a definite BPB stamp. Whilst this album is far from an introduction to the peculiar genius of Will Oldham, the initiated will recognise it as a vehicle driven by the old eccentric with the Tortoise boys occupying the backseat. Oldham owns everything he does and this sometimes baffling, sometimes brilliant alliance is no exception. It doesn't always work, but he wouldn't be one of the brave or the bold if he didn't constantly stretch and evolve.
