Tortoise: The Brave & The Bold : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

If we learn anything from this eclectic collection of covers, it is that the combined powers of Bonnie "Prince" Billy (Will Oldham) and Tortoise can add a spacey sort of malaise to absolutely anything, from tropicalia (on Milton Nascimento and o Borges' "Cravo e Canela") to hardcore (the Minutemen's "It's Expected I'm Gone"). This sometimes mesmerizing, often depressing ten-track project began as an EP centered around a baleful take on Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road," on which cold synthesizers fill in for the original's warm piano and horns, Oldham's desperate croak replaces Springsteen's hopeful rasp, and listeners are assured that it's truly impossible to escape this "town full of losers." In this world, Elton John's "Daniel" becomes an eerie tale of alien stalkers, Devo's "That's Pep!" an ominous warning against enthusiasm and Richard Thompson's "Cavalry Cross" even more lethargic and mournful than the original. Proceed with caution, but do proceed.