Viva Last Blues (CD - 1995)

Palace Music: Will Oldham (vocals, guitar); Bryan Rich (guitar); Liam Hayes (piano, organ); Ned Oldham (bass, slide guitar, background vocals); Jason Loewenstein (drums, background vocals).

Perhaps inspired by producer Steve Albini, Will Oldham turned up the volume on VIVA LAST BLUES, the hardest-rocking album in the Palace canon. Picking up on the thread of the AN ARROW THROUGH THE BITCH EP, Oldham dives headlong into the Neil Young/Crazy Horse sound that's always been a stylistic guidepost to the work of the band.

Surging electric guitar riffs and powerful drums mark the sound of "Work Hard/Play Hard," "Cat's Blues" and others. The downcast folk-poet sound of yore isn't entirely absent though, as evidenced by the touching, romantic ballad "We All, Us Three, Will Ride" and the poignant, countryish "New Partner." A well-balanced album, and one of the finest in the Palace catalog. minimize