- Record Label: Overcoat / Domino
- Release Date: Jan 24, 2006
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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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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Entertainment WeeklyIntriguing. [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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The 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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UncutThere's more here for Oldham fans than Tortoise fanciers. [Feb 2006, p.76]
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There are enough moments of complex, nuanced, lingering beauty here to keep drawing you back.
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MojoMore than a curiosity. [Jan 2006, p.131]
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FilterIt's high entertainment of a sedate rock order, even if nothing is particularly brave or bold here. [#19, p.97]
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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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Paste MagazineLike 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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Under The RadarSurely, 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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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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Q MagazineA fun if disposable diversion. [Feb 2006, p.105]
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The more adventurous picks on The Brave And The Bold sink more often than they soar.
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Rolling StoneSometimes mesmerizing, often depressing. [23 Feb 2006, p.68]
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New Musical Express (NME)Twist[s] both the ultra-familiar and the obscure into awkward new shapes. [21 Jan 2006, p.35]
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BillboardMore often than not, Oldham's signature vocalizing keeps Tortoise from falling back on old sonic tricks. [21 Jan 2006]
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Approach it as a slightly goofy one-off, and you won't be disappointed.
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Hit and miss, then, but certainly brave and bold.
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In short: We all really wish this was better-- less tiring, less dour, less sluggish-- than it actually is.
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UrbThe 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 New York TimesThis 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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The vast majority of this release just doesn’t stick together coherently and suffers because of it.
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With 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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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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Alternative PressTortoise 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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Unbearably bland.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 8 out of 11
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Mixed: 1 out of 11
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Negative: 2 out of 11
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FValeronApr 27, 2006Do not ignore Chris M. my friends. I'm a huge Oldham fan, but this record is nonsense. 'Tis a shame...
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EstanislaoBApr 11, 2006
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LeonardoFFeb 8, 2006