The Brave And The Bold
- Tortoise & Bonnie "Prince" Billy
- Band Name: Tortoise & Bonnie "Prince" Billy
- Record Label: Overcoat / Domino
- Release Date: Jan 24, 2006
- Critic Score
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At times they near the hybrid jazz of The Mars Volta or even the plentiful jam bands that can be found on the boulevards of certain Eastern European shores, but Tortoise's effortless ingenuity and Prince Billy's sensuous and aged voice raise it to a much higher plane.
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Intriguing. [27 Jan 2006, p.85]
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The Brave And The Bold is one odd duck of an album, with two unsympathetic musical personalities paying tribute to 10 other unsympathetic musical personalities by making a record that doesn't sound at all... expected.
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80More than a curiosity. [Jan 2006, p.131]
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80There's more here for Oldham fans than Tortoise fanciers. [Feb 2006, p.76]
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80There are enough moments of complex, nuanced, lingering beauty here to keep drawing you back.
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80The Brave and the Bold is a melding of the minds, a comic-book collision of musical forces whose mutant powers turn mere simulation into disturbing mimetic magic.
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78It's high entertainment of a sedate rock order, even if nothing is particularly brave or bold here. [#19, p.97]
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Surely, fans of both Oldham and Tortoise will find little to complain about... but there's also enough material here to coax a few more over the fence. [#12, p.93]
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Like an indie-rock version of Dylan & The Dead--only surprisingly inspired instead of barely palatable. [Apr/May 2006, p.110]
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This is a solid listen regardless of whether or not it's breaking any new ground.
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The experiment does at times rush off the tracks into the bushes, where either the spastic tempos prove too much for Oldham's cool croon, or the meat-and-potatoes song structures reject Tortoise's occasional proclivity toward overseasoning.
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The Brave and the Bold is an awkward, lumbering affair, of passing interest to fans of the artists' work and no one else.
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Twist[s] both the ultra-familiar and the obscure into awkward new shapes. [21 Jan 2006, p.35]
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60Hit and miss, then, but certainly brave and bold.
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Approach it as a slightly goofy one-off, and you won't be disappointed.
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60A fun if disposable diversion. [Feb 2006, p.105]
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Sometimes mesmerizing, often depressing. [23 Feb 2006, p.68]
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The more adventurous picks on The Brave And The Bold sink more often than they soar.
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60More often than not, Oldham's signature vocalizing keeps Tortoise from falling back on old sonic tricks. [21 Jan 2006]
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54In short: We all really wish this was better-- less tiring, less dour, less sluggish-- than it actually is.
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50The end result just isn't up to the standards of which either of these musical titans are capable. [Mar 2006, p.119]
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The vast majority of this release just doesn't stick together coherently and suffers because of it.
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This record is never obvious; it has no agenda. It advances no cultural or historical theory. It is not meant to accompany psychic healing or political protest, and it has no real connection to anyone's alternative-anything movement. There are so many things it isn't, that it barely is. [16 Jan 2006]
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40With the ability of the participants, surely there could have been more interesting material to explore, and sadly 'The Brave And The Bold' ends up being anything but.
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Tortoise sound remarkably un-Tortoise-like on nearly everything... [and] Oldham's stunning vocals are rarely allowed the space they deserve. [Mar 2006, p.126]
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For Bonnie Prince Billy it's an atypically sexless affair with only his version of Richard Thompson's Calvary Cross worthy of his previous covers record, More Revery.
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30Unbearably bland.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 3 out of 6
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Mixed: 1 out of 6
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Negative: 2 out of 6
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FValeron4Do not ignore Chris M. my friends. I'm a huge Oldham fan, but this record is nonsense. 'Tis a shame...
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EstanislaoB9
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LeonardoF8