Bachelor (Battle One) [Import]

Patrick Wolf | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 2, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: 101 DISTRIBUTION
• ASIN: B001Y8DK9K
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #349,580 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Kriegspiel

2. Hard Times

3. Oblivion

4. The Bachelor

5. Damaris

6. Thickets

7. Count Of Casualty

8. Who Will?

9. Vulture

10. Blackdown

11. The Sun Is Often Out

12. Theseus

13. Battle

14. The Messenger

Editorial Reviews

Review

There is nothing remotely not awesome about him. --Rolling Stone

Patrick Wolf is proving himself The Thin White Dukes successor in more than just his extravagant dress sense --Nme

Impeccable pop songcraft. --Pitchfork

Product Description

2009 release, the fourth studio album by the beloved English singer/songwriter. Originally titled The Battle, Wolf enlists the help of noise terrorist Alec Empire, actress Tilda Swinton as well as Eliza Carthy and Matthew Herbert to create a magical and individual album. An intelligent, versatile and textured record, this demonstrates why Wolf is lauded as one of the last great British musical hopes. Includes the single 'Vulture'.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spine tinglingly good!!, July 15, 2009

By 

Nse Ette (Lagos, Nigeria) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bachelor (Battle One) (Audio CD)

If it were left to radio or Billboards charts, my collection would be filled with Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, Lady Gaga, and the like. Thankfully I have sources like British music magazine Q to guide me, so when I saw they gave this album 4 stars, my interest was piqued. I had never heard of Patrick Wolf before this but I must say I am taken by his majestic and beautiful music. It sounds as though it were written for a musical, incorporating classical instruments like ukulele, viola, piano, as well as Celtic and electronic adornments for a dramatic flourish. This is an album I listen to straight through from start to end, and I'll attempt to go through each track to give you a feel of the music.

Opening is the brief instrumental "Kriespiel" which sounds like a spacecraft engine being tuned, leading into the sunny shimmery "Hard times" (think Duran Duran meets David Bowie - He does look like Bowie/Billy Idol stepping out of a time machine on the cover) and the bouncy "Oblivion" (featuring Tilda Swinton as "The Voice of Hope") with skittery electronic beats and cutting strings.

"The Bachelor' (featuring Eliza Carthy) is adapted from a traditional Folk song "Poor Little Turtle Dove." It is (in this case) an androgynous love song about a farmer lamenting his lack of a spouse despite all his wealth in livestock, with Eliza's gravelly voice sounding distinctly masculine. This song is simply awesome! I must point out that unlike Tilda Swinton who provides narration on the songs she appears, Eliza sings a duet with Wolf. "Damaris" is another standout, a sombre Pop song with icy sounding viola and a choppy riff.

With melancholic ukelele sounds and plucked guitars, Thickets (again featuring Tilda Swinton as "The Voice of Hope") has a strong Celtic feel. "Count of casualty" has choir-like harmonies offset by a staccato of electronic pulses. "Who will?" is a more stripped ballad with subtly dramatic strings and electronic flourishes.

"Vulture" is bouncy Electro-Pop with slightly distorted vocals and squelchy effects, while "Blackdown" starts off deceptively as a piano ballad before marching beats, claps and swirling strings sweep in. The lyrics appear to be autobiographical, a monologue with his father - "Get proud of my birthright / think of the things that I must leave / When I leave behind the city and the living, finally".

The Bowie-like "The sun is often out" is a string-swathed ballad with a choir-backed chorus, followed by Theseus (featuring Tilda Swinton as "The Voice of Hope") with sweeping strings and gentle beats. "Battle" is a frenetic rocker, and closing is "The messenger" with a tinkling and chiming intro and interesting electronic beats against a haunting backdrop.

This is what music should be, intelligent, moving, and cerebral!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wolf's best yet, August 28, 2009

By 

D - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bachelor (Audio CD)

I've found all of Patrick Wolf's albums to be inconsistent, but this one is easily my favorite. It took a while to grow on me - in fact this started as a three-star review, and I yanked it at rewrote it as I became more fond of the album. Some of the songs are just incredible: "The Bachelor" is stunning and is my favorite Wolf song to date, and "Damaris", "Who Will" and "Theseus" are especially great too. On the other hand, "Battle" is pretty terrible, and a couple other songs don't match the strength of the album's best tracks. But as a whole, it's great, and actually exceeds my expectations for Wolf. Very well done.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Musical Genius, June 28, 2009

By 

Brooke Oates "Tin Bird" (VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bachelor (Battle One) (Audio CD)

Patrick Wolf is a musical genius of the highest order. This album is stunning in it's scope and depth. I can't say enough about this music. There really isn't anyone else out there making music like this...brings to mind various attributes of David Sylvian, Kate Bush, and even Frank Tovey. Dark and melodic, mysterious yet hummable, obtuse but meaningful, brooding yet open...this album is album of the year for me, and Patrick's music in general is spellbinding. One of those artists that will have a small but vigilant following that truly undertands what it means to create "art". I am hooked!